File 4480/1923 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf: Ownership of the Shatt-el-Arab’ [‎198v] (407/732)

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Memorandum by Mr. Malkin respecting the Perso-Iraqi Frontier at the Mm n,
the Shatt-el-Arab. -‘outhof
am afraid I shall h;i
the Shatt-el-Arab.
THE point raised is both interesting and difficult, and
to explain my ideas at some length.
Article 2 of the Treaty of Erzerum (the article which assumes that the front-
runs down the Persian hank of the Shatt) gives Persian ships the right to navin f
the Shatt " depuis 1'endroit oil ce fleuve se jette dans la mer.” The 1913 nr , ,
savs: “ De ce point la frontihre suit le cours du Chatt-el-Arab jusqu’a h Wr
laissant sous la souverainet^ ottomane ie fleuve.” It is plain that the frontier 1 -5
down by these instruments went down the river to the point where it ceased to 1 ”
river and fell into the sea, or, to use the language which we should employ nowada 3
to the point where national waters ceased and territorial waters began It wnVtk’
frontier and nothing beyond it which the Delimitation Commission set up under it
protocol, was to trace “ sur les lieux,” and consequently their mission ceased at u'
point where the frontier terminated at the mouth of the river. e
What the commission did was to start their work at the southern end of the Kn
and consequently the first thing they had to do was to fix the point at which thi
frontier terminated and la mer ” began. This they did as follows (p li of
printed minutes of their meetings) : “ La ligne frontiere vient du large pour touch!
la rive gauche du Chatt-el-Arab a un point situe a une distance de 2 milles en »»«
du fort appartenant actuellement au Cheikh Khazaal.” The point so fixed was h
one at which their work began, and the only point of the phrase “ vient du larve -
was presumably to fix exactly the spot where the line along the river bank bell
For if their intention had been to lay down the frontier on the seaward side of that
spot one would have expected them to carry their line a good deal further and lie
would, in fact have been departing from the terms of the protocol, which’madeS
frontier follow the bank to the sea. On this understanding the phrase they us! “ L
igne frontiere \ lent du large, is not strictly accurate, because the frontier line
? ld Ta .w°T f f° m 6 f a ’ but began at the P oint where the commissioners’ line
touched the bank and the same criticism is applicable to the earlier phrase “Le
ZlLZ ? ront ‘> re . ve “ ant [ 1u iar ge touche la rive persane.” P A possibk
explanation of their action is that they regarded “ la mer ” as beginning not at the
point where their line touched the bank, but at the end of the line, and on the map
it looks quite a possible explanation, as the point where the line stops certainly looks
much more like the mouth of the river than the point where it touches th/hink-
th 1S 1 ? ter P retatlon fits in quite wel 1 with the suggestions which 1 am going to make-
s whaThe^meant 0 den ^ 1“ tbe ,/? aSOns g iven ab ove, the commissioners!.“thu
ion the r line T T 1 terms 1 of reference, since, on that assump-
PoTnt vvhere thev tbn ibi ?? contl ^ d ^ng the Persian bank until it reached the
P The umW !f != l! be g an . In , stead going out into the middle,
i • i upshot ot this is that the commissioners obviously regarded the uoint at
oMhe tintwheratrVd' 1 !! la p mer ” as b -ng either fhe end of tLir L
anv line was w T f d , the F e . rSlan bank : Be y° nd tha t was “ la mer,” and
If one looks now • t tl' a v * ne .between Persian and Turkish territorial waters,
the -\dmiraltv nrp v f 16 -' ldlnirat . v chart sent with this letter, it is plain that
the river as bLt nnT w 8 °ei qU ' te u dl ^ erent id ea. They regard the mouth of
points of the two non' 6 ^ een *l'- 6 [“'{P 1 a [ 1< sou th beacons, but as lying between the
regard the sbnroo P f T, . aS Ca " ed M , araket Abadan a " d Maraket Abdulla. They
waters of Pe!!;!, ,nd 1 6 two P e . mi f das as the base lines from which the territorial
accordinglv on thV rac l are to be drawn, and have shown the limits of those waters
Channel fs^I^rte In P 0n this assumption, the eastern half of the Rooka
national waters nn tl eisinn territorial waters, and the western half is in Persian
t'^ tbe , assumption that the commission’s line is to be continued to
ChaCei Jght n! mil! T aterS lnterc ept. On this assumption, the Western
theendof tl?p >nm ' b - ^°r e ra( t na t lo nal waters. It depends on where exactly
to obse™ that on?bf Ad S ‘"ft C °r S 0n , the Adm irelty chart, and it is very material
in what the 4dmirnlt mi ralty chart the end of the line comes not in the water but
Now it i Xin ’T iv X X { T - the P ur P° ses of . the base line as land,
with the work of tho’ 1Ilk ’- t b at this view of the situation is quite inconsistent
points of Th!se two n!n , SS '° n ' , ” \ he mouth of ^ river really lies between the
ponts these two peninsulas and la mer” only begins at that point, the com-