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File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [211r] (440/608)
The record is made up of 1 volume (295 folios). It was created in 23 Dec 1919-4 Dec 1922. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
frm
the formation of new and (2 corrupt group
is competent to speak for the whole of
Kurdistan, nor do I know/f of any one man competent to speak for
sot area larger than a single (?valley) or tribe. Kurds as a
whoie have racial, but no national feeling.
Geographical and political conditions in Kurdistan have al
ways prevented the existence of larger political units.
(11) Popular opinion as far as I and my officers can gaugfr it
ijyijLJ^tjaiflk-we kave^had exceptional opportuniti es fo r doing so)
if i n x I' 0 ? c ? n ^phation of the existing regime""to ’whi
-wish to-oodicoito local Kurd* (several—to be ^iven
as possible ^ in order to satisfy their national 4 -c^rrupt^
groups)/ and to provide an outlets corrupt groups)? of sw-mthiers
SeaWPftU ^ ^ is bein S ^
( 12 ) No form^of words which may be adopted to secure British
economic or political influence in Southern Kurdistan will have
been of avail,if peace with Turkey is to be signed for throwing
tnese areas wmch we have redeemed at the cost of so much blood
an^. money from disorder into deeper anardy than they have yet
known after they have experienced better Things.
(13) I beg that Government will even at the last moment
reconsider a policy which must within a few years either be
reversed at great expense and loss of life or lead to (corrupt
group) incidents which very possibly involve the abandonment of
kosul vilayet and possiDly^of Mesopotamia, which will undermine
our already precarious position in Persia with the gravest results
^-,^11 make for ever impossible the repatriation
lakubah at the _
able to arrange
50,000 Christian refugees now in our care at Bakubah at the cost
oi os millions a year, whose return I hope to be
within 'the next few months.
rn . I 14 )-, I.submit tbit the claims of these people on
Christendom in general and upon the British nation in particular
cannot be wnolly overlooked. x
.^ "T? 1 f 04 , from wishing to ^accept open door for them once they
are in their homes, but I cla,im on tlieir behalf that we will at
least give uhem a c/iance of getting back to their country and
^nao we wil do what we can to rehabilitate them when there
(2 corrupt groups).
vi . ^ nave discussed with Lieut-General Haldane who has now
ai^ivea, and ne cxesires me to say that the views expressed have
his concurrence and wishes this to be brought to the notice
of die War Office.
I am addressing you separately on this subject shortly.
•, A&frsssed
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.
, repeated to Government of India,
and Teheran. *
About this item
- Content
This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, parliamentary notes, telegrams and minutes. It mainly covers conversations between British officials regarding the political situation in Kurdistan, but also contains correspondence from Kurdish representatives and various British organisations.
The volume covers and includes the following:
- A description of the political situation in Kurdistan by Philippe Berthelot of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- Opinions expressed by British officials as to whether Turkish authorities should be excluded form Kurdistan, whether Kurdistan should be portioned, and whether its frontier should follow that of the ethnological frontier between Kurds and Arabs
- Opinions expressed by British officials on the growth of political and social movements related to Kurdish nationalism
- Descriptions of the political movement towards the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish state
- The views of Hamdi Bey Baban [Ḥamdī Beg Bābān] regarding the Kurdistan situation
- Minutes of monthly conferences on Middle Eastern affairs throughout 1920, giving views on Kurdistan from British and French officers and covering different subjects regarding the political situation in Kurdistan and Mesopotamia
- Aspects of the future administration of Sulaimaniyah [As Sulaymaniyah]
- Plans from British officers regarding the political situation in Mesopotamia and its possible future government
- Mentions of interest in Mesopotamia in ‘bolshevism’
- Reports on 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 regarding Kurdistan
- A memorandum on Kurdistan, with the following headings: ‘Kurdish political activity', ‘Aims of the Kurds’, ‘Turkish Scheme’, ‘Kurdish Objections’, ‘The immediate situation’, and ‘Suggested solution’ (ff 267-270)
- Opinions expressed by Kurdish people on Kurdistan and its politics
- Conflict in Mesopotamia and Kurdistan regarding: British refusal to allow visits to the tomb of Shaikh Kaka Ahmad [Ḥājjī Kākā Aḥmad al-Shaykh], including the imposition of heavy fines and prison sentences; arrests and deportations to Baghdad of unnamed ‘notables’; and the execution at Sakis [Saqqez] of Rusten Khan [Rustam Khān] by order of the Governor of Sineh [Sanandaj]
- Correspondence relating to Kurdistan, including: repatriation of Assyrian Christians; securing of borders; Kurdish districts in Persia [Iran;] Kurdish nationalism
- A letter from the Travellers Club regarding the situation in the Kurdistan.
The principal correspondents are: Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; High Commissioner, Constantinople [Istanbul]; Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies; Political Officer at Sulaimaniyah; Hamdi Bey Baban.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (295 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 36 (Kurdistan) consists of 2 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/781-782. The volumes are divided into three parts, with parts 1-2 comprising the first volume and part 3 comprising the second volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the inside last folio with 293; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
The volume has four foliation anomalies: f 106a, f 111a, f 172a and f 203a.
A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [211r] (440/608), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/782, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100136722017.0x000029> [accessed 19 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/782
- Title
- File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1r:66v, 68r:106v, 106ar:106av, 107r:107v, 109r:111v, 111ar:111av, 112r:125v, 128r:129v, 131r:133v, 136r:138v, 142r:147v, 152r:168v, 168ar:168av, 169r:172v, 172ar:172av, 173r:176v, 178r:203v, 203ar:203av, 204r:285v, 289r:293v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence