'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎23r] (50/454)

THE TURKS IN MESOPOTAMIA
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not pro-Turk. Persia, therefore, afforded a useful centre and
fruitful field for the activities of Turkish and German agents.
On the other hand, the pro-British attitude of the Shaikh of
Mohammerah, suffering from many years of Turkish aggressive
action, was never in doubt.
The Arabs had little love for the Turk, but the latter’s
policy of fomenting inter-tribal disputes had left many Arabs
whose self-interest bound them to the Ottoman Government.
In 1818, the Turks undertook a successful expedition against
the Wahabi power in Nejd and Turkish garrisons remained
there till driven out in 1831. The Ottoman Government,
however, continued to regard the ruling Emirs of Nejd as
tributary to their authorities at Basra and in 1871, Midhat
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Vali of Baghdad, gave a fresh impetus to this claim
by his support of one of the claimants to the Emirate. His
expedition there in 1871-1872 resulted in a rather ineffective
military occupation of the province of A1 Hasa, where Turkish
garrisons remained till evicted by Ibn Saud, Emir of Nejd, in
1913. By this time whatever vestige of Turkish authority
there may have been in Nejd at any time had completely
disappeared and both Emirs (Ibn Rashid and Ibn Saud)
enjoyed an altogether independent status. The dominating
factor was the rivalry between the two and in the war the
former, dependent on the Turks, espoused their cause, while
the latter declared for the British and against his rival.*
Prior to Midhat Pasha’s expedition, there were on the
Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. “ no symbols of Turkish
authority, no Turkish jurisdiction, effective or ineffective,”
south or east of Oqair, the port of A1 Hasa ; and a Turkish
claim to Bahrein in 1850 had been successfully resisted as
unjustifiable. There were well-founded rumours in 1871
that Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. meant to extend his enterprise in Arabia
to cover the occupation of Bahrein, Qatar and part of the
“ Trucial ” coast; and, in spite of the assurances of the Turkish
government to the contrary a few months earlier, in July
1871 a Turkish deputation succeeded in obtaining local assent
to the establishment of a small Turkish garrison in the town
of Doha on the east coast of the Qatar peninsula.
In 1871 the Shaikh of Kuwait, then independent, co-operated
with Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in the latter’s intervention in Nejd and,
* A Turkish General Staff pamphlet recently issued regarding the Mesopo
tamian operations, emphasises the fact that their Headquarters at Constanti
nople did not realise this. Ibn Rashid is said by them to have given them
no assistance and they had not grasped the enmity felt towards them by
Ibn Saud. See Appendix VI, p. 352.