Coll 17/17 'FO Annual Reports, 1932-1938, 1947. Annual review of events 1939-1942. Political Review 1943-1944' [‎122v] (244/483)

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protocol during his visit, but Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. asked for a short delay in order to
consult His Majesty’s Government. The protocol had consequently not been
signed when the Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs left Bagdad for Angora on
the 2nd January, 1936.
France.
44. The decision of the French Government to agree to the settlement of
the Assyrians in Syria (see paragraphs 144—151) did nothing to diminish the
instinctive dislike and distrust with which Iraqi politicians appeal to legald the
French and all their doings. The unwillingness of the French Government to
follow in Syria the example given by His Majesty’s Government in Iraq
continued to give rise to adverse comment during the year under review, and it
was generally believed that it was only in order to have another excuse for
retaining control in Syria that the French authorities agreed to receive the
Assyrians there. Further indignation was aroused when the French consul and
the French Apostolic Delegate in Mosul showed what was considered to be undue
interest in the Christian population of the town during the period of excitement
and uneasiness which followed the suppression of the Yezidi revolt. Somewhat
exaggerated accounts of the events of this period which appeared in the Syrian
newspaper the Orient aroused a storm of criticism and abuse in the Iraqi press.
Iraqi Legation in Paris.
45. In June Abdul Aziz-al-Mudhaffar, formerly Iraqi consul-general at
Beirut, was appointed to succeed Ahmed Beg Qadir as counsellor at the Iraqi
Legation ip Paris.
Germany.
Iraqi Legation at Berlin.
46. At the beginning of the year the Iraqi Government decided to open a
Legation in Berlin, and in January Muzahim Beg A1 Pachachi was appointed to
the combined post of Iraqi delegate at Geneva and Iraqi Minister at Rome and
Berlin. Muzahim Beg did not, however, proceed to Berlin, and in September a
Royal Iradah was issued appointing the Amir Zeid, half-brother of the late
King Feisal, Iraqi Minister to that capital. The Amir Zeid presented his letters
of credence to the German Chancellor on the 11th October.
Presentation of German Order to King Ghazi.
47. On the 29th May the German Minister at Bagdad presented to
King Ghazi, on behalf of the German President, the insignia of the Order of the
Red Cross. Dr. Grobba informed His Majesty’s Ambassador that the order had
been given to King Ghazi in recognition of his humanitarian work as Patron of
the Red Crescent Society in Iraq.
German Propaganda in Iraq.
48. There have been signs of increasing German interest in Iraq. The
cultural activities of the German Legation at Bagdad, the subsidising of a
German teacher for the secondary schools, and the steady penetration of Germans
into commerce in Bagdad may be cited as instances of such interest.
Commercial Treaty.
49. A commercial treaty between Germany and Iraq, based on the principle
of reciprocal most-favoured-nation treatment, was signed at Bagdad on the
4th August. The treaty will come into force fifteen days after ratification and
will remain in force indefinitely. Each party, however, has the right to terminate
it at any time after giving three months’ notice of intention to do so. According
to the German Minister, the object of the agreement is to safeguard Germany’s
commercial position in Iraq now that she has ceased to be a member of the League
of Nations.
Libel on German Legation.
50. On the 13th March the local newspaper, the Bilad, published an article,
purporting to be an extract from a manuscript of a book written by Amin Rihanfi
a well-known Syrian author and journalist, which charged foreign archseological
missions working in Iraq with serious malpractices. In particular, the extract