'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎220r] (438/501)

a
prevent eiiciodchments and quarrels by neighbouring Kurds, but as he had only a few
gem armes and no military garrison with him in Julamerk, he could accomplish little in
this direction.
^ ^i^ a good deal by the fact that the Assyrian Patriarch, Mar Shimun,
itm ived at Kochannes, a village situated on the way between Pashkala and Julamerk,
and therefore comparatively easy of access from both places.
Communication between Bashkala and Julamerk was fairly easy by hill paths in
summer under the slopes of Kokobulend, and in winter by tracks along the Great Zab.
. . could always manage to communicate, winter and summer, with the British
missionaries, who then lived with the Patriarch in Kochannes, before they moved to
A madia.
But south of Julamerk, down the Great Zab, communication was always regarded
as practically impossible in winter, and extremely difficult even in summer, so that it is
obvious there was no defined frontier in this direction with the Mosul Government,
under which Amadia then was.
In that direction the kaimakam simply collected a tribute from the Assyrian
tribes or “ valleys,” and the frontier remained nebulous.
As it appears that these Assyrian valleys are now largely derelict and uninhabited,
it is difficult to see what the kaimakam at Julamerk can now accomplish, if he is there
at all, except to use the place as a supporting link in propaganda among the Kurds
against the British when opportunity offers, working in connection with Amadia as best
he can.
Towards the south, along the Persian frontier, the authority of Bashkala was
rather better supported.
A kaimakam was installed at Diza, the chief place on the Gavvar Plain, with a
military garrison of about one infantry battalion supplying small outposts in the
vicinity, a customs post on the route to Urumia in Persia, by the Delasi Pass, a well-
frequented track, and maintaining also some gendarmes under the kaimakam’s personal
orders. The Gavvar Plain, the bed of ancient lake among the mountains, was easy to
traverse, and also communication with Bashkala was easy. Diza was therefore a useful
centre from which to control the districts along the Persian frontier on one side, and
the intricate mountain districts of the Jelu Dagh and Sat Dagh, which lay west of the
plain.
Repeated efforts in the latter direction failed to achieve success.
“ Nahies” were formed, with mudirs under the kaimakam of Diza, in such places
as Oramar Heriki and Sat, on the far slope of the Sat Dagh, the mudir being sometimes
a local Kurd, hut these did not remain in office long, if they did not meet a violent end ;
so the attempts were soon abandoned.
The Assyrian districts of the Jelu and Baz, on the other side of the Jelu Dagh,
paid tribute in the usual manner, through Kochannes, to Julamerk or Bashkala direct.
Here again it is obvious that there could be no defined frontier with the Mosul
Vilayet at all.
In fact in this direction the Mosul Government had special difficulties of their
own; they were periodically obliged to send small military expeditions, sometimes with
varying success, to subdue the Kurdish Agha of Barzan, who was nominally dependent
on a kaimakam installed by them in Zebar or Akra.
Usually this chieftain lived in complete independence, defying Mosul generally,
and certainly so distant a Vali as that, of Van. The present agha in Barzan is, I think,
not unknown to our authorities in Akra, and appears still to be continuing his career
of independence, although here again we find the Turks utilising these chiefs and those
in Zebar as agents for propaganda against ourselves in the Akra region.
Taking a direct line from Gavvar to Akra, or from Gavvar to Amadia, the country
is exceptionally difficult, even for this mountainous region, principally owing to the deep
limestone gorges which the streams traverse, and the absence of the high upland
downs which make the country farther north easier to traverse.
When I passed through, the Turks contented themselves with placing a military
post of a corporal and a few men from Diza at the mouth of a narrow defile which led
out of Gavvar Plain towards Oramar, to control traffic, leaving the districts beyond to
look after themselves under their own aghas. Nervi, Reikan, Sati, Herki and such
mountain districts with their patches of fertile ground in the deep valleys and villages
perched high up on the limestone crags overlooking the gorges were left to their own
devices so Tong as they did not trouble the outer world too much.
During the war the celebrated church of oelu, what might be called the
Westminster Abbey of the Assyrians, was destroyed, and this district, with those of
3H

'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎220r] (438/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎220r] (438/501)

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