الملف E/8 I ابن سعود [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٦] (٦٠٦/٢٦٧)

The meeting to which he had referred had in fact taken place. Hakki
Pasha would recollect that some months ago I had spoiven to him a on is
Maiestv's Government being able to use their good offices m order to ellect a
reconciliation between him and the Turkish Government, and His Hig ness
had, after reference to Constantinople, expressed his Government s apprecia
tion of our offer, which, if later need should arise, they would be glad to avniL
themselves of, but that they were themselves in negotiation with Bin Saud
and they hoped soon to reach a satisfactory settlement.
Now, however, no substantial progress seemed to have been made with Bin
Saud by the Ottoman Government, and meanwhile there had been great un
rest on the Trucial Coast and near Maskat, there were fears that Bin Saud, if
His Majesty's Government treated him with coldness, would retaliate by forc
ible action against the tribes under our protection, and we could not face with
equanimity the prospect of having to send a large expedition to quell any
disturbances which might arise. This, and the fact that our merchants were
damaged in their interests by being excluded from El Katif, made it necessary
for us, from the force of circumstances, to address some communications to Bin
Saud ; but we were so far from wishing to undermine the Ottoman authority,
or depart from an attitude of strict neutrality to which His Majesty's Govern
ment intended to adhere, that we had already arranged with Sir P. Cox to meet
Hakki Pasha in order to have a full discussion.
Hakki Pasha said he had no authority to discuss the position with
Sir P. Cox, but he would agree to meet him provided it was understood that
the discussion should be tentative and non-committal. The Ottoman Govern
ment meant to re-establish their garrisons in El Hasa, and they would deeply
resent it if Bin Saud received any encouragement from us. I repeated that we
were and would remain neutral, but we had certain interests to protect on the
Trucial Coast, and we must also insist upon our merchants having access to
El Katif as to every other portion of the Ottoman Empire : we had, however,
heard it stated that the Turks wished to exclude us from El Katif even for
purposes of trade. Hakki Pasha said he could not think that this was really
the case, but he impressed upon ms that the Ottoman Government attached
great value to our formal and binding recognition of the province of
Nejd, for Parliament was soon meeting and they would have to make full use
of this in justifying the many concessions they had made to us, with ragard to
El Katr, the Aden delimitation up to the Buba A1 Khali, and the Turco-
Persian frontier; and if now they found that we did not in fact recognise
Turkish authority in Nejd the agreements with us would be most unpopular:
in fact, the Ottoman Government would be bound by their engagements to us,
and we should evade our awn to them.
I impressed upon him very clearly and repeatedly that there was no ques
tion of any such evasion—a situation of fact had arisen and must be faced,
and for this purpose we wished to meet him in friendly discussion. If we had
not wished to deal with the matter in this open and friendly way, we should not
have proposed to him in the tummer to use our good offices to effect a recon
ciliation.
The discussion was quite Hendly, but I feel that the situation is delicate,
and that unless it is carefully handled the Turks may make difficulties.
Foreign Office) 7th March 1914, A. P.
J