Coll 17/29 'Iraq. Relations with Syria.' [‎6r] (11/20)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
(y
EASTERN (Syria).
CONFIDENTIAL.
J w c~
April 30, 1937.
Section 2.
4
[E 2385/2385/89]
Copy No. H2
Consul MacKereth to Mr. Eden.—(Received April 30.)
gj r Damascus, April 23, 1937.
WITH reference to the visit of Dr. Naji Aseel, the Iraqian Foreign Minister,
who arrived in Damascus yesterday in order to sign, on behalf of Iraq, a treaty
of “ Bon-voisinage ” with the Syrian Republic, I have the honour to inform you
that I attended a banquet last night given by the Syrian Foreign Minister to
his Iraqian vis-d-vis.
2. The two statesmen made post-prandial speeches, of which I enclose
translations for your information. The Syrian Government have seized upon
this occasion to mark with much eclat the notable fact that they are performing
their first sovereign act in signing an international convention with an indepen
dent foreign Power. The wider Arabian aspect was also emphasised. No effort
was spared to disguise the disagreeable but obvious fact that it was the French
High Commissioner who was the qualified agent for the execution of this inter
national deed; the apposition of the signature of the Syrian Minister for Foreign
Affairs being little more than a sop to Syrian susceptibilities. This ghost at the
feast was effectively dissembled by the cordiality of the atmosphere, which was
clouded only by the smoke of magnesium flares let off by the photographers
commissioned to record the historic occasion for posterity.
3. I had a chat after dinner with Dr. Naji Aseel and learned from him
that after signing the Iraqo-Syrian treaty he was going to Angora to discuss,
and possibly initial, a similar agreement with Turkey.
4. I am sending a copy of this despatch to His Majesty’s representatives
in Bagdad, Beirut and Aleppo.
I have, &c.
GILBERT MacKERETH.
Enclosure 1.
Translation of the Speech of the Syrian Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Sa adullah-al-Jabri, April 22, 1937.
Excellency (addressing the Iraqian Foreign Minister),
I BRING you the greetings of the Syrian Republic, and I cordially welcome
you. I am overjoyed by the happy occasion which allows us to receive the Foreign
Minister of the Arab country, which we look upon as a part of ourselves, the
Arab country that, by the steps taken to reach its independence traced for us the
glorious path upon which we have set our feet.
I congratulate myself and I share the enormous pleasure which the Syrian
people feel, that it is by an Act of good neighbourly relations with Iraq with
which we initiate the exercise of our sovereign rights in its external manifesta
tions. This Act will tighten the bonds which have never ceased to exist between
Damascus and Bagdad. It is our two countries which, from the early dawn of
history, have borne aloft the torch of Arab civilisation and which have been the
theatre of the greatest events in our glorious past.
It is especially agreeable to me at this turning-point in our national life
to draw attention to the noble efforts which France, our great ally, has not
spared herself in order to develop the friendly relations which have existed in
the past between herself and the Arab nations of the Near East and which endure
in the present. May I also be permitted at this juncture to remind you of the
close ties existing between the Arab countries and the great democracies of the
[981 gg 2]
l