File 2764/1904 Pt 5 'Baghdad Railway: Anglo-Turkish negotiations; concessions proposed in respect of Kowait; negotations with Hakki Pasha in London; Anglo-Turkish agreement.' [‎92r] (194/536)

a pretext for proposing something else, viz., that the Kerkha should be adopted as
the boundary above Sheria.
Coming now to the neighbourhood of the Shatt-el-Arab, the frontier as locally
observed enters the Khaiyin Canal (which is the name of the channel running from
the Turkish Customs Post at Di’aiji, between the islands of Kharnubiyah, Bowarin,
and Aqawat, to the junction of the Nahr Nazaileh with the main stream) at a point
between the Nahr Di’aiji and the Nahr Abul Arabid; it follows the middle of the
Nahr Khaiyin until it reaches the point where the Nahr Khaiyin and the Nahr
Nazaileh meet the main channel of the Shatt-el-Arab. (See map No. 2.)
It then proceeds, as shown by the broken black line (see accompanying maps
Nos. 3 and 4), along the main channel of the Shatt-el-Arab, in mid-stream, until that
river reaches the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
The claim made by Persia rests on continued and undisturbed possession for
over a century, and on the recognition of Persian sovereignty by local representatives
of the Turkish Government in many ways and on many different occasions.
Thus there is unanimity of evidence amongst the local tribesmen that the boundary
as locally observed has not been questioned by the Turkish authorities, who, on
the contrary, many years ago had actually buried some coal in a pit as a permanent
boundary mark; and it further appears that the periodical cleaning of the Nahr
Khaiyin has always been undertaken by Persian subjects under the orders of the Sheikh
of Mohammerah, whilst the cleaning of the Di’aiji Canal has been carried out
exclusively under the orders of the Turkish mudirs.
The local inhabitants moreover draw a very clear line of distinction between
the position of the Sheikh of Mohammerah in, for instance, the islands of Akawat,
Barin or Bowarin, Shamshamiyah, and Umm-ut-Tuwaileh, of the greater part of
which he is merely proprietor, and his position on the Persian side of the locally
recognised boundary.
From the point where the locally observed frontier leaves the Khaiyin Canal
and, opposite the Nahr Nazaileh, enters the main channel of the Shatt-el-Arab, it follows
the medium filum aquae of the Shatt-el-Arab down to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . (See maps
Nos. 3 and 4.)
This line of demarcation is in accordance with the general presumption that,
where a navigable river forms the boundary of conterminous States, the middle of
the channel or “ thalweg ” is the actual line of separation between those two States.
Such a presumption may, however, be swept away, either by proof of prior
occupancy and long undisturbed possession on the part of one of the two States, or
by express treaty stipulation.
The records of the past 300 years, as contained in the official archives of the East
India Company and of His Majesty’s Government, are far from supporting any claim
on the part of Turkey to “prior occupancy and long undisturbed possession” of the
Shatt-el-Arab ; while no express stipulation is contained in the Treaty of Erzeroum
(1847) as to the ownership of the river.
If, therefore, His Majesty’s Government had strict regard either to purely local
considerations or to the letter of the treaties, they would not hesitate to press for
the frontier as locally recognised along its whole length from Hawizeh to the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . But they prefer to look at the negotiations in which they are now
engaged as a whole, and are sincerely anxious to arrive at an arrangement which both
parties can accept ex animo, and which, by removing all points of grievance and
friction not only between themselves, but also between the Sublime Porte and the
Sheikh of Mohammerah, will place the relations of all concerned on a thoroughly
satisfactory footing. Provided, therefore, the Turkish Government will accept the
frontier status quo as already indicated from the neighbourhood of Hawizeh to the
point where the Khaiyin Canal and the Nahr Nazaileh enter the Shatt-el-Arab, then
His Majesty’s Government are prepared to use their influence with the Persian Govern
ment and the Sheikh of Mohammerah to induce them to recognise Turkish sovereignty
over the whole waterway of the Shatt-el-Arab, subject to the following conditions :—
(i.) The following islands to be recognised as within the territorial limits of
Persia:—