'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎224r] (446/501)

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districts, the Kurdish desire for autonomy or independence continues to express itself,
and still looks to British justice to further its aims.
The recent installation of Sayyid Tahaas district Governor of Bowanduz must have
done much to further hopes on ttiat side of the frontier, while the cruel treatment of
Simko Agha and his son by the authorities at Van must have done much to demonstrate
the treatment which they may expect from Turkish masters, and to cause seciet
resentment among the Kurdish tribes of that area.
Bitlis and Sairt are also important centres of the Kurdish national movement as
i well as Jezire, as 1 have already shown, and places at which the national spirit could
* be fostered. . • n • i
As for the Assyrian and Nestorian Christians, their once fertile valleys in the
e I ' basis of the Great Zab still remain places of desolation, and the little mountain churches,
so sacred to the faith, are heaps of ruins.
When the frontier of our area in Mesopotamia was being discussed after the
armistice, I put forward to the War Office, as drawn on sheets of my 1 : 250,000 map,
a suggested frontier, which ran along the Chukh Dagh, north of Bashkala, b^ Bas nt
Dagh, to the south of Lake Van, by Vestan, thence to the crest of Bitlis Pass, wit i an
outlet on the lake at Tadvan, the Sanjak of Bitlis south of that point, the bonne aues
of the Sanjak cf Sairt, and the “locality ” of Jezire, with the kaza at present depending
on that place. . . ^
This frontier, given only in outline, would provide for the inclusion m the area ot
the two general lines which have been shown to control all the intervening area, name y,
Bashkala-D i za-Ner i and Rowanduz on one side and Bitlis-Sairt- Jezire on the other.
The area is predominantly Kurdish, almost entirely so, since the Armenians have been
removed. The Assyrian (Nestorian) districts along the Great Zab are included in it.
This area might be arranged in one general State, with the present Kurdish
districts under our mandate and under the same system of government. It is, I submit,
a mistake to place the Kurds too much under the control of the Irak Government, the
Arab and Kurdish races being so different in character, but in Southern Kurdistan
the influence of Bagdad must continue to be felt to a certain degree for economic and
geographical reasons. Yet the wider area proposed would give them a more considera )le
degree of autonomy and an area sufficiently large in which they might at least commence
* , , to foster ideas of national independence.
In their present frame of mind it is not easy to tmnk of the lui ks agreeing o
[ such a scheme as they seem inclined to put forward, and assert again their far-i caching
* ; claims of last January, this time backed by threats.
But events may tend to alter this during the discussion, and the above suggestion
might , I think, in anv case be taken into consideration. On the other hand, if the
Turks ’maintain their obdurate and threatening attitude it would be unwise to concede
them anything of the area at present within our frontiers, either at Rowanduz or at
Zakho especially, both of them important strategic points. . . . .
In their present attitude any concession would so weaken our entire position in
Irak that we should ultimately have to abandon the country altogether, and King
Feisal’s position be rendered impossible. ^ . ... . , , ,
His Majesty’s Government surely wishes that King Feisal should be assisted along
“ the golden road to Samarkand ” rather than that he should fall again into the hands
of a tyrant worse than Harun-el-Rashid, namely, the Angora Turk.
This can only be done by retaining our military and air forces, as at present
organised for his assistance, as well as giving political help to his Government until
the moods and ambitions of the tyrant entirely change and become more reasonable.
F. R. MAUNSELL, Lieutenant-Colonel.
* . * September 22, 1923.

'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎224r] (446/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎224r] (446/501)

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