'Military Report on Mesopotamia (Iraq)' [‎78v] (161/226)

Yezidis retreated. In the mountains the Turks were
easily held, and the expedition proved a failure.
All Yezidis, who are tractable and amenable to ways
of a just and stable government, are enthusiastic
supporters of a British administration in Iraq. They
hate equally Turks and Arabs, but might be inclined to
stand by an Arab Government provided the British
remained in an advisory capacity. In 1921 the Turks,
recognizing the strategic importance of the Jabal Sinjar,
which threatens the main routes between Dair al Zor,
Nisibin and Mosul, have attempted to win over several
Yezidi aghas, who have been dissatisfied with the regime
of the present Chief, Hammu Shiru. The success of
such propaganda is, however, unlikely owing to the
traditional Yezidi hatred of all Moslems, particularly of
the Ottoman type.
In the Jabal Sinjar Hammu Shiru has long been the
autocratic temporal head of the Yezidis. Formerly the
adviser of the paramount Chief, he was able, thanks to
a successful raid, to acquire supreme power and became
head of the Fuqara, a religious caste. His will at all
times has been harsh to his enemies, but it has un
doubtedly kept the Yezidis together, and prevented their
disruption and defeat at the hands of Badawin tribes.
Owing to his autocratic ways, Hammu Shiru has
alienated the sympathies of some half-dozen aghas, the
chief of whom is Husain Burgess, the grandson of the old
paramount Chief. In 1920 Husain Burgess, Daud al
Daud of Mihrkhan, Ahmad Mutto of Samoko and several
others were said to have received seditious letters before
the Tel Afar disturbances, but there seems no reason to
believe, as Hammu Shiru believed, that these men ever
intended to help the enemies of the British. There can
be little doubt that the Yezidi chief is harsh and unjust
to his Yezidi enemies, but the circumstances of his life
and people must be considered in this connection.
Hammu and his people are but little removed from
savagery. His life, with its struggle for tribal
supremacy, his constant warfare with Turk and Arab,
his splendid isolation and lack of intercourse with the
outside world, all combine to keep him chained to
barbarianism. He rules by fear and with an iron rod,
but, like all who do so, he dreads an arrow in the dark.
That is his reason for fearing Husain Burgess, and the
few who would oppose his despotic sway. It may possibly
be correct to think that despotism holds no place in
modern civilization, but here it must be realized that it