Coll 17/15(2) 'Relations with Persia: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎444v] (899/1010)

away to the east of the Shatt-el-Arab, Persia possesses a deep-water harhnnr
penetrating far into Persian territory, where she has already instructed X
terminus of the Irans-Persian Railway. Iraq is essentially the lanH nf * 1 , 6
rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The ktf-eiiXS t to -uniT
‘' s onl y access to the sea. It requires constant attention if it i»
to be kept fit for navigation by modern shipping, and Basra, 100 kilom. from the
mouth, is Iraq s only port. It is well-nigh intolerable that another Power shou”
command this channel from one bank, a state of affairs that has no SficatL
"! lsi01 y- ^“ deed ' u was only in the decade immediately preceding the Treaty
of Erzerum that a wave of Persian expansion and the internecine strife af tbl
independent Arab Amirate of the Cha’b, over whom the Ottoman Government
claimed suzerainty, brought a small Persian garrison to Mohammerah the small
Arab port on the Karun River, near its confluence with the Shatt-el-Andb Never
at any time had it been seriously suggested that Persia had any claim to
sovereignty over any part of the Shatt-el-Arab. The Persian possession of tbl
left bank is thus an anomaly first validated by the Treaty of 1847 which Persia
now affects to consider invalid. J ’ versia
„ ., A P a !' t , trt ™ the inequity of the decision which places Persia in possession
tl r-lv ’f"' ° f . th e Shatt-el-Arab, Iraq has a serious economic grievance in
the ability of unfriendly Persian officials to use more than their fair share of
or even to divert the waters of the numerous streams which rise in Persia and’
crossing the boundary, have ministered from the remotest times to the agricultural
needs of the populations of Iraq. s dl
If Iraq takes its stand on the sanctity of treaties and agreements it must
not be supposed that it is because Iraq considers the frontier a good one’ from its
ime P°i m do 01 ! Vlew - Ira< l as a ne ^ country is desirous of concentrating on
internal development. The reopening of the boundary question which was
settled m 1914 after seventy years of diplomatic effort and colossal expenditure
opens up possibilities of which it is impossible to see the end. If the question
were reopened it would be difficult for any Arab Government of Iraq who™
outlook must be very different from that of the distant Ottoman Sultans and
Government, to obtain parliamentary ratification of any new treaty that did not
allot to Iraq not only the left bank of the Shatt-el-Ara'b, the River-of-the-Arabs
par excellent with its exclusively Arab population, but also all the purely Arab
distncts of the province of Khuzistan, which, until barely ten years ago was
officially called Arabistan, the land of the Arabs. ' ^ 8
sides^fn^LnTIf 1 !! 116111 consider that a . n y grievances or desiderata of the two
manv occalh,nfoff d ^ a W r0 P nate administrative arrangements, and has on
many occasions offered to examine m the most friendly spirit any proposals the
Persian Government may wish to make ' F opusais me
Appendix B.
iifeP
Iraq-Persia Frontier: Summary of Main Legal Points.
th. T 86 18 ^ ased up01 ^ l he treaties concluded in the past, under which
of Trar/wa? f ween ersia and turkey was fixed. What is now the Kingdom
hetwppTi PrJ c ° co ^ r ^ e ’ P art Turkey before the war, and the present frontier
Turkey P and IPaq WaS formerl y P art of the frontier between Persia and
northwarrp 0 ^ 1 ! in , h ^ uest l on .^ tend 1 s 801116 1 ’ 200 kilom. from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
90 kilom it mn/ 1 r ° U fn an f country. To the south for some
into the Persian ffiiif 1 ^ ^att-el-Arab, a large and navigable river flowing
Basra is nn tW ri ’ 8 01 ?^y outlet to the sea. Iraq’s only port,
The bimd,ry%io.”he“ left S' PmL“ li.SSf fh*' “f* -“ 1<1 ,? ipI “,” E
sjsr ^ = "ti ‘rat, ;*s
Erzeram finned i^l 947^ ^ a8 f-If !? • d ° Wn S enera ^ terms by the Treaty of
Brzerum signed m 1847 and ratified m 1848 by Turkey and Persia. The Persian
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