IOR/L/PS/10/162

The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to the Turkish occupation of Zakhnuniyah Island, the Ottoman attitude towards piracy cases, and the appointment of officials in Zubara, Odeid and Wakra.

The discussion in the volume relates to the Turkish occupation of a disused fort (built by Shaikh Ali bin Khalifah, Ruler of Bahrain) on Zakhnuniyah Island and the placing of Ottoman officials in Zubara, Odeid and Wakra. Correspondence reflects British concerns over Turkish claims to sovereignty in the coastal area of the Qatar Peninsula and how these could best be resisted, particularly in the strategic context of the construction of the Berlin to Baghdad railway. In discussing Zakhnuniyah, reference is made to typed extract of the relevant page (1937) of Lorimer's Persian Gulf Gazetteer (Geographical and Statistical Volume) which describes how the Dawasir tribe halted there, during the course of their emigration from Najd (see folio 236).

Further discussion surrounds Turkish obstruction of the investigation of cases of piracy in the Persian Gulf and the proposed visit of H M S Redbreast to Al Bidaa.

Included in the volume are copies of the Committee for Imperial Defence papers 'Turkish Agression in the Persian Gulf" and 'Local Action in the Persian Gulf' (ff 12-15).

The principal correspondents in the volume include the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey); the Viceroy of India; the ruler of Bahrain; the Political Agent, Kuwait (Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear); the British Ambassador to Constantinople; His Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul for Arabistan (Lieutenant Arnold Talbot Wilson); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox); the Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.