IOR/L/PS/10/430/2

Correspondence, reports and maps relating to the 1913 Turco-Persian Frontier Commission, and the production of the Protocole relative à la Délimitation turco-persane, signé à Constantinople le 4 (17) Novembre, 1913.

The primary correspondents are: HM Consul-General at Teheran (Sir Walter Beaupre Townley); HM Consul-General at Constantinople; HM Vice-Consul at Kashr-i Shirin (E B Soane); the India Office Political Department; the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs (Said Halim); the Russian Consul-General in Baghdad (M Orlof); the Russian Ambassador to the UK (Count Von Benckendorff); HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey); and Albert Charles Wratislaw, head of the British section of the Commission.

The file opens with correspondence regarding reported Turkish military build-up in Kasr-i Shirin [Qaṣr-e Shīrīn], disturbances on the Baghdad-Kermaāshāh route, local raids by Persian and Turkish tribesmen, possible concessions to Turkey in the Zohab [Zohāb] district, and the difficulty of reaching an agreement which would be acceptable to Sunni and Shia tribes in the Zohab region. A map of the Zohab region is included at folio 305.

The bulk of the file concerns arrangements for the Frontier Commission, discussing: the push for a settlement; the composition of the British, Russian, Turkish and Persian commissions; the need to use surveying and triangulation to improve on pre-existing, inaccurate maps; the wording of the internal rules [Règlement Intérieur] to govern the Commission; arrangements over work to be conducted by the northern and southern sections of the Commission; and arrangements to preserve the rights of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in regions to be transferred to Turkey.

Key items:

Folios 224-29 Declaration regarding the frontier, signed by Sir Edward Grey and I Hakky Pasha, with four accompanying maps:

• Map No 1, Sketch Map showing Turco-Persian Frontier West and South of Hawizeh [Howeyzeh];
• Map No 2, Sketch Map of Muhammareh [Khorramshar] to indicate the Turco-Persian Boundary;
• Map No 3, Sheet No I, Map of Shatt-Al-'Arab & Bahmanshir [Rūdkhāneh-ye Bahmanshīr] including Muhammareh [Khorramshar] & 'Abbádán I [Ābādān];
• Map No 4, Sheet No II, Map of Shatt-Al-'Arab & Bahmanshir, including Muhammareh & 'Abbádán I.

Folios 68-87 Copy of the Protocole relative à la Délimitation turco-persane, signé à Constantinople le 4 (17) Novembre, 1913, plus: additional copies of the four maps detailed above; Annex (A), Règlement intérieur de la Commission de Délimitation de la Frontière turco-persane; Annex (B) Statement by the Ottoman Government pledging to maintain, within the territories granted by Persia to Turkey, the rights and obligations granted to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ltd by the Persian Imperial Government under the Convention of 28 May, 1901; also included are notes on the meetings of the frontier delegates at Constantinople, 4-9 November, written by the British Commissioner, Albert Charles Wratislaw.

Folio 67 is a collection header sheet, giving the subject heading and a list of correspondence references found within the part, listed by year.