File 2879/1919 Pt 1 ‘MESOPOTAMIA Kurdistan: The Suleimanieh Outbreak’ [‎214r] (15/156)

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This item relates to the seizure of the ‘reins of government’ (f 283) in Suleimaniyeh [As Sulaymaniyah, also spelled Suleman Iyeh in this item], south Kurdistan, 25 May 1919, during an uprising led by Sheikh Mahmud [Shaikh Maḥmūd Barzanjī], and British military operations leading to the British Mesopotamian Army occupying the Suleimaniyeh Valley in June 1919. The papers notably cover:

• British concerns about the Kurdish independence movement, including the purported influence of the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress and Persian Kurdistan, and the potential of ‘unrest’ to spread to other parts of Kurdistan and into British controlled Mesopotamia
• The capture and imprisonment of British officers and staff in Suleimaniyeh, including a list of the missing and interned officers and NCOs [Non-Commissioned Officers] (see ff 251 and 244)
• British intelligence, regarding the level of Mahmud’s personal as opposed to political ambitions, and casting doubt on the degree of local support for him
• The concentration of British forces at Kerkouk [Kirkuk] and Chemchemal [Chamchamal] and the desire of the military and political authorities in Baghdad to ‘crush’ (f 255) Mahmud’s movement, recapture Suleimaniyeh, and occupy the Suleimaniyeh Valley
• The refusal to allow Sheikh Mahmud’s delegates in Aleppo to proceed to Paris to argue the cause of Kurdish independence
• The British forces’ capture of the Bazyan Pass, advance to Suleiman Iyeh, and collapse of the rising including the arrest of Sheikh Mahmud
• Discussions concerning the extension of the railway from Kizilrobat [Qizil Ribat, also spelled Kizil Robat in this item] northwards towards Suleimaniyah in order to facilitate the British advance and occupation
• Restoration of the civil administration in Suleimaniyah by the end of August 1919 and British hopes that Kurdish nationalism will dissipate following Sheikh Mahmud’s military trial and imprisonment in India serving a ten-year sentence
• Discussions in 1921 between the Colonial Office, 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. , High Commissioner for Iraq, and Viceroy of India, on the desirability of reducing the penal sanction against Sheikh Mahmud, and the eventual agreement by the High Commissioner of Iraq to arrange his relocation, under surveillance, in Kuwait [also spelled Koweit in this item].

The primary correspondents are the: General Officer Commanding in Mesopotamia; War Office; 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. ; Office of the High Commissioner for Mesopotamia (later Iraq); Secretary of State for the Colonies; Secretary to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. [Mumbai], Political Department; Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Political [Agent?], Baghdad; and General [Consul?], Baghdad.

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1 item (78 folios)

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English in Latin script

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