File No. 763.72/1147
The Ambassador in Turkey ( Morgenthau ) to the Secretary of State
Constantinople , October 29, 1914, 4 p.m.
[Received October 30, 8 a.m.]
[Telegram]
My telegram October 29, 11 a.m. British Ambassador informed me that in order to prevent an eventual invasion of Egypt from Ottoman [Page 126] territory the British military authorities had decided, to destroy certain wells in the Sinai Desert. Ottoman Minister of the Interior admitted Ottoman authorities had induced Bedouins on Egyptian territory to endeavor to prevent British from destroying those wells. He claims that the Arabs mentioned by British are the Egyptian Bedouins and not Bedouins residing in [Turkey]. Ottoman Minister of War to-day, after the British Ambassador’s representations, telegraphed the OTTOMAN Commander in Syria to recall immediately any Ottoman Bedouins that may have crossed the frontier. Minister of the Interior stated that he did not believe there was any danger of immediate war between Turkey and Great Britain. But his conversation clearly showed that the Ottoman Government strongly inclined to side with Germany and may be pushed into war at any moment.