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Coll 17/20(1) 'Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930. Revision of Treaty 1948' [‎135v] (270/304)

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The record is made up of 1 file (149 folios). It was created in 20 Jan 1933-3 Feb 1948. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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2
Enclosure in No. 1.
Record of a Conversation between Sir F. Humphrys and Yasin Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
YASIN PASHA An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who is Minister of Finance in the new Cabinet, asked it l
would receive him on the 22nd March, and we conversed for about two houis.A
He said that he wished to dispel certain misapprehensions which had arisen
regarding the speeches which he had made in the Chamber of Deputies on the
16th March, when he attacked Nuri Shaukat, the late Prime Minister, on the
subject of the treaty. He said that he had been incorrectly reported in some ot
the Bagdad newspapers. It was true that he had criticised adveisely the
Financial Agreement signed by Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and myself in London in August
1930, which had been ratified with the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930. 1 his did
not mean, however, that he had any intention of agitating for the revision of the
Financial Agreement, as he realised that his acceptance of office in the new
Government implied agreement with the policy of his colleagues. On my asking
what this policy was, he declined to define it in advance of the statement which
he said would "be shortly made by the Prime Minister. He said that he quite
realised that the Treaty of 1930 and its annexures, after its ratification by the
Parliaments of our two countries, had become an international bond which must
be honourably observed by both parties, but he hoped that, if he remained in office,
he would have the opportunity later to approach me, directly or indirectly, with
a view r to the revision of the stipulations in the agreement which concerned the
Iraq railways in particular. He admitted that the present arrangement could
not be altered except by mutual consent, but he hoped that my Government would
show generosity in a matter on which Iraqis of all shades of opinion held very
strong views.
I reminded him that the agreement on the subject of railways was based on
the recommendations of Sir Hilton Young, who was one of the foremost experts
of our time and had visited Iraq twice during recent years for the purpose of
giving advice on financial questions. The scheme which had been laid down in
that agreement involved the creation of a statutory board, whose operations would
be subject to the provisions of a Railway Corporation Law. which was was to be
passed by agreement between our two Governments. Until that law was passed
and the scheme recommended by Sir Hilton Young had been tried, it was clearly
unreasonable to discuss any other arrangement. If, however, the scheme failed
after being given a fair trial, it would be incumbent on our two Governments to
devise something else. I assured him that it was the genuine desire of my
Government to hand over eventually to the Iraq Government an efficient railway
system, which was not over capitalised and which they could run for themselves
with a minimum of foreign assistance as soon as Iraqis had been trained for the
purpose. I felt sure that he would admit that the interests of his country
demanded that the management of the railways should be in experienced hands
throughout.
We next discussed briefly the Port of Basra, in regard to the management of
which Yasin Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. had no serious objections to urge.
I then asked him whether he had really said in Parliament that the existence
of Royal Air Force units in Iraq was inconsistent with the country’s indepen
dence. Yasin replied somewhat evasively that he had always held the view that
the Treaty of 1930 did not confer complete independence on Iraq. He would not
urge that complete independence was possible or even beneficial in the present
circumstances, but it annoyed him to hear Iraqi statesmen—such as the late Prime
Minister—affirm in public that Iraq was now completely independent. After I
had explained to him. on the lines of my evidence before the Permanent Mandates
Commission at Geneva, the reasons why the location of Royal Air Force units in
Iraq was necessary in order to make possible the discharge of Great Britain's
obligations under the alliance, I asked him straight out whether he preferred a
treaty of alliance with us or an ordinary treaty of friendship. Yasin stated
emphatically that a treaty of alliance was necessary for Iraq until she was
strong enough to defend herself without foreign assistance. It would take many
years for her to bring her army up to the required standard and, in the meantime,
he would prefer an alliance with Great Britain to one with any other Power. He
said that Great Britain's record in Iraq had been immeasurably more generous

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Content

The file contains papers relating to the Treaty of Alliance (Anglo-Iraqi Treaty) of 1930 between the United Kingdom and Iraq, and the revised Treaty of Alliance of 1948.

Papers dated January 1933 to December 1934 mostly concern the following: the attitude and policy of King Feisal and the Iraqi Cabinet towards the Treaty of 1930; complaints by George Arthur Ogilvie-Forbes, HM Representative, Baghdad, on behalf of the British Government, to the Government of Iraq about the hostile attitude of the Iraqi press towards the 1930 Treaty and the United Kingdom; the death of King Feisal [Faysal I] and the attitude of the new King, King Ghazi [Ghazi I]; and the desire of the Iraqi Government to publish certain explanatory notes on the Treaty of 1930.

Papers dated from March 1946 to February 1948 relate to the revision of the Treaty of 1930, and the signing of the new Treaty of Alliance of 1948. They include papers concerning the political consequences of the signing of the Treaty, including ‘rioting’ in Baghdad and the resignation of the Iraqi Prime Minister Saleh Jabr [Salih Jabr].

The file does not include any papers for the period January 1935 to February 1946.

The papers dated 1933 to 1934 largely consist of copy correspondence between Sir Francis Humphreys, HM Ambassador to Iraq, and the Foreign Office (including letters addressed to Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs). The papers dated 1946 to 1948 largely consist of correspondence and copy correspondence between the following: HM Embassy, Baghdad, and the Foreign Office; the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Board of Trade; the Commonwealth Relations Office and the governments of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Newfoundland, and Southern Rhodesia; and Saiyid Saleh Jabr, Prime Minister of Iraq, and Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary.

The file also includes a copy of the Draft Anglo-Iraqi Treaty dated 9 January 1948, and a published copy of the Treaty of Alliance between the United Kingdom and Iraq, dated 15 January 1948.

The file includes a letter in Arabic from Mohamed Fadhil Al Jamali, Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs, to Hugh Stonehewer-Bird, HM Ambassador to Iraq, 2 August 1946 (folio 74), for which there is an English translation.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (149 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 152; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script
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Coll 17/20(1) 'Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930. Revision of Treaty 1948' [‎135v] (270/304), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2881A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100066256409.0x000047> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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