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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎21r] (41/501)
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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎21r] (41/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil'
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Ref: Mss Eur F112/294

The record is made up of 251 folios (1 file). It was created in 15 Nov 1922-3 Nov 1923. It was written in English. 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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fetafi. It is agreed in particular that Turkish forces advancing from Jezire-ibn-
Omar or Nisibin should be exceptionally vulnerable to attacks from the air.
The 1 Air Council have, however, to consider the possibility that in certain
circumstances (as for example in case of attack by still larger forces than those
envisaged by you) His Majesty’s Government would view with apprehension a plan
which placed a large proportion of the garrison in a very advanced position, and
that they might require your operations to be limited to a closer radius of strongly
defended points.
I am, therefore, to request that you will submit an alternative scheme or schemes
to meet that contingency.
I am, &c.
(Signed) J. A. WEBSTER.
The Air Officer Commanding, Air Headquarters,
British Forces in Iraq, Baghdad.
Annexure C.
Cij)her telegram from A.O.C., Iraq, to Air Ministry. — {Despatched, November 21,
1922, 20-50; Received November 22, 1922. 9-30.
(Secret.) AM 1134.
(Paraphrase.) Three Parts.
Part I.
X5053 of 21st November. Reference your letter of 1st November, S 18081/S 6
(Annexure B), in which it is suggested that under certain conditions His Majesty’s
Government view’s with apprehension the offensive policy to be adopted in the event
of Turkish aggression, and that it may have to be modified considerably to defensive
policy nearer to Baghdad.
F have to offer the following observations :—
If, at an advance b}^ [? Turkish] forces Mosul area is abandoned, the con
sequences on Iraq may prove disastrous, as in all probability the w’hole country wdll
rise against us. The effect of air action alone from Mosul, against an advance of a
Turkish army of two or three divisions would be to delay it, but not to prevent it.
The inhabitants would interpret the sight of troops retiring from Mosul as a
defeat and the news, magnified a hundred times would travel immediately from
Mosul to Baghdad. Air action would cease for a while against the advancing enemy
as the last troops left Mosul, until they again came within striking distance of aii
air base further south. Baghdad is the next base from Mosul from which consider
able [one group indecipherable] air action could be carried out. Every hostile
element would have meanwhile raised its banner, and at the news of the British
defeat, the sight of our supply dumps burning at Mosul, and the retirement of the
existing garrison from there, all those who are now sitting on the fence w T ould flock
to them. The march of this small force to Baghdad would become under these
circumstances, w 7 hich are not overstated, an operation of extreme difficulty.
Part II.
Further, the line Erbil-Kirkuk-Khanikin would become exposed by a retire
ment from Mosul, and, as this line is held with a minimum of levy troops, its
abandonment would follow as a necessary corollary. Kurdistan would therefore be
left to Turkey, w T hile the repercussion of this on the tribes between this line and the
Tigris would be anarchic. Baghdad itself w*ould follow 7 suit, and although,
undoubtedly, a closer defence of strongly defended points would have an effect on the
people of the city, as the enemy's advance sweeps nearer only a small proportion of
the troops could be spared for the city itself, a situation of which full advantage
would be taken.
Communication would cease almost entirely from Baghdad to Basra and
vice versa, as the railwmy track would undoubtedly be torn up and the only line
remaining would be in the river.

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Content

Letters and papers on the frontier between Iraq (also written as Irak in the file) and Turkey, with particular reference to Mosul and questions concerning oil. The file consists mainly of correspondence between Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs George Curzon, and officials in the Foreign Office, Air Ministry, Colonial Office and Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Mustafa İsmet İnönü]. The contents of the file are as follows:

Following documents are undated:

  • Lord Balfour to League of Nations. Speech: The frontier between Turkish territory and the territory of Iraq
  • The President of the League of Nations. Reply: after Speech by Balfour
  • Typewritten report: The question of Mosul
  • Typewritten report: The Question of Mosul

The file also includes handwritten notes by Curzon on the Mosul vilayet and groups residing there.

Extent and format
251 folios (1 file)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear 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 251; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, 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 in Latin script
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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎21r] (41/501), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/294, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100130546285.0x00002a> [accessed 4 July 2026]

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Reference
Mss Eur F112/294
Title
'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil'
Pages
1r:28v, 28ar:28av, 29r:72v, 91r:167v, 170r:218r, 218r:251v
Author
East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms
Open Government Licence