Coll 17/15(2) 'Relations with Persia: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎5r] (20/1010)

appear to make him any more accommodating. The Turks were anxious that the
non-aggression draft should be completed. Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. also felt that for psycho
logical reasons it would be useful if texts of the non-aggression and pacific
settlement treaties could be agreed upon. The passages of Nusrat Beg and
myself were therefore cancelled at the last moment. We stayed till the 30th, when
-I left for England and Nusrat Beg went to Paris to report progress to Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
A T usrat Beg returned to Geneva on the 2nd October.
17. It would be superfluous to reproduce the drafts as they stood at various
stages of the negotiations; the text of the draft non-aggression treaty as
initialled by M. Kazemi, Jemal Husni (Turkish Minister at Berne) and Nusrat
Beg on the 2nd October is attached as Appendix G. It may, however, be of
interest to notice some of the points that arose during the discussions.
18. The principal preoccupation of the Iraqi delegation was to ensure that
the treaty should be consistent with the Covenant of the League, the Kellogg Pact
for the Renunciation of War, and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance (it will be
noticed that the Covenant was nowhere mentioned in the original Persian draft);
this point is reflected in the Iraqi draft preamble, which was accepted, in article 9,.
and in article 4 (see paragraph 20 below).
19. Article 3 of the Iraqi draft, providing for mutual consultation in the
case of international complications, was intended to meet, in a more restricted
manner, the desire underlying article 3 of the Persian Tehran draft; the Persians
cut it out, apparently without knowing exactly why, and later asked for its
reinclusion in a rather more embracing draft; its final form was more restricted
than ever.
20. Article 4 was first recast as an article renouncing aggression (and
including a definition of aggression), rather than denouncing recourse to war, in
a Persian counter-draft of the 24th September. Definition No. 4 of acts not
constituting aggression is intended to cover action by Iraq under the Anglo-Iraqi
alliance.
21. Article 5 provided an interesting example of the Persian desire to
restrict the role of the organs of the League as far as possible. To meet a Persian
objection to the original Iraqi draft that a victim of aggression could not sit
passive, a new sentence was added : ‘ ‘ The foregoing provision shall not be deemed
to prejudice the right of such high contracting party to take any measures it
thinks necessary fending the result of the afplication to the Council^ The
Persians resisted to the last inclusion of the words italicised, with their impli
cation that action after promulgation of the Council’s decision should conform
to that decision; the words were eventually omitted; such omission, of course,,
cannot affect any obligations arising out of the Covenant.
22. Article 7 first appeared in the Persian counter-draft of the
24th September and read: “Les hautes parties contractantes s’engagent a
prevenir dans leurs limites respectives la formation de bandes, associations on
organisations, quelles qu’elles soient, de nature a troubler I'ordre et la securite
de leurs territoires ou a porter atteinte a leur regime respectif de gouvernement.
This was considered too sweeping to square with the Iraqi Constitution; and
the text ultimately accepted includes restrictive definitions of bands, associations
and organisations.
23. At the last moment it was suggested that the treaty should be open to
the adherence of Afghanistan. I am not aware if the Afghan representative was
consulted. On the 30th September the Persians produced a draft protocol pro
viding for such adherence, but it was not included in the text initialled. The
draft, with copy of a letter written by Nusrat Beg to M. Kazemi in this
connexion, is attached as Appendix H.^)
24. It will be observed that on the Iraqi side the draft was not initialled
ne varietur, but with an endorsement to the effect that the Iraqi representative
would recommend the treaty as drafted to his Government.
(C )—-Treaty for Pacific Settlement.
25. There is little to be said regarding the Treaty for the Pacific Settlement
of Disputes. The Iraqi draft in English is attached as Appendix J-O The
Erench text as initialled is attached as Appendix K^ 1 ) The only discussion had
( x ) Not printed.
[565 ee—1J B ^