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File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [234v] (487/608)
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.
6
Kifri-Kirkuk
Railway.
The only chance of attaining this object would he for the Turks
to evacuate all Kurdish areas, and pressure might be brought to
bear upon them in the Peace Treaty oy making their retention of
Constantinople dependent upon this evacuation. '%
To balance the large areas in which the Italians and Frenc t
were to have economic priority, it might be suggested that those
portions of Kurdistan which the French agreed to leave to us
should form a sphere of British economic interest.
Turning to the question of the Kifri-Kirkuk Bailway he
reminded the Conference that severe criticisms had been passed in
the Cabinet on the proposed expenditure of 23 millions on
Mesopotamia. The Prime Minister had supported this criticism
and the Secretary of State for War had not defended the estimate
from the military point of view. The War Office view appeared to
be that, so long as the retention of forces on the line Hamadan-
Kazvin was considered desirable for political reasons, it became a
military necessity that the Hamadan road should be kept up. Even
so, it had been decided that the expenditure on this road should be
halved. The reduced figure might either be spent in the first six
months of the year or spread out over the whole year. He thought
that any expenditure on railway construction would be subject & to
similar drastic criticism.
Colonel pribbon said that the Kifri-Kirkuk Bailway was more
a commercial than a military consideration, but that, if it were built,
strategical requirements would demand the extension of the frontier
some way beyond it, as the railway could not run along the actual
frontier. If an autonomous Kurdish State were formed between
Mesopotamia, and 1 ersia, a line should be drawn along the
watershed
The boundary between adjacent drainage basins.
north of Mosul, below which no foreign interference should be
allowed in Kurdistan, though British troops shall be free to move as
necessary.
Sir Arthur Eirtzel said that the grounds on which the .India
Office supported the extension of the railway, at least as far as
Kirkuk, were that in the event of disturbances on the Kurdish
montier the presence of a railway would obviate the expense of
building cantonments.
Chairman said that he understood the argument to be that
it we went to Mesopotamia we must go as far as Mosul; if we went
o ^ osu , we must have a railway ; the best commercial line for the
railway to Mosul was through Kifri and Kirkuk, and the building of
tins hue would necessitate a further extension of our frontier into the
vui is i areas. On the whole, he was inclined to think that further
work on the railway should be postponed for the present.
„•, .hyd'O,;"'; 1 thai ; if »^ere decided not to proceed with the
in Kn kuk Railway, he thought that we should reserve the right
o o so in m cace Iieaty or in separate negotiations on the subject
ot economic concessions.
l [C Zel I , >oi '. lted out that the ^iie would lie in the
old Mosul vilayet, m which he understood that the French had
given up all claims.
. TC decided that work on the Kifri-Kirkuk Railway
should not be resumed for the present.
The final decision on the future of Kurdistan would depend on
the conclusions of the Peace Conference.
Foreign Office, (Initialled) C. of K.
February 23, 1920.
o
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’ [234v] (487/608), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/782, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100136722017.0x000058> [accessed 22 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