Turkey is also claiming sovereignty over the head waters of
the Gulf. For more than fifty years Great Britain has lighted and buoyed the bar across the mouth of the Shatt-nl-Arab- the British India Company did it till last whiter, when the duty was taken over by the Government of India—and other nations have profited by the service. Lately the Turks, who have never even surveyed the waters, put buoys along- side our buoys and a lightship near our lightship. The excuse is that complaints of the lighting and buoying have been received from a German company, and theremoval of the British sea-marks is demanded. Finally Turkey demands exclusive control of the navigation of the Shatt-ul-Arab, although one bank belongs to Persia, and no country can exclusively control a river of which it does not own both banks. It is sa essential for us to protect our interests in the Gulf that we cannot be wrong in thinking that this extraordinary procedure is being carefully watched by our Foreign Office and that it will be firmly checked if necessary.
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