" ملف رقم ١٣٥٦ لسنة ١٩١٢ الجزء ٢ "الحدود التركية-الفارسية:- مفاوضات في القسطنطينية. (حدود المحمرة)" [و‎‎٢‎٢‎٩] (٦٨٠/٤٦٦)

[This Docnment is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] ^ )
[A]
PERSIA.
^
CONFIDENTIAL.
[10716]
No. 1.
Minute by Mr. Parker.
I HAD an interview with Hakki Pasha to-day, when we discussed informally, hut
in considerable detail, the Turco-Persian frontier question.
I emphasised the great importance which Sir E. Grey attached to a final settlement,
and laid stiess on the fact that no great sacrifice was asked for from Turkey, for all
we desiied was a return to the status quo of 1848, which, with few minor changes,
had remained the status quo up to 1905, when the recent Turkish encroachments
began. I said that I had recently ascertained that the frontier status quo of 1848 was
substantially the line favoured as a just settlement by Sir Arnold Kemball in 1878,—
and that Sir A. Eemball had always been looked upon, even by the Turks themselves,
as a Commissioner whose sympathies inclined rather to Turkey than to Persia. Hakki
Pasha admitted this, and said he would like to follow the Kemball line on the
“ identic ” map: this we did; and we then compared it with a map showing the
status quo of 1848 (the year in which the Treaty of Erzeroum was ratified) and, so far
as was possible, with the line indicated in the Russian note of last August. The
three lines appear to correspond except in two localities to a minor degree, and we
only discussed them as far south as Bane (north of Zohab province and the 36th
parallel of latitude).
Hakki Pasha said that he recognised that the question must now be settled; that
a settlement was in the best interests of Turkey herself ; and that he thought the
Russian and English desire for a settlement was reasonable. He wished to do three
things :—
1. To satisfy Russia in regard to the north,
satisfy us from the Persian Gulf to the 32nd parallel of latitude (rather
north of Hawizeh),
3. To save Turkey s face, and the present Government from adverse criticism in
lurkey. lo do this it would be necessary to treat the frontier as a whole, and if
lurkey accepted the British and Russian notes of .1912 (relating to the southern and
northern portions of^ the frontier respectively) then she should receive some
compensation in the middle. He said he wished the settlement to appear in the light
of a compromise, and not of a Turkish surrender all along the line.'
I asked him what his idea of Turkish compensation in the middle would be ; and
he said that, accepting, for the sake of argument, the contention advanced in the
Russian note of 1912 that the Treaty of Erzeroum settled the whole question excepting
Zohab and Mohammerah, and accepting the British proposals of July 1912 respecting
Mohammerah, also for the sake of argument, it was well known that agreement had
never been reached as to^how the Treaty was to be interpreted with regard to Zohab.
i s to this province, Persia, he said, had taken advantage of Turkey’s embarrassments
during the Greek \v ar of Independence in order to annex it, and as the Treaty of
rzeroum had never been carried into^ effect in regard to Zohab, Persia had as a matter
of fact remained m possession ever since. This was a very unfair state of affairs
especially as a large portion of the population in the northern part of the province was
unm. His idea was that if Turkey accepted the Russian note substantially in regard
to the north, and our proposals in regard to Mohammerah, then Turkey ought to be
given some compensation both at Bane and in regard to the northern part of the
province of Zohab. He said both places were within the “neutral” zone on the
identic map.
I then asked if he wished to put forward this project of a compromise definitely,
m order that it might be considered fully. He said he would prefer not to do this for
the moment, but that he would give a definite answer on Friday.
He said that he would like to place before his Government a line as a recom
mendation made by 8ir E. Grey ; that if this were done there was considerable chance
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