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File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [223v] (465/608)
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.
He strongly advocated the resumption of the Kifri-Kirkuk Kailway
line. He appeared also to recommend that Turkish connection with
Kurdistan should be maintained.
Shortly alter this telegram had been received, M. Berthelot, of
the French Foreign Office, had arrived in London and had pu*>
forward the French views on the future of Kurdistan. These views
differed cousiderably from those of His Majesty’s Government.
M. Berthelot defined Kurdistan as consisting of the vilayet of
"Diarbekir and the southern part of the vilayet of Van. The French
were not concerned with the problem which faced us in Southern
Kurdistan, and their proposals bore chiefly on the areas with
which we were not likely to be brought into very close contact.
They had suggested a partition of Kurdistan between the British
and the French, and had recommended the setting up of a federal
organisation under the control of these two European Powers, each
acting in its own zone, as in the case of the Arab countries.
In reply to these suggestions • of M. Berthelot, he had
himself outlined an alternative policy, based on the following-
considerations :—
No mandate, whether English or French, or Anglo-French, was
possible or desirable for Kurdistan as a whole, except,
perhaps, for the more settled areas in Southern Kurdistan.
Turkish rule, for obvious reasons which past experience made
clear, should not continue in Kurdistan in even a nominal
form. <
The Kurds were quite capable of making (and, according to his
latest information, were disposed to make) a working
arrangement with the Assyrians on one side and the
Armenians on the other. The Kurdistan question could
not therefore be considered apart from the formation of
the Armenian State, on which the French and British were
agreed.
His own idea was to allow the Kurds to decide whether they
would form a single State or a number of small loosely-knit
areas. Time and non-interference by the Turks could
alone show' what they v r ere capable of.
The Kurds should, if possible, be guaranteed against Turkish
aggression, but should preferably not have formally
appointed advisers, whether French or British.
Both from the British and French points of view it was
undesirable to create a frontier problem similar to that
with which the British were confronted in India.
On the same day that he had made these proposals to M. Berthelot,
but too late for him to incorporate them, the Foreign Office received
the views of 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 Colonel Wilson’s telegram.
* generally speaking 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.
supported Colonel Wilson’s
views, but so far a,s Southern Kurdistan was concerned they
suggested a compromise. While they agreed with him that Southern
Kurdistan should be included in our Mesopotamian sphere of influence,
t ley were averse from regarding it as a part of Mesopotamia. They
recommended Southern Kurdistan should form a State financially
and politically separate from Mesopotamia, and that it should be
autonomous and governed by a Kurdish Executive Council, assisted
)y, but not subject to, British advisers appointed by the chief civil
authority in Bagdad. They agreed also that Dohuk and Zakho should
p 0 / n< irk e< ^ .-^ eso P 0 I ani ‘ a proper, and recommended that the
Ladr Khan family should be invited to establish themselves in
>o dan with Jezirat-ibn-Omar as their capital, the town being
garrisoned at first with British troops, and some assistance in arms
and perhaps money being given them by His Majesty’s Government.
W ith regard to the Assyrians, they had suggested that the
ugees should be repatriated to the plains and mountains of
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’ [223v] (465/608), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/782, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100136722017.0x000042> [accessed 14 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