"١٩١٤ ٥٠٩٤ الجزآن ١ و٢. لجنة الحدود التركية-الفارسية" [و‎‎١‎٣‎١] (٤١٢/٢٧٢)

what otliei pioportion could justly have been fixed. No arrangement has apparently
been come to yet between the two Governments, and the matter is complicated by the
tact mat me Vali oi Pushtikuh has by some means become owner of the Somar Valley.
/ 6 honoured .the Commission by a visit at Bagsai, and did not impress us
tavourabiy. lie manifested bitter and unreasoning hostility towards the Turks, of
whom he spoke Constantly as “my blood-enemies.” The Persian Government seem to
have little control over him.
. to my absence through illness, Captain Wilson was in charge of the
British commission while the section from Mendali to the Sirvan River was being
delimitated. The southern portion of this section, from Mendali to Kasr-i-Shirin, is
quite the most barren and desolate tract dealt with along the whole frontier, and is
completely abandoned by the nomad tribes once the summer heat has set in. This
year, fortunately, the season was quite a month behindhand, and it was found possible
to complete the work without incurring undue hardships.
Tlie only important question which arose was connected with the right of
pasturage of the Sinjabi (Persian) l^urds on territory which was formerly a no-man’s
land, and is now placed definitely on the Turkish side of the frontier. The arbitrating
commissioners expressed the formal opinion that these rights should be maintained.
Northwards of Kasr-i-Shirin the frontier begins to follow, in the main, well-defined
watersheds and rivers, and there should be little opening for subsequent disputes.
One notable exception exists, however, in the Nowsoud district, immediately north of
the Sirvan. Here an ideal frontier was present to hand in the shape of that river up
to the lofty Avroman range, and then the summit of the range itself. Unfortunately, j
at some time prior to the Treaty of Erzeroum, Persian j^urds had taken possession of
certain villages on what should have been the Turkish side of the natural frontier,
and the status quo thus formed was necessarily recognised in the protocol. The
Commission had therefore to do its best with unpromising materials. The district is
full of villages lying in the midst of extensive groves of walnut and mulberry trees,
and in some cases there are ‘Continuous plantations extending from a Persian to a j
Turkish village with no line of separation between the properties of the two. This !
was notably the case between the villages of Khan Guermele (Persian) and Biare
(Turkish), where the properties overlapped one another to a considerable extent, and
it was found impossible to run the frontier between the two without leaving Turkish
orchards in Persia and vice versa. The matter was complicated by the water supply
being common to two or more villages, the Persians usually having the advantage of
the up-stream situation. Our solution, arrived at after a minute study of the local
conditions, though probably the best of which the circumstances permitted, cannot be
regarded as entirely satisfactory, and it may have left a door open to petty quarrels.
A somewhat similar situation arose in connection with the village of Tchamperaw
(latitude 35° SO'). The protocol instructed the commissioners to decide the fate of
this village “ sur la base du principe accepte du statu quo,” and all the evidence
procurable tended to show that at the time of the Treaty of Erzeroum, Tchamperaw
was Persian. Unfortunately, it lies on the Turkish side of the watershed forming the
frontier both east and west of it, and the unavoidable departure from this natural
feature resulted in a clumsy compromise with an arbitrary line of demarcation between
the fields of Tchamperaw and the adjoining Turkish village of Siah Guvez.
From this point onward as far as Y T azneh, where I finally left the Commission, the
frontier follows well-defined natural features.