'The Assyrian and Armenian refugees in Mesopotamia. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India' [‎153r] (5/6)

Circulated by the Secretary of State for India.
SECRET.
The Assyrian and Armenian Refugees in Mesopotamia.
C.P. 1570. "
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India.
At the meeting of the Cabinet on 30th June I was instructed to “ send instructions
^ to the local Administration in Mesopotamia that the repatriation of these refugees is
to be expedited to the utmost possible extent.”
The present position is as follows :—
(1) Assyrians. These people came partly from the mountains north of Mosul
and partly from the region of Urmia, in Persian territory, and the difficulty has been
to find a home for them, since the decision of His Majesty’s Government regarding
Kurdistan made it impossible to send back to the mountains north of Mosul those of
them who came from that region, while the others were not wanted in Persia, where
the Moslem inhabitants had already appropriated their property. On 30th March Sir
A. Wilson telegraphed proposals for their repatriation to a'region lying partly in
Mesopotamian, partly in I ersian, territory, where they thought they could maintain
themselves without further assistance from us, if armed with rifles and a few mountain
guns. Phese proposals raised certain difficulties, and while discussions were pro
ceeding here Sii A. \\ ilson fearing to allow more of the favourable season to elapse
--anticipated the sanction of His Majesty’s Government, and reported on 15th May
that 15,000 Assyrians were already on the move, and that the remaining 6 000 would
have left Bakubah by the end of the following week. “ The sole condition they have
** we should give them weapons to maintain themselves against their
t neighbours. If given these they will constitute themselves once more an inde-
“ pendent community : if we refuse, their future existence as a nation is doomed.
Before they became refugees they were well armed: we disarmed them when
“ they came to us.” The War Office had agreed to give them rifles, but refused
the guns (22nd April). On receipt of Sir A. Wilson’s telegram I wrote
(25th May) to the Foreign Office, sending to the War Office a copy of my
letter, and urged that his action and proposals should be approved, and that the
decision regarding guns should be reconsidered. The Foreign Office eventually
(loth June) left it to me “ to decide whether matters have so far advanced that the
disadvantages of countermanding the scheme outweigh those of proceeding with it.”
From the War Office, to whom I wrote again urgently on 24th June, I have had no
reply. At present, therefore, the refugees are in a precarious position between Mosul
and the Persian frontier, waiting for nothing but the guns, for which they have asked,
to proceed to their destination. I gather, from oral enquiries at the War Office, that
guns cannot be made immediately available, but that some can be sent from Egypt
“within a month or two.” It is obvious that His Majesty’s Government, who^will
wash their hands of these people (so far as physical protection is concerned) as soon
as they leave Mesopotamia, cannot honourably turn them out insufficiently armed.
Until, therefore, the guns are forthcoming, I am afraid there is nothing more to be
done. But I hope my colleagues will acquit the Civil Administration of all
responsibility for the delay, while the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Mesopo
tamia, has strongly supported the scheme “ both on financial and general grounds,
“ and in order to reduce what constitutes very serious commitments and a heavy tax
“ on his supply organisation.”
2. Armenians. —In this case the difficulty has been not to find a home for the
refugees but to get them to it—a matter which lies entirely beyond the reach of the
Mesopotamian Administration. The War Office, I believe, are dealing with the
question of those whose home is in Constantinople. As regards the rest, I am
awaiting a reply to an enquiry, addressed to the Foreign Office on 21st June, as to
whether the hope of repatriation to Armenia must now be abandoned. If it must,
Sir A. Wilson thinks it should be practicable to place them in some part of Mesopo
tamia as colonists, in which case little expenditure would be required after the end of
this financial year. Again I am afraid that the matter does not rest in my hands,
and that the local Administration can do nothing.
E. S. M.
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. ,
5th July 1920.