'The Assyrian and Armenian refugees in Mesopotamia. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India' [‎152v] (4/6)

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A.D. 431, and its adherents were forced to take refuge beyond the borders of the
Roman Empire. They then spread into Mesopotamia and Persia. They were
persecuted by Tamberlane in 1400. A remnant lingered in the plains of Assyria,
near Mosul, and among the mountains south of Lakes Van and Urmia. In the
16th century the plain-dwellers joined the Church of Rome. They now dwell mostly
in the mountains. They deny that they are Nestorians in the heretic sense.
(c) These are traced to Jacobus Baradaeus (6th century) in Syria and Mesopotamia.
They maintained a position near the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire in spite
of persecution by the Byzantine Government.
II. (a)-(d) The Uniate Churches are those portions of the independent Churches
that have been brought (mostly since the 17th century) to accept the spiritual
supremacy of the Pope. But they differ from the Roman Catholic Church and from
each other in matters of ritual, liturgy, ecclesiastical laws and customs. They have
a separate hierarchy and tend to resent any assumption of authority on the part of
the Roman Catholic curia. These Churches are derivatives of the independent
Churches.
As regards group III. : these fall into two groups :—
(n) Protestant converts from I. and II. who were officially recognised as one
“ millet ” collectively.
(fc) Secessionists :
(i) New Chaldeans.
(ii) Orthodox Armenians.
The Assyrian refugees of Baqubah, now in the Mosul Vilayet en route for
the Urmia district, are Nestorians or East Syrians, and are being repatriated to
districts which may be regarded as their homes.
The French interest, as indicated by their notes to the Foreign Office, is
professedly m the Jacobites, the majority of whom live west of Jazirat al ’Umar
None of these are among the refugees who are being repatriated to the Urmia district
or are maintained as refugees on our charge. What Jacobites there may be from west
of J azirat al Umar in Mesopotamia now are at liberty to return to their homes as they
wish. I hey are in no sense Nestorians as the French seemed to imply in their
nrst note.
The refugees are, in fact, East Syrians, as opposed to W T est Syrians or Jacobites
and originate from areas east and north-east of Jazirat al ’Umar, from districts
outside both French and British zones. Their homes were generally between Lake
; u an ’ Lake and Mosul, in the Hakkiari district of Turkish Kurdistan and in
f P ams ot . ^ ort ^'^ est l )ersia (Khoi, Salmas and Urmia). In the summer
of 19lo the mountameer section of Assyrians from Turkish Kurdistan were driven
into the I ersian districts in and about the Urmia plains, where they joined up with
their co-religionists. When early in November 1917 our Russian allies decided to
wit draw their forces from North-West Persia, the Assyrians were armed by the
retiring Russians, much to the resentment of the Persians. The Persians early in
1918 ordered them to disarm and attempted to enforce their order. This led to
disturbances m Khoi Salmas and Urmia. After a to and fro of fighting with ti e
Kurds, when about the middle of April 1918 a Turkish force was reported to be
advancing from the direction of Sujbulak and Ushnu, the Assyrians advanced to meet
this force. An initial success at Ushnu was followed by an attack by PersTan
h h ° nitllles ® 1 3 r .massacred some 4,000 Assyrians settled at Khoi/ Finally
threatened by overwhelming numbers and without ammunition, these Assyrians were
forced to leave their homes in the Urmia plains and to begin thefr lonTsouthe^
march through hostile country to seek protection behind the British whom they had
long expected to come to their succour. It is not to be supposed “hey would
e\ei willingly migrate to the Irench sphere west of Jazirat al ’Umar so lono- J s there
is any prospect of their being able to settle in their ancient homes. °
riot billet’’which chiefly concerns His Majesty’s Government as man
datory lower for the vilayats of Mosul and Baghdad is the Chaldean ^GrounirtM
a progressive body of cultivators and artisanscbieilv ret ? dent fn a^d aroundLlosu ’
I hey are not to be confused with the NWnri.,n n ana arouna Jlosul.
outside the limits of French and BriBsh m* H ^ ^
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
27th October 19^0.