'File 2/1 II IRAQ PROPAGANDA. (Absorption of Kuwait by Iraq). Relations etc.' [‎120r] (239/312)

Saturday. April tsth, 1939
«'§ n
IRAQ GN THE
OF HITLE
1 -
(CONTD FROM P. 1 )
Kuwait was subjected to'|
England’s political influence
which had on several occasions
intervened to prevent it passing
into the possession of the Wahha
bi State. In 1850 Kuwait was
recommended by General F. !\.
Chesney as the terminus of his
proposed Euphrates valley
railway ; and 50 years later it
attracted much attention as a
suitable site for the terminus of
the Berlin-Baghdad railway. In
1898 Turkey, under German
influence, made an attempt to
oceupy Kuwait which was met by
a British protest against
infringment of the status quo,
and in 1899 Shaikh Mubarak ibn
Sabah who died in 1915 after a
reign of 20 years placed his in
terests under British protection.
The great war put an end to the
Berlin railway scheme and
British military units were
stationed there in connection
with the blockade of the Turks,
with whom the sympathies of
Salim, son of Mubarak, were
engaged.
During Salim’s reign relations
with former Najd — nov Saudi
Arabia —were unsatisfactory and
in 1919 a Wahhabi attack was
repulsed by British aeroplanes.
Another Wahhabi attack took
ATHEISM IK IRAQ
place during the frontier troubles
of 1927-8 without success. The
present ruler of Kuwait is Amir
Shaikh At;mad tbn Jabir, a
grandson of Mubarak, who
succeeded in 1921 on the death of
Salim. The boundaries of Kuwait
and Najd were fixed by the treaty
of Muhammarah in 1921.
But for the malicious propa
ganda recently conducted against
the Amir which resulted in riots
at one of which the ruler of
Kuwait was wounded, the provin
ce has enjoyed a period o f
proportionate peace and growing
prosperity as is admitted by the
Iraqis themselves other than cer
tain official circles whose false
« persecution propaganda » gave
rise to a British protest. It is now
an established fact that agitators
and trained disturbers of peace
in the guise of teachers and
merchants were sent to Kuwait
. to bring together some diicorded
voices and ask for unity with
Iraq, just on the lines of Hitler.
This problem has many other
aspects involving as it does the
future interests of Iran and Sa’udi
Arabia which we will treat in next
issues of Athra, not forgetting
the constant travels of Captain
Degorry, a former British Intelli
gence Officer in Iraq, now the
political resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Kuwait.
The Young Moslem
looks af life f
BY Tv
MurbyT. Titus D D; Ph* D
( 1937. PR. -I6F ^67>
f I 1 J B I I 1 1 1 I I I I « I £ K B I IB I <! C 1 1 ! I K I i M
CHIVALRY OF
(CONTD FROM P. 1 )
is thus that I appeal to you and
to many others with the firm hope
— ’ * ' ’ ~
with your means and your cons
cience. Let us place ourselves for
THE YOUNG MOSLEM LOOKS
AT RELIGION ;
Are you a Moslem ? I asked a
young man as we stood talking
together at Ur junction in the
heart of the Mesopotamian desert
while waiting for the train hr
Baghdad.
Am I a Moslem ? repeated the
young man. Well, I was, but re
cently I joined the anti-God so*
ciety. To-day I am an atheist. 1
don’t believe in religion. It divi
des people, and makes them fight
each other, and hinders progress
Irak would be better off without
any religion at all. It * uld be
better, if we all gave up cur sen
seless differences, and began to
work together for the good of our
country. Then the Jews, and
these Assyrian Christians here ,
and the Moslems could make a
great country out of this ancient
land of Irak. But as it is, 1 see no
chvnce.
Are there many Moslems who
have joined your anti-God socie
ty ?
Not very many, for the idea is
new to us Moslems; we are a very
conservative peop’e. But we are
spreading our atheistic ideas and
the number is growing slowly.
& II 'ffi ES K 01 U W OBi £38 liS 0-4
The Foreigner
student in America
(Near East p. 70)
BY
Philip K. Hittl
K— *X\ ***»: .gz
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IS
A GERMAN EMISSARY ?
F OR sometime now, an insignificant number of Assyro-Chal-
deans have been talking of an emigration plan to Paraguay
which they said was put up to them by one John Dzirne’ who
had told them that he was the Consul for Paraguay. Some of them
did in fact ask me to express my opinion ; that was over two years
ago. I waited for developments and with the items of news which I
have been able to gather from those whom the said Consul emplo
yed as dupes, I am now in a position to express my personal opi
nion from which I hope my compatriots will benefit.
It is now over two years since Mr. John Dzirne’, a medical doc
tor, approached some Assyrians and discussed with two or three
of them in an isolated room in rue des Franfais in Beyrouth his
plan of emigration, yet we find that his plan has been kept secret
and this fact forces into us the belief that that plan, with all its at
tractions and temptations, is a cover for some underhand work.
Although the seed sown by the German espionage system among
the Assyro-Chaldeans must fall on barren soil, yet we find it high
time to warn our compatriots to be on their guard so that they may
not be caught from within and without by the diabolical organisa
tion which will have devastating results. This same system was res
ponsible tor districts to be despoiled of crops and cattle, villages
and towns to be destroyed and famine in its most terrible forms to
reign in Armenia during the world war. The yataghan which the
Ottoman Turk employed was German make.
The idea of the Germans is to organise intelligence service in
virgin lands and to infuse into every unit a spirit of lawlessness and
a determination to disturb the peace and public order : and they
offer piece goods and cash inducements as part of their plan of silent
campaign.
A mere is a aangtntiieaa irwe ao ncu cane aie vvarmng aeriousi'y
particularly in this troubled period of Europe. We must realize at
once the importance of keeping all sincere hands at work and, as a
whole, stand firm and by concerted action make the penetration
impossible and counteract these and other grave menaces, and
greater caution must be taken to prevent the infiltration of German
emissaries in our new Home, failing which there will be wide
spread disorders.
. The Germans are displaying their marvellous system of spie
by sending out to the East hordes of religious Missionaries, artistes
merchants, medical doctors, architects and archaeologists, but they
are all linked up together working hard for one and only one oh
ject at present — the fomentation of disturbances.
Every Nation has its parasites and opportunists and so we have,
but we ask the sincere and loyal servants of Assyro-Chaldea to re
main alive to the best interest of their Nation, and we trust it will
be made virtually impossible for the Germans to continue their
intrigues which may he encouraged by the absence of adequate con
trol and lack of knowledge of their methods, some of which we are
nationally bound to expose.
We ask the authorities to act with rapidity and boldness and to
vigorously destroy all hotbeds of Nazi subversive activities.
Our journalistic investigations leave no doubt that Mr. John
Dzirne is a German emissary or else why be in Austria at the
present time, a country subjected to German invasion ? Dzirne’s
presence at this time in the occupied territory of Austria was repor
ted to us by an Assyrian student in that country, and it is quite pos
sible that Dzirne has a net of agents in addition to soma either de
moralized and freebooting demagogues.
YUSCf MALEK.
IRAQ ON THE FATH OF HITLERISM
SEEKS EXPANSION
AT THE COST
OF KUWAIT
w
i J a i. i i i i i
iiiiiimiiiiiiigiM
IRAQ HAS GONE BANKRUPT
Sayyid Nuri Sa’id, the Iraqi
Premier, broadcast a speech from
the Baghdad broadcasting Station
on the night of March 30, 1939 on
the occasion of his cabinet pro
gramme. He was compelled, in
order to condemn his predeces
sors’ rule, to admit that « The
unfortunate events of the past
also seriously affected the finan
cial position of the country. The
State has been unable to carry
out any important development
schemes since 1936. In 1936 the
Treasury had a reserve of Iraqi
Dinar 700,000. To-day the State is
indebted to the extent of about
one million dinars, and the reve
nues from the oil royalties, which
amount to about two million
dinars annually, have been
pledged as security... Such a state
of affairs is very hard on the
country. Not only have we no
reserve at present but there is an
actual deficiency of about Iraqi
Dinar 800.000, in addition to a
further sum of Iraqi dinar 652,000
which we are bound to pay
although no authority has ever
been obtained for the expenditun
of this amount ».
On the other hand, Sayyid
Ja’far Abu Timman the prominent
Shi’i leader (Minister of Finance
in Hikmat’s cabinet) did accuse
in a public speech he had broad
cast on the overthrow of Yasin a!
Hashimi’s cabinet in which th<
present Premier was a member,
that that government was res
ponsible for the ruination of tin
country financially due to the bad
organisation of authority and it;
abuse for personal ends.
I m the Shi i Euphrates
in seasonal t u r m o i 1
against the minority
Sunni government of' igluiad ;
the four northern Kurdish pro
vinces awaiting their opportunity
to disrupt their artificial ties with
a rule they have disowned froh)
the very start ; the Yazidis ambi
tion for unity with Syria under
French protection ; the eveiir
present separatist movement ijj
Basrah; the Assyro-Chaldeans
desire to leave the country ii|
which they have been forced ti>
stay ; the fearful division in thfe
Iraq Army and Air Force and
t h e deeply - rooted habit of
leading internal and external
politics by the Army; the swinging
of the Iraqi people between
Nazism which has penetrated in
all government and public servi
ces, and between Communism
with its active agents at work’;
the annual problem of unbalanced
budget, the artificially united Iraq
faces to-day some of. t h
outstanding issues to which \vi
have alluded briefly, and no^
auas a dew pibin^m ' That Q0
seeking expansion at the cost of
Kuwait because Hitler is teariiig
the map of Europe and invading
■mall countries.
In our previous editorial we
have given an outline of Iraq’s
inimical attitude towards the
Amir j|^vuwait, an attitude not
inspireci by any true patriotism,
but with the object of making
room for the ever increasing
demands ofseekers of government
employment which in the East
supplies milk and honey in
abundance.
Kuwait ia a port situated at the
N. W. angle of the Iranian gulf,
29° 20’N and 40* OO’E., lying on
S. side of a bay of 20 m. long
and 5 m. wide, the mouth of
which is protected by two islands
forming a fine natural harbour
with excellent anchorage in 4 to
9 fathoms of water. It engulfs a
territory of some 4000 square
miles with a populalion of some
80,000 Arabs and Iranians. It is
80 miles due S. of Basrah and 60
miles S. W. of mouth of Shat
al Irani-al-Arabi. Some years ago
political reasons gave an impetus
to the development of the A
Hasa ports, the province of the
former kingdom of Najd, exten
ding soum along the West coast
of the Iranian gulf, with an
average width of 50 miles from
the frontier of the Kuwait enclave.
»
(CONTD ON P. 2)
THE CASE
OF PALESTINE
BY
314 pp.
DOUGLAS V. DUFF.
London : Herbert Jenkins.
1938. Net 12s. 6d.
REVIEWED BY
D. EARSUM PERLEY
Here is an exceptionally scho
larly work written objectively by
a man who himself had filled a
Poor Knight’s Saddle for some
ten years, having fir*t mounted
into it in 1922 as a young officer
of British Gendarmerie « in char
ge of the peace of the Holy Ci
ty ». In the first chapter of three
witty pages " ( THE RIDERS IN
THE SADDLE ) he defines the
title of his ^book, the purpose of
his visit to>Palestine, and the ba
sic issue involved.
The Knights Templar, in the
days of the First Crusades, were
called the Poor Knights, who were
enlisted to be the armed defen
ders of the roads to, and the kee
pers of the peace of, Palestine.
Today Britain *its in their Saddle
and the issue is, « How does she
fill it ? »
The author, in the Autumn of
_ 1937, re-visited Palestine when
11 the partition-scheme was first
published, and travelled through
out the land in an old Dodge to
study the reactioiis among every
community to the scheme. The
result of the study is presented
in the form of a symposium with
'SiHISIElISillllligHIIlIillllii
CHIVALRY OF BARTON
Czechoslavakian Consul refuses
to .acknowledge Nazi invasion
No conscionable person can
fail to be moved b y the
appeal made by Mr. Willianj
M. Gvyynn, t h e American
Consul in Beyrouth, on behalf of
Mr. Barton the Czechoslavakian
Consul in Beyrouth who refused
to acknowledge Nazi invasion of
his country and remained loyal
to his Mother-land under most
humiliating circumstances.
The appeal of Mr. #'Yynn is
personal, dictated purely by
humanitarian instinct and cannot
be said to be political with the
object of augmenting hatred
against the Nazi methods which
have received general disapproval
and deprecation.
To our knowledge no one was
■wayed by the humbug of the
D. N. B. on this affair and when
democracy puts down the inhu
man hand of dictators and
give an end to oppressive and
mis-governments, Mr. & Mrs
Barton will have occasion to
forget their heart - breaking
hardships and will fejwe t h e
everlasting honour having
remained faithful to their dear
country which has been ravished.
Mr. Gwynn’s letter, which is
reproduced below, was in French,
but its translation into English
has been done by Athra for the
easy reference of its English
readers. The circtilar letter ran
as follows :
BEYROUTH, MARCH 20, 1939
you are no
doubt aware
Mr. and Mrs. Barton are in
a very difficult position. The very
foundations of their lives are
shattered and what constituted
their livelihood exists no longer.
They have very litlle money at
their disposal and they do not
know what to do or wbat is to
become of them. They have made
m,.T' friends in Rebut, which in
all probability will he their last
post. The idea has probably
occured to you, as it has to many
others, that you would like to do
something for them, or see
something done to help them
through this critical period until
they can see their way more
clearly and attempt to reconstruct
their lives.
Several persons of the Consular
Corps and of Beirut society have
spoken to me on this subject, and
I took it upon myself to ask the
permission of Mr, and Mrs
Barton to collect funds for
They accepted with gratitude,
but I should add that this senti
ment was not unmixed with
something approaching humilia
tion and despair. However, thev
realise that this is not the mo
ment for false pride. They
have authorized me to act, and it
( CONTD ON P- 2 )
conclusions, and the group of
symposiarchs includes men and
women from overy walk of life
in the country. In a simple style,
men as well as events are dra
matized without venturing into
the realm of misrepresentation.
Partition is shown to be popular
with nope. And curiously, the
indigenbias Orthodox Jews look
upon Jewry as a religion and ob
ject most strenuously to the for
mation of a Jewish state, as pro
posed, because « it is not of God,
but too maij made..to be of per
manent service to Israel »
(p. 234) ; Sir Horace Rumbold
cannot restore the Chosen Race
to its ancient glory — the Call
must come from the real Messiah.
Until then it is « arrant blas
phemy » to talk*of a Jewish King
dom. So holds, a representative
speaker, Rabbi Moses. It is a sad
commentary, but Palestine is, as
it ever has been, a hot-bed of
fanaticism, characteristic to every
faith. Palestine must be a land of
endless erusades ! At present^ it
is an open sore ( it would seem )
that nothing could heal I
(CONTD ON P. 2)
IE TAUREAU
ARE ASSYRIEN
Quand, parqul, Comment et 0 C 1 fut trouve
le Taureau ail6 a face humaine des Assyrlens ?
et qu est ce qu’il symbolise ?
M. Botta berivit alors a I’am-
bassadeur de France a Constan
tinople pour 1’avertir de ce qui
passait. Grace k 1’insistance de
I’ambassadeur, la porte finit par
accorder I’autorisation de pour-
suivre les travaux. Les habi
tants de Khorsabad reejurent la
permission de vendre leurs mai-
sons et d’aller s’etablir momen-
tanbment au pied du monticule.
Les fouilles purent etre reprises
a la condition de retablir, lors-
qu’elles seraient achevbes, le ter
rain dans son etat primitif, afin
PAR
ASHM
que le village pfit btre rebati sur
le meme emplacement. Enfin un
commissaire turc fnt envoyb a
Moussoul pour preveuir de nou-
veaux empechements. Toutefois,
ce ne fut que le 4 Mai 1844 que,
les firmans que Botta rbclamait
depuis sept mois, arriverent.
A la meme bpoque, un grand
nombre d Assyriens nestoriens,
chassis de leurs montagnes par
les Kurdes > vinrent se rbfugier a
Moussoul et dans les villages des
environs. (6)
(a suivre)
(6) Bedir Khan Bey, le plus
cruel des chefs Kurdes, en 1843,
envahit la contrbe des Tiyaris
(la plus fameuse tribu assyrienne)
et apres avoir massaerb, avecune
sauvagerie inou'ie, 10,000 de ses
habitants, emmena en captivite
un grand nombre des femmes
et des enfants. Une partie de ces
prisoniers furent libbrbs par 1’in-
tervention de Sir Stratford Can
ning qui amena la Porte a
envoyer un commissaire en Kur
distan dans 1 intention d’engager
Bbdir Khan Bey et les autres
chefs Kurdes a les laisser fibre,
mais, des centaines de ces rbfu-
gibs tombbrent ehsuite ■ous 1’in-
fluence nocive des maladies in-
fectieuses et surtout de 1’bpidbmie
de la fievre maligne.
il(IIIIIIig]gijlllsyiIIllllilIijllllII[I l Ii n ii g|IIH|||lv|Kala>
MURDER OF BRITISH
CONSUL IN MOSUL
FOUR ARABS OF MOSUL HAVE
MURDERED THE BRITISH CONSUL IN
MOSUL WE WILL COMMENT LATER
ON.
LEBANON
Visit the summer resorts of
Lebanon. It is a country you
would like to see.