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Coll 17/15(1) 'Perso-Iraq Relations: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎171v] (353/961)

The record is made up of 1 volume (476 folios). It was created in 1 May 1933-15 Mar 1935. It was written in English and French. 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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12
ment. Otherwise, according to the stipulations of the treaty, the Persian
Government will have a right to claim both the land and the tribes; andthi
mediation on the part of the commissioners shall only relate to the frontier
between Fyleeah and Kasreyn.”
With regard to these conditions, it can be said of the first that no further
“ demands ” were made, and of the second that Persia has in fact since acquired
the area of which she considered herself wrongfully dispossessed.
18. The question of sovereignty in the Shatt-el-Arab seems to have
remained quiescent from 1850 to about 1908.
19. In that year His Majesty’s Government, being apprehensive of Turkish
encroachments on the possessions of the Sheikh of Mohammerah (the chief in
modern times of the Ka’ab tribe), informed His Majesty’s Ambassador at
Constantinople that—
“ In the Mohammerah district His Majesty’s Government are not
prepared to recognise any other frontier than that laid down by the
mediating commissioners in 1850. . . . Any disturbance of the status quo
at Mohammerah would affect British interests and might not improbably
lead to the active intervention of His Majesty’s Government, who have given
the Sheikh certain assurances as to his territory.”
20. As it happened, no warning to the Turkish Government on these lines
proved necessary, but His Majesty’s consul at Mohammerah (Lieutenant, and
afterwards Sir Arnold, Wilson) and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
(Sir Percy Cox) pointed out that there was, in fact, a discrepancy between the
mediating commissioners’ line and the status quo.
21. I he discrepancies in question were that according to the status quo—
(a) the centre of the river, and not the left bank, was the recognised frontier.
(5) the land frontier left the river at a point about 6 miles westwards, or
up-stream, from the point indicated by the mediating commissioners.
22. His Majesty’s Government considered that it was impossible to
disregard the mediating commissioners’ line, whatever the status quo might be,
especially as it was directly or indirectly the sole protection for the interests of
the Persian Government on other parts of the frontier; and they eventually
suggested a compromise whereby Turkey should be confirmed in her rights over
the whole of the river in return for her relinquishment of any claim to the lands
above Mqhammerah then held by Persia in advance of the mediating commis
sioners line, and the grant to Persia of an anchorage in the Shatt-el-Arab itself
opposite Mohammerah.
23. This compromise was communicated to the Turkish Ambassador in
Lonclon on the 18th July, 1912, accepted unofficially by the Turkish Minister for
Foreign Affairs on the 9th September, 1912, confirmed in the so-called
eclaration by Sir Edward Grey and Hakky Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of the 29th July, 1913.
and eventually embodied in the Constantinople Protocol of the 17th November,
lyie).
24. The relevant portion of the note of the 18th July, 1912, to the Turkish
Government ran as follows :—
From the point where the locally-observed frontier leaves the Khaiyin
Canal and, opposite the Nahr Nazaileh, enters the main channel of the
att-el-Arab it [i.e., the ‘ locally observed ’ or status quo frontier] follows
e medium filum aquce 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 presump
tion 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
pi lor occupancy and long undisturbed possession on the part of one of the
two States, or by express treaty stipulation.

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Content

The volume contains papers regarding relations between Persia [Iran] and Iraq. It primarily concerns the frontier delineated by the 1913-1914 Boundary Commission, in particular Persian claims over areas of the Shatt el-Arab, and rights to oilfields in the Naft Khana [Naft Khāna] or Khaniqin [Khāniqīn]area. The papers document renewed negotiations over the border, and include discussion of the following topics: Iraqi concerns over Persian military activities conducted in Iraq; Persia's refusal to recognise the validity of the 1914 Frontier Delimitation Protocol; attempts to redraw the frontier at the Shatt el-Arab along the thalweg [valley way], as opposed to the medium filum aquae ; proposals to revive the Shatt el-Arab Conservancy Board Scheme; and proposals for an agreement to regulate the exploitation of the oilfields in the transferred territories on the frontier near Khanqin, including the proposed creation of a special zone. These papers primarily consist of correspondence between the following: HM Ambassadors at Baghdad, Teheran and Italy; 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. Political Department; the Foreign Office (principally Sir John Simon, and J C Sterndale-Bennet); the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs; and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In 1935 the Iraqi Government formally raised the question of the frontier with the Council of the League of Nations, and sought a Court ruling as to the validity of the 1914 Boundary Protocol. The Italian delegate to the League (Baron Pompeo Aloisi) was designated Rapporteur to the negotiations, and the volume contains correspondence between the Foreign Office and HM Ambassador in Rome, regarding a proposed Italo-Iraqi Treaty of Friendship, proposals regarding the frontier made by Aloisi, and general Italian influence over Iran and Iraq. The volume also includes copies of memoranda and minutes circulated by the League, in addition to correspondence regarding the negotiations in Geneva and Italy, and documents from the Committee of Imperial Defence Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East.

The volume includes a divider giving a list of correspondence references found in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (476 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 472; 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. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves, have not been foliated.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 17/15(1) 'Perso-Iraq Relations: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎171v] (353/961), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2869, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100074341458.0x00009a> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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