File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [‎282v] (583/608)

9
The inference is that he had contemplated an American mandate for the six
Armenian vilayets.
2. He attached no significance to Major Noel’s arguments that Kurdistan should
not be partitioned. While there might be reasons against the exclusion of Southern
Kurdistan from a united Kurdistan under a single mandatory, there was, in his opi, j
no such feeling of national unity among the Kurds as to render it essential for the
whole of Kurdistan to be treated in the same way in the absence of a mandatory
power. Nor did he agree that the Kurds, if left to themselves, would be strongly
pro-British. ^ ^
3. He did not regard ethnological frontiers as being necessarily good ones. He
thought that economic and geographical frontiers tended in practice to outweigh those
of race. The only safe and reasonable frontier from a political point of view seemed to
him to be that which he had outlined in June 1919. The suggestion referred to was as
follows:—
•‘For economic and strategic reasons, and in order to secure to Iraq State the
advantage of a mountain track, well wooded and capable of great development, it
is desirable to include Suleimaniyeh, Rania, and Keui Sandjak within limits of
Mesopotamian administration.
“ Erbil is an integral part of Mosul vilayet, and when I visited the town by
air on the 6th June leading inhabitants were unanimous in their expressions of
dismay at the mere prospect of being included in Kurdistan. Erbil, moreover, is
on one of the recognised railway alignments to Mosul, and, like Agra, should ’be
excluded from Kurdistan.
“ Dohuk and Zakho must also be regarded as within Mesopotamia, but not
* Amadia.”
[163477]
I.D.C.E. 3946.
r J^. 28t | 1 November Colonel Wilson telegraphed that there was no point of
policy affecting Mesopotamia on which he spoke with greater conviction, nor one on
which the railway experts were more unanimous than the Kifri-Kirkuk railway line,
tie still recommended strongly that this should be proceeded with, and referred to the
telegram m which he had originally suggested it. In this telegram he had said
1 (0
ifstrat®!
ilusion*
is$ ei
inorted
’’On 0 1
m ofe
outside bac
i over
| propaganda
tie Kurds
Not
tlemajorit;
pmunicai
' festern K
lirs in tl
s annex Ki
iderthen
fikyet of I
uber of i
fiopps whc
[158768]
i n ^ l 8 doubtless realised that Baghdad-Mosul line passes through almost the
whole ot its length through desert country which is not even potentials fertile
except between Baghdad and Samarrah. The alignment has been designed with
an eye to through communication between Aleppo and Baghdad ; for development
ot country (corrupt group) at length alignment would be Khanikin-Kifri-Kirkuk-
A tun Keupri-Arbil-Mosul with branches to Suleimaniyeh and Rania, but we are
PvIf P Tl SUmab i ly /u mnil 3 tt ? d t0 the Ti ^ ris route - Whether or not Mosul is
i e . Xcluded + ^ Ild y y a( l s P here is limited by Greater Zab, it will still be
■R • ° £P ve e ec policy recently adumbrated for Kurdistan by carrying out
foregomg radway northwards from Tehrit up the Lesser Zab to Altun KeuprCand
control ^ ^ 1S h w 1 aS e 1 ssen r tlal lf are to exercise any degree of effective
would oals ^y f and b hfcre , by [ ?u P hold ] the destinies of Armenians; the line
the north eit g l T y I®!^ y ieat -g rowin g country, and could be extended to
e north-east eventually if desired. It could be surveyed forthwith.
face us ir, 00 ^ 8 T/° n V '\° U d s . (dve au f or,la tically many of the problems which now
extension^f A 1 T Qenia ’ and North-West Persia, and might make an
extension of the Khanikm line to Kermanshah unnecessary for the present.
nolitic d imn^rfa a , 1S ° 1 e north-west limit of Iraq, it becomes of primary
this obieot wp ° i^^l mos ^ of Suleimaniyeh as a Kurdish centre; with
to Halebia nlain • ext ® nd me ^ e g a nge system from Khanikin up the Diala
The Ottoman T 1 ° ooimamyeh f his line would almost certainly be profitable,
profit out of th° f C K° e ^ 1L 18 u ? ders . tood have made 100,000L per annum net
for everv sort of l ° , aCG ° 1 m f^is district before the war, and it is a market
I recommend ih t U n a and Por ® st P r °dnce as well as a fine wheat-growing area.
1 recommend that this be surveyed as soon as possible.”
I.D.C.E. 3818. Suleimaniveh^^id^F 6 }?^ ^ ^ vd Commissioner reported that he had visited
to moXfyThe ^ewf.l I and tbat nothin g he had seen heard there led him
beginning to comp rea V expressed. He added that geological reports were now
potentialities than bp^ , these areas and that they disclosed greater
P tentiianties than he had hitherto anticipated, particularly of oil.
iak had
m
anc
racting
Kurdistan
^ Arab i
6a ter into s
ibe Kurdigi
oilier regir
aominal su
wuncils u
as
op(
At tl:
td Cur;
un
l.Nc
2. ( Tu
3. Tb
[U