'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎42r] (83/122)

81
?
*
the feelings of the Christians at the same time as it disturbed the
Moslems by hinting that the British occupation would only be temporary,
and that the French would ultimately receive the mandate for the district.*
To the Kurd the Armenian is a double-faced liar of superior cunning,
far inferior in the military qualities which alone he respects, but who is
about to obtain a preponderating share in the government of the country,
according to the wild rumours which have reached him of the grandiose
schemes being hatched in Europe for the restoration of the Armenian
kingdom. He feels inarticulate and unable to voice his claims before the
clever and better-educated Armenian, while from the religious point of
view he fears that in a world of victorious Christianity Islam will receive
but a scant measure of respect. These fears are accentuated by the idle
boasting of the Armenian and by the report that the British have 50,000
Christians waiting in ‘Iraq to be restored to the homes from which they
have been exiled, well armed and eager to avenge the massacres in which
he himself played no small part; he begins to doubt our good faith or our
power to restrain them and is encouraged by Turkish and Pan-Islamic
intrigue to be ready to resist by force of arms.
In Suleimaniyah by the end of December doubts were beginning to
arise as to the wisdom of allowing Sheikh Mahmud further to increase
his power. He was known to have been in times past in continuous
revolt against the Turkish Government, and it was said that the tyranny
exercised by his family had been worse even than that of the Turkish
officials. But his influence, which was undoubted, was still too useful to
us to be put aside or to be lost, perhaps, by a curtailment of power which
might goad him into rebellion. Unfortunately, he was a mere child as
regards intellect and breadth of view, but a child possessed of considerable
cunning and undoubtedly inspired by an inordinate ambition. Moreover,
;he was surrounded by a class of sycophants who filled his head with
extravagant and silly notions, leading him to style himself ruler of all
Kurdistan and encouraging him to interfere in affairs far beyond the
borders of the sphere allotted to him. \
In Northern Kurdistan, soon after the signing of the armistice, the
Kurdish movement burst into fresh activity. It seems to have been
revived by prominent Turks, such as ‘Ali Ihsan Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , and by members of
the Committee of Union aud Progress in order to embarrass the Allied
Governments.' In January, 1919, members of that Committee were in
Kharput, urging the Kurds to claim their independence at the Peace
* Another line taken by French propaganda is seen in a speech delivered in
Constantinople on the 24th of July by Avni Bey Bederhani, who is supposed to be a
French agent. In addressing a meeting of the Kurdish party, he argued that the object
of the British in occupying Kurdistan was to secure the frontiers of Mesopotamia and
that such an occupation of their country would eventually enslave the Kurds ; conse
quently, the welfare of the land could be assured only by the adoption of a Francophile
jKjlicy, since the interests of the French, who are not politically concerned in that
part of Asia, would only be commercial.