Coll 28/76 ‘Persia. Turkey. Turco-Persian Frontier.’ [‎109r] (217/429)

[E 2185/1511/44] No. 1.
Sir R. Clive to Mr. A. Henderson.—{Received A'pril 29.)
(No.. 157.)
HIS Majesty’s representative presents his compliments to His Majesty’s
Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to transmit
herewith copy of his despatch No. 57, dated the 16th April, 1930, to His Majesty’s
High Commissioner for Iraq on the subject of the Persian Government’s anxiety in
regard to the “ Kurdish Movement.
Tehran, A'pril 16, 1930.
Enclosure in No. 1 .
Sir R. Clive to Sir F. Humphrys.
(No. 57.)
Sir, Tehran, April 16, 1930.
IN the course of an interview which I had yesterday with the Minister of Court
his Highness expressed considerable anxiety on the subject of what he called “the
Kurdish movement.’’ He said that the idea of a united Kurdistan was again being
talked about, as was also the question of an independent Armenia. So far the
Persian Kurds were, he believed, quite outside the movement, but the Turkish policy
towards their Kurdish population had always been a source of anxiety to the Persian
Government. At present there was said to be a so-called Kurdish Government in
the neighbourhood of Mount Ararat, which even included a Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
2. At the same time he had heard that there was a certain sympathy on the
part of British officials in Iraq with the movement for an independent Kurdistan,
and that Sheikh Mahmud had been approached by leaders of the movement. The
Turkish press had recently reported that Colonel Lawrence was in Kurdistan, and
he understood that this report had been reproduced in the native Iraq press. He
said he would be very grateful if I could obtain any news on the subject from
Bagdad. I told him that, first, as regards Colonel Lawrence, I was getting rather
tired of hearing these stories of his presence in various parts of Western and
Central Asia, and that, as regards the sympathy of British officials in Iraq with a
pan-Kurdish movement, frankly I did not believe it. However, as he had asked me,
I would report what he had" said to Bagdad for any observations which the
High Commissioner might wish to make.
3. Teymourtache also referred in the course of his conversation to the
“ Mussowat ” party for an independent Caucasia, whose headquarters were now in
Constantinople. The programme of this group had always been inimical to Persia,
as it included a “united’’ Azerbaijan comprising the whole Persian Province as
far south as Zenjan. While the “Mussowat” party need not ba taken very
seriously, it would be interesting to know, he said, what connexion, if any, they had
with the present movements for an independent Armenia and a united Kurdistan.
4. Copies of this despatch have been sent to His Majesty’s Principal Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs and to the Foreign Secretary to the Government
of India.
I have, &e.
R. II. CLIVE.
[100 ff— 1 ]