Ext 1133/47 'Foreign Office print: Persian Frontiers (with map)' [‎7r] (13/30)

7
(ii) The Russo-Persian Frontier East of
the Caspian Sea
35. In former times, before Russia ob
tained a footing on the eastern shores of
the Caspian Sea, there were no fixed
t^ndaries between the great Persian
province of Khorasan and the desolate
Turkman country to the north. Shah
Abbas the Great initiated the practice of
settling and maintaining colonies of
Kurdish and other warlike tribesmen in
the mountainous country in the north of
Khorasan in order to keep at bay the pre
datory Turkmans. Nadir Shah not only
followed this policy actively, but also over
ran the whole Turkman country, up to
and including Merv Khiva, besides sub
duing Bukhara and Samarqand. This
extension of Persian authority to the north
and north-east was purely ephemeral, and
on Nadir's assassination the northern
slopes of the mountain fringe formed by
the Kopet Dagh, Kuren Dagh, Kuh-i-
Hazar Masjid and other ranges to the
south-east once again came to constitute
the northern limits of Khorasan.
36. Russian interest in the south-east
corner of the Caspian and in the regions
beyond was first aroused in the time of
Peter the Great, but it was not until over
a century later that a real attempt was
made to establish a foothold in those parts.
As Persia was debarred by the treaties of
Gulistan and Turkmanchai from main
taining warships flying her flag on the
Caspian, she was unable to cope with the
piratical Turkmans on the south-east coast
of that sea. Their raids became so trouble
some that in 1834 Persia asked Russia for
aid against them. Russia used this request
as a pretext for establishing a force on
Ashurada Island, which she maintained
there for many years, ostensibly for pre
venting Turkman raids, despite repeated
protests by Persia (it was only in 1921 that
Soviet Russia expressly renounced all claim
to the island; see para. 42 below).
37. In 1869, wRen Russia seized Qizil-
Su (which she renamed Krasnovodsk, the
Russian equivalent of the Turki name) and
Balkhan Bay, Persia protested, and
enquired for what purpose a fort at Kras
novodsk was being constructed. She also
asked for an assurance that Russia would
not interfere with the Yomut Turkmans
who inhabited the country round the
mouths of the Atrak and Gurgan rivers.
Russia, in reply, stated that she recognised
Persian authority as far north as the
mouth of the Atrak. The Persian Govern
ment acquiesced, as they were under the
impression that the Russian claim to the
territory north of the Atrak applied only
to a coastal strip extending inland no more
than 30 or 40 miles.
38. Russian expansion eastwards and
south-eastwards from Krasnovodsk soon be
came very marked. In 1873 Russia took
Qizil Arvat and conquered Khiva, and it
was not long before she claimed from Persia
the northern half of the whole basin of the
Atrak. In the meanwhile she had erected
a fort at Chikishliar, a place on the
Caspian coast 9 miles north-west of the
Gulf of Hasan-Quli. In 1880-81 the
Russian forces under General Skobelev
attacked and completely crushed the Akhal
Tekke Turkmans, thus extending Russia’s
hold along the northern foothills of the
Kopet Dagh and of its extensions south-east
ward to Ashkhabad (this name is a Turki
corruption of Tshqabad) and beyond.
39. On 21st December, 1881, Russia and
Persia concluded a frontier convention at
Tehran. This convention defined the
frontier from the mouth of the Atrak
River (which then flowed into the sea on
the southern side of the Gulf of Hasan-
Quli) to the small town of Lutfabad, 60
miles east-north-east of Quchan. The
Atrak itself served as the boundary as far
as Chat, 75 miles east-north-east of the
Gulf of Hasan-Quli (as will be seen in
paragraph 40 below, the river has since
changed its course, and now flows into the
Caspian some distance to the north of its
former mouth). From Chat the frontier
ran first north-east and then east along the
ridges of the Songu Dagh and Sagirim
for 55 miles; it then swung to the north,
crossed the Chandir, a tributary of the
Atrak, just to the west of the ruined fort
of Yangi-Qaheh, and bore east again until
it reached the Kopet Dagh. The boundary
then followed the ridges of the Kopet Dagh
and other mountains in a predominantly
south-easterly direction as far as Lutfabad.
This frontier line left the village and
district of Firuzeh (which is on the road
from Gdk Tepe to Shirvan) in Persia. The
convention provided for the demarcation of
the frontier as far as Lutfabad.
40. The Russo-Persian delimitation
commission began its labours in 1882 and
ended its task three years later. It was
subsequently discovered that the Persian
commissioners had, either through igno
rance or bribery, accepted as the extreme
western portion of the frontier not the
Atrak itself, but an artificial irrigation
canal which was several miles to the south
of that river. A further complication
arose when the Atrak changed its course
in its lower reaches, and took a more
northerly route to the sea. The Russians