Page 96 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

34 TIIE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES

year after he took office,1 and was succeeded by his son, Shaikh
Isa.2
During the period following these developments, between 1S70 and
1900, both the Ottoman Government and Persia continued with great
vigour to interest themselves in the affairs of Bahrain to whose sover­
eignty they both laid claims.3
The new ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Isa, who unlike his predecessor
showed no sympathy with either Turkey or Persia, signed two further
Agreements of 1880 and 1892, with the British Government.4 These
two agreements, which associated the British Government more
closely with the affairs of Bahrain, also strengthened the former’s
position in speaking, internationally, in the name of Bahrain. The
provisions of these agreements are considered below:
The Agreement of 22 December 18805
In this agreement, the Shaikh of Bahrain bound himself and his
successors in the Government of Bahrain to the British Government to
abstain from entering into negotiations or making treaties of any sort with
Shaikh Muhammad. See Curzon, G. N., Persia and the Persian Question, vol. II
(1892), p. 458.
For an agreement of 6 September 1868,concluded with Shaikh 'Ali.scc Aitchison,
pp. 236-7.
1 Shaikh Muhammad, who earlier escaped to the mainland of Arabia, man­
aged, with the support of his tribe and relatives, to launch an attack against
Bahrain. He killed his brother, Shaikh ‘Ali, and took control over the island. How­
ever, owing to British military intervention, he was captured with some of his
supporters. He and his supporters were then exiled to Bombay. See Aitchison,
pp. 194-5. 2 Ibid.
3 Aitchison, pp. 195-6; Lorimer, pp. 919-20. The British Government had always
regarded these claims as untenable. Turkey’s claim was based on her territorial
acquisition of the eastern coast of Arabia during the period 1870 to 1913, but it
was finally relinquished by the provisions of the draft Convention of 29 July
1913. Article 13 of this Convention stated:
‘The Ottoman Imperial Government renounces all its claims to the Bahrain
Islands . . . and recognizes the independence of the country. Britain, for her part,
declared that she “has no intention of annexing the islands of Bahrain” to her
territories’. This Convention remained unratified. (See Hurewitz, vol. 1, pp. 269-
272.) But by article 16 of the Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923, Turkey has given
up all her claims to ‘the territories situated outside the frontiers laid down in the
present Treaty’. This article applies also to Turkish claims over territories in the
Arabian Gulf. See Treaty Series, No. 16 (1923), Cmd. 1929.
4 The British Government had for a long time before the conclusion of these
agreements declined many requests made on the part of the Shaikhs of Bahrain—
including the deposed Shaikh, Muhammad, for the extension of British protection
to Bahrain. For Shaikh Muhammad’s letter of 19 February 1849, to the British
Resident, Major Hannell, asking for British protection over Bahrain, see F.O.
60/145, 1849, cited below, p. 172.
5 For text, see India, Foreign and Political Department, Treaties between the
British Government and the Rulers of Bahrain (1820-1914), part 4, pp. 1-17,
and see Appendix I.