'File 2/1 II IRAQ PROPAGANDA. (Absorption of Kuwait by Iraq). Relations etc.' [‎137r] (273/312)

^ ^ • 7-
Translation of an article published in -AL-BA-AeTSoamat-
an 'Iraqi daily news paper. ^ ^ m Aiil a a-^V«I« >
BAOHDAD - Monday, 20 th May T I 94 fi .
;«IM WILL THE DISTRICT OF KUWAIT RETURN TO ttto nAcJL .
PRWltJCE - KUWAIT teiHClkLlTV'-- i Iq rlntfa-'i, i.S., 3A, %iS
COMiiSG UHDER BfelSH l^TI^T^T^HV' ^
KilCTEb imTo the Kimrorm-"Q],- P ‘ J °R-
By - Sabri Abdullcadir
Al-Hashemi.
Betired Captain.
I read in tbe last publication of "AL-BA’ATH AI> 0 Awmt»
No. 72 dated the 14th May, 1946 the following telegram;- ^
♦♦IBAQ CLAIMS KUWAIT”
The Damascus paper "Alif Ba" pfiblished the telegram the
origin of which was Baghdad.
It seems from a rumour circulating in the verandahs of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Baghdad that the »Iraq (Government will
lay claim to the area of Kuwait and that they may raise this matter
when negotiations for the revision of the Anglo—Iraqi Treaty taiie
place.
This Amirate is situated at the end of the Gulf of Basrah,
and is adjacent to the borders of ’Iraq. It is situated between*
t? 7 o great Arab governments - ’Iraq and Saudi Arabia - and its bound
aries extend from Urn Qasr, south of Zubair, to Al Batin, and end e#
at Has al Qubla, south of Kuwait. Its length is 180 miles and its
width about 20 miles* Its area is about 50,000 square miles.
Its population about 120,000, all Arabs following the creed of Iman
Malik, and related to the Mutair Tribe. It is one of the principal
ities under British protection. This principality came under the
desteatable imperialist protection in 1913 as a result of the plot
made by shaikh Mubarak as Subah with his son to assassinate shaikh
Abdulla Ruler of Kuwait, and his brother larrah, so that he might
seize power. Mubarak indeed put his plan into operation and murder
ed Shaikh Abdulla while Mubarak’s son murdered Jarrah, shaikh Abdullas
brother. Thus he seized the rule, but the free men of Kuwait were
indignant at this faefc- deed. ,
The children of the murdered shaikh fled and took refuge in
Basrah where they demanded that the Turkish Wali of Basrah should
take action in connection with the affair and punish shaikh Mubarak
and his son. In answer to this request, the Wali of Basrah sent a
Turkish battleship carrying some officials to inform shaikh Mubarak
that he should go to Constantinople and choose between two alternative
- either to be a member of the Mejlis ud Dawlah, or to live outside
Kuwait S territory on a pension allotted to him by the Ottoman Govern
ment. As soon as Shaikh Mubarak heard that the Turkish vessel had
left Basrah he wrote to the British Agent in Bushire asking his
protection. The British Agent hastened to send a warship on the
wings of speed. It arrived in the harbour of Kuwait before the
Turkish battleship and forbade her to approach the port or to take
any action. So the Turkish battleship returned whence she had come.
In this deplorable and detestable manner, this province came under the
de facto protection of the British Government from that date.
Following this strange event the British Government concluded
an agreement with the murderer Shaikh on the lines of the agreements
with the rulers of those countries which the British intended to
colonise, to the effect that Kuwait should not have relations with anj
foreign country whatsoever. This means that Kuwait is forbidden o
communicate with ’Iraq or Saudi Arabia. Thus the British through the
intermediary and by scheming rendered impossible the assimilation o
/this small