'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎648r] (1297/1386)

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what had occurred, he having been responsible for Abdulkader’s appointment, has
resigned, and placed himself under Abdulkader’s protection, and the people of
Urumiah have tendered their submission to the Sheikh, and it is supposed that either
the force under Said or that under the Sheikh’s eldest son will move on Urumiah and
take possession.
I have heard to-day from the Turkish authorities that Sheikh Obeidullah himself
has crossed the frontier into Persia, but they say that he has declared that he has
nothing to do with this uprising, but that his sons have acted contrary to his wishes.
This declaration must, of course, be taken for what it is worth.
Considerable reinforcements are being directed hither. The present distribution
of troops in the Vilayet of Van is as follows
Gevver, 2 battalions, 4 mountain guns ; Bashkala, 1 battalion, 2 mountain guns ;
Julamerik, battalion, 2 mountain guns; Van, 4 battalions, 4 mountain guns.
There is also a small number of cavalry at various points.
Besides these forces, I am informed that 2 battalions are on their way here from
Diarbekir and 2 from Erzinjan, while 4 more are under orders to move from the latter
place.
Matters seem to be approaching a crisis, and a good deal will depend on the result
of an action between the Persians and Abdulkader’s force. If the latter is successful,
the results may be very serious, but if he is defeated, the movement will very likely
rapidly collapse, as the Mikry and Karapapak certainly, and, very possibly, other tribes,
will at once fall away from him, and then the danger will be of lawless pillage and
devastation by the disbanded and dispersed tribes.
Information that reaches me from other sources tends to confirm the above
accounts, but there are so many contradictory rumours afloat, that there may possibly
be considerable exaggeration, both in the numbers of the Kurdish forces and in the
amount of success that' has attended them; but it is, I think, evident that the matter
is considered very serious.
I have, &c.
(Signed) EMILIUS CLAYTON.
Inclosure 3 in No. 54.
Captain Clayton to Major Trotter.
Sir, Van, October 27, 1880.
YESTERDAY the Vali informed me that he had received a telegram from Persia
saying that an action had taken place between the Persians and the Kurds, in which the
latter had been worsted with the loss of thirty men. It hardly appears, however, as if
the action could have been a general one.
I have also received information that when the Kurdish forces were being
collected, Sheikh Moustapha, one of Obeidullah's Khalifes with 300 men, appeared
before the village of Jehangir Agha, and said he would burn the village if Jehangir
Agha did not join them, which he was therefore forced to do.
I have also heard that the Nestorians of Shemdina have been obliged to join the
Sheikh’s forces.
Kurds who have come to Van say that Sheikh Obeidullah has sent to the
Turkomans calling upon them to rise also against the Persians, and rumour says that
he will after finishing with the Persians turn against the Turks. I am inclined to
believe that he has a comprehensive plan of uniting all the Kurds in an independent
State under himself, that circumstances have turned his attention first to the Persian
side, that he will try to force the Persian Government to acknowledge him as Ruler
over the Persian Kurds, and that he will then turn to this side and try to obtain the
same from the Turks.
Two more battalions are to leave this at once for Hakkiari.
There are rumours that the Russians will send troops to the aid of the Persians.
Whether there is any foundation for them I do not know, but a Nestorian priest who
lately returned from Russia reported a large concentration of troops at Erivan.
I have, &c.
(Signed) EMILIUS CLAYTON.
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