File 36/1919 Pt 3 ‘KURDISTAN POLICY & SITUATION’ [‎283v] (585/608)

WM
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4. Lord Curzon’s 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 were
capable of. ^
5. The Kurds should, if possible, be guaranteed against Turkish aggression, but
should preferably not have formally appointed advisers, whether Frenc
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.
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I ^ sai
6 .
M. Berthelot said that he agreed with these general propositions and with a
proposal subsequently made by Lord Curzon, that'it would be best to leave the
question for the present and perhaps return to it after a discussion on Mosul and other
points regarding the Arab countries.
On the 23rd December the observations of the Secretary of State for India on the
telegrams of the Acting Civil Commissioner, Mesopotamia, were received in the Foreign
Office. After examination of the whole problem of Kurdistan in consultation with
officers who had had recent experience of these regions, Mr. Montagu recommended
though not without reluctance, that Southern Kurdistan should remain within the
sphere of the commitments of His Majesty’s Government. He was advised that if
Mosul were to remain within the Mesopotamian State the strategical position demanded
the holding of Zakho, and, with Zakho, Jezirah on the west and Dohuk on the east
In order to protect the Persian road and the railway to Quraitu from raids, a sufficient
degree of control must be exercised for the district of Suleimaniyeh to ensure a measure
of order and good government therein. It was his considered opinion that the number *
of troops required on the frontiers of Mesopotamia would be less if such control were
exercised than if this area were left entirely to its own devices. At the same time, he
rnade it clear that he did not propose that Southern Kurdistan should be included in
the Mesopotamian State. He recommended that the boundary between Southern
Kurdistan and Mesopotamia should be a line passing from a little north of Khaniqin
to Kifn thence to Kmkuk, Altun Keupri, Erbil, Dohuk, Zakho, to Feish Khabur.
e won g' lv< 3 r il the option of entering the State either of Mesopotamia or of
Southern Kurdistan. The eastern frontier of Southern Kurdistan would be the Persian
oun aiy, an t e northern a line starting from where the Kandil Dagh joins Persia
+ ’ CrGS i ^i ^ u 3n ^ oll ^ 1 ^ ns > Harir and Kandil; thence (subject to any local
1 1 \ 0n 1 W Civil Commissioner, Mesopotamia, might think to be
oroTpl 7h . al0ng th w t0 ^ e point where * he fronti er of the Mesopotamian State
should be secured ^ C ^* ence it was necessary thq,t Jeziret-ibn-Omar
themselves in Pnl propo ?® ^ ia ? Kimp family should be invited to establish
with British trooncj^ 7 1 ezirap as their capital, the town being garrisoned at first
His Maiestv’s Cr •’ ^ s o me assis tance in arms and perhaps money being given by
of Go “nt. he ‘ Urther fr ° ntierS ° f Bohtan WOul d be - —-
politically senarate^rnm^M* So, ! t,le r n Ku / dista “ should form a State financially and
by a Kurdish executiv eso P o amia , and that it should be autonomous and governed
l °’ ^ ^
which should at a wrvP be ^"' een f‘ ie Zabs would be united into a single State,
HeToninP T Z, lj date ’ attam t0 financial stability,
would cease a ?nill e COntmuation of th « Kirkuk-Kifri railway, which, though it
garrison of Mesopotamia ^^ leces ^y^ would undoubtedly make it easier to reduce the
He lusted 21%^ wouM also have considerable commercial importance.
mountains of Urumia by arrangement with fh? P 10Uld P re P atriated to the P lains aai
He feared fi ^ iaa o em ent with the Persian Government.
a practical proposition 16 h 6 i^P u ^ aon . op Turks from Kurdistan was no longer
uncontrolled' m°these aresf ^ n0t thin . k that the retention of Turkish authority
provided that British infl' W ° U necessardy be destructive to the scheme proposed,
Snates. The frontiers'of’iw' 06 W f ere .^finiently strongly maintained in the Kurdish
' ■ uorth-weiT wouId be secured from aggression by the Turk
on the north-west b V the friendlv il Secured { rom a gg r ession by the Turk
defences of Mosul and nn J ^f a te of Bohtan, on the north by the garrisoned
Central Kurdistan by a diffif*iffi S ° U a free Kurdish State itself separated from
by a difficult, and for the most part, impassable mountain range.
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