File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [‎207r] (432/608)

KURDISTAN.
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. Recommendations.
No. P. 7701. 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. ,
Sir, 20tli December 1919.
With reference to correspondence ending with my endorsement No. 7701, dated
4th December, relative to the policy of His Majesty’s Government in Kurdistan, I am directed
by the Secretary of State for India to transmit, to be laid before the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, copy of telegram dated 27th November, No. 14269, which has been received
from the Acting Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia on this subject.
2. Mr. Montagu has considered this telegram and examined the whole problem of
Kurdistan in consultation with officers who have had recent experience of these regions, and I
-am to forward herewith copy of the Minutes of a Conference held in this connection at the
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. on Saturday, 6th December.
3. Of the broad alternatives of interference in or withdrawal from the internal affairs of
Kurdistan, Mr. Secretary Montagu would have preferred the latter. But he is compelled to
the conclusion that this is impossible so long as it is necessary to provide for the defence of
Mosul on the north and for the safety of the Persian road on the East. He is advised that if
Mosul is to remain within the Mesopotamian State then the strategical position demands the
holding of Zakho and, with Zakho, Jezirah on the west and Dohuk on the east. Similarly, in
order to protect the Persian road and the railway to Quraitu from raids, a sufficient degree of
control must be exercised over the district of Sulaimaniyah to ensure a measure of order and
good government therein. It is Mr. Montagu’s considered opinion that the number of troops
required on the frontiers of Mesopotamia will be less if such control is exercised than if this
area is left entirely to its own devices. He therefore recommends, though not without
reluctance, that Southern Kurdistan should remain within the sphere of our commitments.
4. As to boundaries, he is anxious to include in the Mesopotamian State no predominantly
Kurdish area which could with safety be excluded. He therefore recommends that the
frontier between Southern Kurdistan and Mesopotamia should be a line passing from a little
north of Khaniqin, to Kifri, thence to Kirkuk, Altun Keupri, Erbil, Dohuk, Zakho to Feish
Khabur. He would include in Mesopotamia all the towns named except Erbil; and to the
Aghas of Erbil, a town which is partly Arab and partly Kurdish, he would give the option of
entering the State either of Mesopotamia or of South Kurdistan. Colonel Leachman is of
opinion that they would most probably elect for the former, an election which would solve
many difficulties that might otherwise arise. The eastern frontier of South Kurdistan
would be the Persian border; and the northern, a line starting from where the Kandil Dagh
joins Persia, along the crest of the mountains to Harir and Kandil, thence (subject to any local
modifications wffiich Colonel Wilson might show to be necessary) along the Zab to the point
where the frontier of the Mesopotamian State crosses the river. For the defence of Zakho it
is necessary that Jezirah ibn Omar be secured. Mr. Montagu would propose to invite the
Bedr Khan family to establish themselves in Bohtan with Jezirah as their capital. At first
it would be advisable to garrison the town with British troops and to lend some assistance in
arms and perhaps in money. But beyond Jezirah itself, and therein only to this limited
extent, there should be no commitments. The further frontiers of Bohtan would be no
concern of His Majesty’s Government.
5. As regards the constitution of South Kurdistan, Mr. Montagu proposes firstly that it
shall form a State financially and politically separate from Mesopotamia, and secondly, that
it shall be autonomous, governed by a Kurdish Executive Council, assisted by, but not
subject to, British advisers appointed by the Chief Civil Authority in Baghdad. He is advised
that it is practicable to unite .Sulaimaniyah and the area between the Zabs into a single State
and he would propose to recommend this course to Colonel Wilson forthwith. With the
natural resources of Kurdistan as great as Colonel Wilson appears to anticipate, the State
should at a very early date attain to financial stability. The elaboration of a customs union
and the division of expenditure incurred in the joint interest of the two. States may present
difficulties, but none that are insuperable ; and Mr. Montagu would be disposed to request
Colonel Wilson to give this phase of the problem his early attention.
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