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File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [225r] (468/608)
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.
absorbing the Sulemaniyeh district, which was the only Kurdish
area of any commercial value, the Kurds would be on our side. The
difference between 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.
view and that of Colonel Wilson
was, that while the latter wished to incorporate Southern Kurdistan
in Mesopotamia, 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.
favoured the establishment of an
autonomous Kurdish State which would be supplied with British
advisers at its own request, but would remain politically distinct from
Mesopotamia.
The Chairman observed that 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.
proposal was
neither one thing nor the other. Recognising that it was undesir
able to appear to thrust British advice on the Kurds they proposed
to leave it to the Kurds themselves to invite it. The result would
be the same in both cases. At the same time he did not see why
Kurdistan should not be reserved to His Majesty’s Government as an
area of economic priority to balance the areas in which it was
proposed that the Italians and French should have a similar privileged
position. He explained that the idea at present before the Peace
Conference was not that certain areas of Turkey should be specifically
allotted to the respective European Powers for economical exploita
tion. This would have the appearance of a partition. What was
proposed was that the other Powers in each case should bind them
selves not to seek concessions in certain specified areas where one of
them had special interests. He believed that the Treaty would also
contain some clause by which Turks would undertake to appeal
only to the Allied and Associated Powers for commercial assistance.
He thought it possible that we might induce the Trench to agree
that the whole of Kurdistan should be reserved as a sphere of
British economic interest.
Major Young, replying to a question by the Chairman, said
that he did not see the same objection to a self-denying ordinance
on the part of the other Powers with regard to Kurdistan as he
did to the extension of British political influence in the Kurdish
areas. He was strongly opposed to any political interference on the
part of His Majesty’s Government in any Kurdish area.
With regard to the protection of the Hamadan road, he did
not see why it was necessary for the whole of Southern Kurdistan
to be advised by British officers to ensure the protection of a road
which could be guarded by a line of posts so long as it was required
for military purposes.
With regard to the repatriation of the Assyrians, he suggested
that this should be arranged by His Majesty’s Government in
communication with the Persians and the Kurds as a separate
question after the Peace Treaty had definitely excluded Kurdistan
from the Turkish Empire.
The boundary between Persia and Mesopotamia might in any
case be reserved for discussion between His Majesty’s Government
and the Persian Government, and if the proposal to find a home
for the Assyrians by extending the Persian frontier were found
practicable, there would be no necessity for any other Power to
interest themselves in the negotiations.
The Chairman said that the question whether an extension of
the Persian frontier would have to be provided for in the Peace
Treaty and agreed to by the Turks, or whether it would be left for
discussion between the Persians, the Kurds and His Majesty’s
Government, was a technical point which would have to be con
sidered by the Peace Conference. He thought that, as a result of
the discussion, he had formed a fair idea of the line to be taken
with the French in the forthcoming negotiations. They could be
told that, though British forces were actually in occupation of parts
of Kurdistan at present, it had been decided to withdraw them and
to leave Kurdistan free to form itself into an autonomous State if it
desired to do so.
[2418]
C
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’ [225r] (468/608), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/782, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100136722017.0x000045> [accessed 15 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