ملف رقم ٣٤٥ لسنة ١٩٠٨ الجزء الثاني "المحمرة: الوضع. نزاع الشيخ مع والي البصرة. تقليد الشيخ وساماً. تجديد التطمينات للشيخ". [و‎‎١‎٧‎٦] (٥٦٦/٣٥٦)

PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL
No. 1.
(N 101 ) ^ ^ ar ^ n y t0 ^^loaird Grey.—{Received July 4.)
^ r > _ Gulahek, June 14, 1910.
WITH reference to the recent telegraphic correspondence on the subject of the
quarrel between the Sheikh of Mohammerah and the Vali of Bussorah, I have the
honour to transmit to you herewith copies of two despatches (but not of their
enclosures, which presumably have reached you already from His Majesty’s Ambassador
at Constantinople) from His Majesty’s consul at Mohammerah, giving an account of the
question down to the L2th May.
I see little in these reports that calls for any comment on my part at this stage,
and I will therefore reserve any observations which I may have to offer on the case
until I am in possession of the case for the Sheikh of Mohammerah, which has so
frequently been mentioned in Colonel Cox’s telegrams.
I have, &c.
CHARLES M, MARLING.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Acting Consul Wilson to Mr. Marling.
^ r ’ „ , _ Mohammerah, May 7, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to forward, for your information, copies of the enclosed
documents on the subject of the action taken by the Vali of Bussorah in satisfaction of
certain alleged grievances against the Sheikh of Mohammerah.
2. I would also invite reference to the enclosed telegram on the subject
3. In explanation of the general question of the sheikh’s influence and interestin
Turkish terntory, I would point out that more than half the Arabs occupying the date
groves on the western (Turkish) bank of the Shatt-al-Arab belong to tribes which have
been for the last 100 years subject to the Sheikh of Mohammerah. The numerous
islands in the river are occupied almost solely by his tribes, and of the eight headmen
wno signed the agreement between the sheikh and the oil company relating to
Abbadan Island, four live in Turkish territory, though they are undoubtedly Persian
subjects, born, like their fathers, on Persian soil.
4. Hitheito no Vah of Bussorah has attempted to raise the question of nationality,
and I am informed by Mirza Hamza, the sheikh’s Bussorah agent, that the Persian
nationality of such tribesmen was explicity recognised by the Turks and formally
recorded in the Government books. J
The piesent vali, Sulaiman Nathif, has confined himself to the mere assertion that
Muhammad Chanan, whom he sought to arrest, was a Turkish subject, and refused to
discuss the question with Sheikh Khaz’al or his agent in any wav, until Muhammad
Chanan had been handed over to him for punishment.
l>. This man is the head of the largest and most powerful of the tribes under the
direct control of the sheikh, and is the latter’s brother-in-law. He has some
4,000 riflemen at his disposal in case of war. and provided some 2,000 to the sheikh in
1908, when the latter, with the authority of the Persian Government, was engao-ed in
subduing the turbulent tribes of Hawaizah. His surrender, in any case, therefore
would be a practical impossibility for the sheikh, and would alienate from the latter a
large section of his tribesmen.
He has not, moreover, been accused of any definite crime, and there is no reason
as far as I am aware, to think that he has been in an}^ way concerned in crime or
intrigues f° r some time past. On the contrary, for the last eighteen months the
fehatt-al-Arab has been unprecedently quiet, and no outrages attributable in any way
to the sheikh s tribesmen have occurred. J J
6. Until the middle of last month, the vali’s relations with Sheikh Khaz’al were '
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