File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [‎169v] (353/608)

keeping the tribes quiet round Shemsdinan and Rowanduz, and he seems to have done his best to
limit Turkish propaganda. In the early summer it was proposed to him that he should undertake
the government of the north-eastern portion of the Rowanduz district, together with the fertile
lowlands of Dasht-i-Harir and administer this region in addition to Shamsdinan and possible exten
sions on behalf of the British Government. He was to receive an allowance and to undertake not
to intrigue in Mosul or against the Persian Government. He gave us no definite reply : on the on^
hand he may have hesitated to embrace a role which seemed not dissimilar from that which we ha
assigned to Shaikh Mahmud, with results which were inauspicious ; and on the other, the fact that
the British Assistant Political Officer at Rowanduz was withdrawn to Batas, a few miles to the
west, in July owing to events at Amadiyah presently to be related, may have aroused in his mind
misgivings as to the permanence of our occupation, In August, as he had not accepted the pro
posal, it was withdrawn, without, however, any interruption of cordial relations.
Simko made overtures to us in May. He wrote in friendly terms to the Acting Civil Com
missioner whom he had known before the war. A personal grievance, which was from our point
of view a side issue, pre-occupied him. One of his ill-wishers, of whom he had many—on this
occasion it was a Persian official—had conceived the idea of sending him a bomb wrapped in a parcel.
His indignant description of the episode can only be recorded in his own words : “ I barely had
time ”, he complained “ to throw it at my brother when it went off”. In retaliation he attacked
Urumiyah in June. His hostility to Persia, with which country we concluded an agreement in
August which put an end to any lingering hope that we would favour a national union between the
Turkish and Persian Kurds, together with his fear of reprisals on account of his treatment of
Christians tended to throw-him increasingly into the arms of the Turks.
As for other Kurdish leaders, Shaikh Mahmud, of Sulaimaniyah had been eliminated by the
failure of his rebellion ; Shaikh Mahmud of the Milli was a candidate for the hypothetical post of
ruler of a united Kurdistan ; in Constantinople 'Abdul Qadir of Shamsdinan was ready to' assume
the same role and the claims of the Badr Khan, the ancient ruling house of Bohtan, were no less
than his own ; while at a later date Sharif Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in Paris notihed his election as head of a future
Km dish state, though there is no evidence to show that he was chosen by anyone but himself. In
February the Grand Vizir had been prepared to let ‘ Abdul Qadir or his son go to Kurdistan on a
mission of pacilication. I he scheme never materialized but a rumour which reached his nephew
and rival, Saiyid Faha, to the effect that Abdul Qadir was to tour Kurdistan under our auspices,
probably enhanced Saiyid Faha’s inclination to keep a foot in the Turkish camp.
Fowards the end of June Major Noel was sent to Constantinople to discuss the situation with
the High Commissioner on behalf of the Acting Civil Commissioner. They agreed that the most
salient feature was the break between the Kurds and the Turks, and the "High Commission er
suggested that Major Noel should be entrusted with a second mission to Asia Minor and that
selected members of leading Kurdish families should be allowed to join him and travel through the
country, with a view to impressing on the tribes the necessity of maintaining order and protecting
e Chirstrans. He thought that if they were enjoined not to push nationalist aims they would
ia\ e nothing to fear from the Ottoman Government, notwithstanding the fact that the nationalist
movement was regarded with suspicion by the Turks. Mustafa Kamal, a Turkish general whose
ac r\i res were beyond ting control of his own Government in Constantinople, though he was in
close touch with the Committee of Union and Progress, stood for Turkish interests in Asia Minor
agains a comei s. League of Eastern Anatolia South-east Turkey today. had been formed under his auspices in defence ol
P man c s ’ 1 s , ea 1 1 1 n .^ PLnciple being the integrity of Turkey, with the corollary that no Greek
wei p in h'p'f - 1 C f S 10 i 11 C i 6 est:ihl i shed w ithin its limits ; at the same time the rights of non-Moslems
would ho e ^i a mi 1 mandat 1 or y Lower which would respect Turkish nationalist feelings
the neonle and n i ^ cenda Government, it was stipulated, should be based on the will of
Erzerum in AmunU T-Tt ssem My should be convoked. A meeting of the League was held at
committee which to su .^ seqilent ly Srvas was chosen as the headquarters of the Nationalist
Cuhf r^Iu a onTn Ho il Gn a Sovi et. Its influence was sufficient to bring
‘Abdul Ridha Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. surroo °n an \ ad Farid’s cabinet which it decreed as non-national ; when
person to Trebizond to aS Grand Vmr, the new Minister of Marine went in
tive of the Sivas group V GW ~ ustafa Kamal and brought back to Constantinople a representa-
1
fr^^70^o SO^per^celft^'of to^Malati™^Kurds^ who fora
tines, but unlike the Kurds or Diyarbak/and r lmbued Wlth Kurdlsh nationalist d
attitude to the fact' that they mostlv Shi^"!, were anti-Turk. He attributed I
blent, the number of Annem^ESyKR ahrays lieu verv° the abs en c e^Hl» crucial Armenian r
at the mission, on the ground that Major Noel , alL rhe Defence League took ala
independent Kurdistan which should be free from Ottom" 8 t0 dlsturbance by workiag i or
Government, which had consented to his iouniev 2 ? “‘V™- They accused Da ™ d Fan
Empire, and Ahmad Jevdet, who was in Command of thl I'i'iU'’ to the mterest of the 0tton
the two Badr Khans. The situation thrpntPnrJ + i° f the 13th Crops, attempted to arrest
nions were recalled from Malatia bv thp Pot ^ be . COI IJ e difficult and Major Noel and his com;
National Societ in Consign tin ° f the EgYPtain Force. The Kurd
Malatia incident to be an affront to Kurd id 68 ! CC a ^ ainst tbe action of the Turks and declared :
the Kurdish and ^^^ona^n^i^T rand sentiment. The breach betwe
Karhal’s adherents have closed all Kurdish rl 1 ^ +u 1Ce tben become more pronounced. Must;
taken severe measuriragainst ^ and according to reports h;
Turks also the Defence League seems to be^over t-pTb” to ., fav ° ur Kurdish independence. Amo
weary of calls to arms, even when they are made in th ltSef V S he Anatolian Peasant is growi
see in Mustafa Kamal an impediment to tho 'A” ^ of the fatherl and, and is beginning
patriot. But such sentiments are as yet in embryo tl0n ° f tranquiIlty and Prosperity rather thai