File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [‎170r] (354/608)

Those cross currents of intrigue and the hostilities which they engendered reacted on our
relations with the Kurds on the coniines of the Mosul Wilayat and were partly responsible for the
outbreaks at Amadiyah and ‘ Aqrah in July and November. It was the desire of the British
authorities to provide for the repatriation of the Assyrian refugees to their home in the Tiari
Mountains. The nearest and most convenient approach lay through Amadiyah and with this end
i view British administration had been extended in that direction. In January a detachment of
Uoops was placed four miles from Amadiyah and an Assistant Political Officer was appointed in the
following March. The Kurds were treated with great liberality as regards agricultural advances
and no distinction was drawn between them and the Christians, but the Assistant Political Officer
set himself to establish order and the basis of administration and it brought him into inevitable
collision with Kurdish chiefs who saw their misused independence threatened. The town of
Amadiyah was rent by a standing feud between two of its leading citizens, a feud in which all the
inhabitants were accustomed to take an enjoyable hand, to say nothing of the aghas and saiyids of
the adjoining tribes. British administration was not distasteful so 1 mg as its activities were con
fined to the distribution of advances and grants, without which the ruined villages could not start
agricultural operations, but when it took the direction of collecting taxes and curbing the lawless
tyranny of the aghas, it appeared in a less pleasing aspect. The Turks had taken an easier view of
their official obligations though they had been backed by a stronger military force than was main
tained by us. Moreover, it was common knowledge that we contemplated repatriating the
Assyrians, and the Christians of Amadiyah did not fail to draw the attention of the Moslems to the
fact that their day had dawned at last. There were outside influences ready to exaggerate talk of
this nature.
But the repatriation of thousands of families to a rugged alpine region beyond our control was
not a task to be undertaken lightly and as the spring advanced it became evident that the return of
the refugees must be postponed. There was therefore no advantage to be gained in keeping troops
so far from the base, especially as the lines of communication were difficult, and in June they were
withdrawn to the Suwara Pass, eighteen miles west of Amadiyah. This left the Assistant Political
Officer, Captain Willey, alone in the town, with Lieut. Macdonald and Sgt. Troop in charge of-
Kurdish levies, and*a couple of Indian Telegraph clerks—confident as Englishmen are apt to be,
and more often rightly than wrongly, that their personal authority is sufficient protection. The
malcontents saw their opportunity a'nd during the night of July 15 the leaders of the town factions,
with the tacit connivance of the tribes, enlisted the services of the local gendarmerie and murdered
the whole party. There can have been no question of personal unpopularity. Captain Willey who
was an experienced officer, had only recently been appointed to Amadiyah, while Lt. Macdonald
was zealous, efficient and well-liked ; the outbreak was a demonstration against British authority
and definitely anti-Christian in character. The Christian villages of the Amadiyah district were-
systematicallv raided and though the loss of life was ismall, crops and sheep were everywhere
destroyed and lifted. The Goyan, who had been responsible for the murder of Captain Pearson
in April, and the-Guli to the north of the town took part in the rising with the Barwar tribes of
Amadiyah, and when the British punitive column approached the town the murderers fled to
Goyan country. We entered Amadiyah on August 8 and captured some of the minor offenders
after having dealt with the insurgent chiefs in the villages of Lower Barwari. Our troops drove
the Upper Barwari tribes from the mountains north of the town and then turned their attention
to the Goyan and the Guli. Two battalions of Assyrians, trained at Ba‘qubah* were attached
to the expedition and acquitted themselves well. Operations were concluded in September and
though the tribesmen, whose lifelong business and pleasure is guerilla warfare, had eluded us
in the m mntains (as they used to elude the Turks before us) we yet succeeded in inspiring them
with a wholesome fear and a conviction that the rising had been a mistake and that they had
been fairly beaten on their own ground. By October all ’sections and, with few exceptions, all
the leading offenders had tendered their submission. They were dealt with leniently, the pun
ishment which had been meted out to them by our troops having been sufficient. We appointed
our own nominees to Amadiyah and Barwari and having provided them with means to maintain
their authority withdrew in December to Dohuk, halfway between Amadiyah and Mosul. The
district has been quiescent since our withdrawal.
I he year was not to close without a further loss of valuable lives which the Political Service
could ill spare. Shortly after the Armistice, an Assistant Political Officer had been sent to
Aqrah which lies north-east of Mosul, near the edge of the plain, about half way between
Amadiyah and Rowanduz. The mountains which separate ‘ Aqrah from the greater Zab are
the home of the Zibari Kurds, while on the opposite bank of the river are the territories of the
Shaikh of Barzan. Barzan had had a stormy history in Turkish times. The Shaikh, ‘Abdul
Salim, had suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Government and in 1909 the Turks sent
an expedition against him with very moderate success. Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. who was placed in 1910'
in supreme charge of the three Wilayats of Basrah, Baghdad, and Mosul, patched up a peace,
but when Nazim fell in 1911, all settlements which he had succeeded in adjusting crumbled and
at the outbreak of the war the Shaikh of Barzan was contemplating being forced in self-defence
to accept the overtures which the Russians had frequently made to him and seek protection
from them. Ihere was a bitter feud between Barzan and Zibar, and the Turks following
familiar lines of procedure, made use of Paris Agha of Zibar and with his aid entrapped and
hanged the Shaikh of Barzan. His successor Shaikh Ahmad, inherited his feuds but not his
wits When British administration was established in the district he keenly resented being
placed under Aqrah which he regarded as coloured by Zibari influence, and was at one time
anxious to move into the Rowanduz district, but the project met with no encouragement from
us. Faris Agha was however forbidden to cross the Zab into Barzan territory. The attempt
to hold the balance antagonized both parties and gave a promising field for Turkish propaganda
which was being skilfully conducted from Van by an ex-governor, Haidar Beg. Reports were
C r 1 I, en ! i he ea . r ^ whiter that Enver Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. had arrived at Van with reinforcements consisting
of Turks and Russian deserters and that he was in active correspondence with Situ Agha of
Oramar, north of Amadiyah, the Barwari, and other malcontents. Through Turkish mediation