IOR/R/15/2/25

This file contains correspondence between the British Political Agent at Bahrain; the British Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire; Yūsuf bin Aḥamad Kanoo [Kānū]; Shaikh ‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah, ruler of Bahrain; and Shaikh Jāsim bin Muḥammad Āl Thānī, ruler of Qatar. In addition, there are copies of correspondence between Bushire and the Foreign Department of the Government of India, the Foreign Office in London and the British Consuls at Basra and Constantinople.

This file concerns Turkish activities on the island of al-Zakhnūniyah and the Ḥawār islands, and at al-Wakrah in Qatar between 1909 and 1912. There is a number of items of correspondence between Shaikh‘Īsā and the British Political Agent at Bahrain concerning Bahrain’s claim to the island of al-Zakhnūniyah (folios 6-7). There are also details of the 1910 Turkish occupation of the island (folios 52-60) and British representations to Constantinople requesting their withdrawal (folios 64).

The file also includes details of Francis Beville Prideaux's visit with Yūsuf bin Aḥmad Kanoo in March 1909 to visit Shaikh Jāsim at Lusayl to discuss his relations with the Turks (folios 8-11 and 13), as well as further correspondence between Yūsuf bin Aḥmad Kanno and Shaikh Jāsim on the same subject (folios 14-23).

Also contained in the file is a detailed report entitled 'Asiatic Turkey and Arabia' by Sir Edward Grey of the Foreign Office, dated 17 October 1910, which deals with the Turkish presence in Arabia and the Gulf.