"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎١‎٨‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٣٤١)

1186
or on account of some breach of conditions by the Persians, it was
revoked, and over 20,000 of the defeated army were massacred. A few
days later a g-eneral slaughter of the civil inhabitants of Baghdad took
place under the orders of Murad, infuriated at the explosion of a powder
magazine which had caused great loss among his troops. The Sultan
remained in 'Iraq until February 1639, possibly visting Najaf, where
one of the * town gates is still called after him " Bab Murad at his
departure from Baghdad he is said to have passed through the Bab-al-
Tilism, which was then bricked up and has never since been opened.
A strong Turkish garrison, commanded by a capable officer, was left at
Baghdad ; and from that time to the present the city has remained con
tinuously under Turkish rule, but it has never again been visited by the
Turkish sovereign.f
Peace with In 1639 a permanent peace was arranged between Turkey and Persia
Persia, 1639. ^ c > • /« i ^ • t • , '
the common trontier or the two empires being at the same J; time fixed
in general terms by a Treaty drawn up after " much stormy discussion"
between the Ottoman Prime Minister and a Persian Commissioner. The
terms of this settlement, which was reaffirmed in 1746 and again in 1823,
will call for notice hereafter.
Internal history, 1622—40.
Probably about the beginning of the 17th century, the Pashsliq of
Basrah came into the possession of Afrasiyab Pasha, already mentioned,
a man of good position in the neighbourhood, who, according to one account,
obtained the government by paying 40,000 piastres to Aiyud, the official
nominee of the Porte. The Turks, having regard to the strength of Afrasi-
yab's local influence, to the excellence of his administration, to his profes-
*Looa1 tradition asserts that Murad, to show his respect for 'Ali, entered Najaf on
foot, and that in passing through the gate in question his turban was thrown from
his head by the jostling of the crowd. This story appears highly improbable, bnt
it does not follow that Murad did not visit Najaf.
t The above account of the recovery of Baghdad is mainly from Professor Creasy'?
History of! the Ottoman Turks, Volume 1, pages 408-11. Tavernier in his Persian
1 ravels, Book TT, Chapter VII, gives a different version of the affair, whicfi,
though obtained upon the spot and almost contemporaneous, seems improbable. Both
accounte agree that over 20,000 of the garrison were massacred after having received
quarter.
X The substance of the treaty of 1639 is given in RwWnson'a Memorandum on
the Turko-Persian Frontier, 1844.
The Pashaliq
of Basrah,
1622-40.