ملف ١٩١٥/٥٣ الجزء III "الحرب الألمانية: تركيا؛ المملكة العربية؛ الخلافة وجمال باشا" [و‎‎٢‎٦‎٣] (٦٠/٤١)

/ rmtedfor the use of the Cabinet. January 191 (i.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[34]
from tlie Turks and sided with the Allies, we would support an independent Arab
btate. lI ris would of eoiuse include Arabia and tlie Holy Places, but we bad not vet
been able to say anything definite about its boundaries on the side of Syria, because
that u r as a matter that interested the French. If, however, Djemal’s movement was
to have any chance of success he must get the Arabs to side with him, and he ouo-ht
to have an agreement with them. If he did that, our promises to the Arabs woukfbe
satisfied by anything to which they themselves had willingly agreed. I observed to
Fount Benckendor If that it would be necessary to consult the French Grovernment
about Syria especially.
On his asking about Italy, I said that, in order to see what the Italian require
ments were, M. Sazonof should refer to the agreement that we had made with Italy
when she entered into the war.
I told Count Benckendorff that we had carefully abstained from any promises or
discussion of the Caliphate. This we regarded as a Moslem question to be settled by
Moslems, in which there should be no interference by us.