'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎664v] (1330/1386)

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districts, to do its best to prevent the loss and damage continually suffered by the
Turks at the hands of the Persian tribes, and to give assurances to that effect.
Inclosure 7 in No. 74.
Note from the Persian Embassy to the Porte, dated IHA Moharrem, 1298
(December 13, 1880).
(Translation.)
WE are in receipt of your note under date the 26th Zilhijj, 1297 (30th Novem
ber, 1880), referring to “ a recommendation addressed to the Porte for the delivery
and punishment of certain Persian Notables and Chiefs who, when close pressed
by the Imperial troops, took refuge in Ottoman territory.” - In this note you state
that information had been received from the Vilayet of Van to the effect that,
the people who crossed the frontier being refugees seeking asylum, it was thought
natural to receive them, after taking away their arms; that 60,000 or 70,000 of the
inhabitants of Uroumiyeh had emigrated, and 200 families of them had arrived near
Uekkari. You further state that, in consequence of this information, orders were given
to afford speedy relief to these people, while at the same time hindering further immi
gration ; that it has been decided to dispatch a Special Commission to the spot to find
out if any of the Turkish tribes have been engaged in stirring up disorder in Persian
territory, and, if so, to take the necessary steps for preventing the continuance of such
a state of affairs. You conclude by demanding the prevention of those injuries which
you complain are being inflicted on Turkish subjects by Persian tribes.
As you have not favoured us with the names of those persons whom you designate
as Persian Notables and Chiefs, and who have been forced to take refuge in Ottoman
territory, it is impossible to know who they are, nor has the punishment of any person
been recommended under that designation. If the ruffians alluded to under that name
are Persian Kurds with whom we are at war, and whom we regard as foes, and if, after
the assurances given upon that point, and after they have perpetrated such atrocities,
you still receive and shelter them, we can only reply that we are sorry for it.
The people who have entered on the path of insurrection in Persia are of two
classes: one class of them is composed of Persian subjects who have been led astray by
the notorious Sheikh Obeidullah, and, after murdering in their insurrection thousands
of the unfortunate population, and devastating prosperous and well-to-do towns and
villages, have fled over the border, to escape the punishment which is their lawful due.
These are the ruffians whom we strongly request you not to harbour, but to hand over
to the authorities along the frontier, in accordance with existing Treaties. The other
class is composed of the Sheikh’s sons and a band of some 10,000 or 15,000 Turkish
subjects. Repeated assurances had been given that they would not be permitted to
cross the frontier, and soldiers had been collected to stop them, yet they failed to
prevent their passage. They entered Persian territory and perpetrated all sorts of
atrocities, but no effort was made to arrest their return, and the Sheikh is even now
engaged in stirring up trouble and disorder in our country, as you were informed in
our previous note, for he is continually striving to arm men and send them to increase
the forces of the marauders. I beg to remind you again forcibly that, unless the
Sheikh, that fruitful source of trouble and sedition, is removed to a distant place, and
permanently incarcerated, the responsibility will fall upon the head of the real causer
of this state of affairs.
Coming now to the people who emigrated from Uroumiyeh, you know well
enough that those who have no complicity with evil-doers never feel uneasy, and have
no cause to leave their homes. These emigrants must be some of the first class, i. e.,
some of those who were seduced by the intrigues of the Sheikh; that horde of
miscreants who slaughtered the whole male population of more than a hundred villages,
who cut off the breasts of aged women, plucked babes from their mothers’ arms and
cast them living into the fire, deflowered more than seventy virgins, and perpetrated
all sorts of atrocities.
To afford protection to these men, would be to encourage the continuance, without
limit, of such atrocities, and would be contrary to the affectionate peace at present
existing between the two States (so necessary to the welfare of united Islam), and also
opposed to the laws concerning conterminous Powers. I am therefore perfectly
justified in demanding that immediate and peremptory orders should be sent to the
local authorities not to harbour these people, nor allow them to cross the frontier. As
for the declaration of a general pardon, that is a question for my Government to