SHAWKAT’S MISSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1941, Page 5

SHAWKAT’S MISSION

It had been assumed that Shawkat intended to submit acceptable proposals for ending the conflict in Iraq so that Turkey could transmit them to Britain, but from Shawkat’s conversation with the Turkish Foreign Minister. M. Saracoglu, it appears he is more interested in expounding the Iraqui case to Turkey and gaining Turkish support. Turkish circles suspect that Shawkat came to Ankara not so much to get into contact with the Turkish Government as to see the German Ambassador. Herr von Papen. who is expected to return soon from Berlin. Shawkat doubtless expects to receive a more sympathetic hearing from Herr von Papen than from the Turkish Government, which is considerably irritated by Rashid Ali’s activities. Turkey’s offer of mediation does not mean that Turkey has any illusions about the responsibility for the Iraq conflict, and she certainly does not intend to discourage the British from acting against the Iraquis with all the force they can muster. In Simla today. Sir Shafaat Khan, former president of the Moslem League and at present a member of the Indian Public Service Commission, speaking on the situation in Iraq said it was fraught with serious possibilities for India. All the Moslem countries, he said, considered Rashid Ali an usurper; he was repudiated by almost every influential element in the Islamic world, and the British Government deserved credit for its prompt action against him. EXILED MUFTI PROCLAMATION AGAINST BRITAIN. (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) BERLIN, May 12. The Official News Agency, in a dispatch from Beirut, declared that the exiled Mohammedan Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had issued a proclamation to the Arab people, demanding a Mohammedan hoi}* war against Britain. SOVIET ATTITUDE ACTION AFTER LONG DELAY. INDEPENDENCE OF ARABIC STATES. LONDON, May 12. In making the announcement that the Soviet Government has now for the first time established diplomatic relations with Iraq, the Russian news agency reveals that the Iraq Government repeatedly made this proposal

last year and in doing so asked that the Soviet Government should make a public declaration that it recognisedthe independence of the Arabic countries. including Iraq. The Soviet Government replied then that it did not consider- it possible to make such a declaration, as a result of which the negotiations were interrupted. Iraq later pressed the matter, but without making it dependent on any conditions. The Soviet Government then withdrew its objection and accepted the proposal.