'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎43v] (86/122)

84
it able to sink its differences in furtherance of the common aim.I Thus
the Ramman Kurds, who are settled near Midiat, were fighting with the
Rashkota and Beshiri* tribes, who occupy the region round Sinan to
the east of Diarbekr.)
At the beginning of March the chief men of Severek visited the
Turkish authorities and the leaders of the local branch of the Committee
of Union and Progress at Diarbekr; they decided to organise the Turkish
troops and the tribes in the area of these two towns and of Urfah, in order
to offer resistance to foreign occupation. They released Mahmud, the
chief of the Milli tribes, and ‘Abd-ul-Qadir ibn Derae, the chief of the
Karakechili tribe, who were in prison on a charge of disloyalty to the
government. The Turkish authorities then promised to recognise Mahmud
as the paramount chief of the Milli and to make him the most influential
agha east of the Euphrates; they ordered him immediately to call up his
cavalry and to unite with the neighbouring tribes, in order to attack the
British troops at Urfah and drive them across the river. Mahmud agreed to
the plan and sent letters to the chiefs of the Badelli and Dukurlu Kurds and
of the Jaish Arabs, inviting them to mobilise and join in the campaign.
The two Kurdish tribes hesitated at first through fear of the British, but
eventually they fell in with the proposal.
I On the 12th of the month Basrawi, on the contrary, and a few
important chiefs who were under his influence met the British military
authorities at Arab Punar and discussed the situation with them. Mean
while Chevket Bey, a member of the Administrative Council at Mardin,
and ‘Abd-ul-Qadir Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the President of the Committee for Kurdish
Independence, despatched political emissaries amongst the tribes, urging
them to oppose foreign intervention. } Only a few chieftains expressed
their adherence; they were Khalil Chazal, who lives in the Ambarie Dagh,
south-east of Mardin, the Ghorz chieftains between Mardin and Derek
and Husein Bakero of Maserta; Khalil Chazal was the most important of
these chiefs, in that he controlled a force of 5,000 rifles, whereas the Ghorz
chieftains only commanded 250 and Husein Bakero only 200 armed men.
It was asserted that Kanaan Bey, who commanded the 5th Turkish Division
at Mardin, was supporting these politicians. | Another supporter of the
Turkish cause was Lubud Bey, commonly known as. Mahmud Bey, a
Kurdish notable in Urfah,t who, in the second week of March, began a
campaign against the interference of the British, who are Christians, in
the affairs of Moslem states. \ At the same time Severekli ‘Ali Effendi and
Baghdenle Sayyid Bey, two notorious leaders of the Committee of Union
* Or Beziri Kaza.
t As late as the end of July it was reported that the endeavour to found a Kurdish
Club in Urfah had been unsuccessful, mainly because the attitude of the notables had
not yet assumed a definite character. At the same time the chiefs of the neighbouring
tribes began to come more frequently into U rfah to make protestations of loyalty to
the commander of the Allied detachment occupying the district; among them were
Sayyid Bey and Bekir Bey of the Badelli and Dukurlu tribes respectively, Mustafa
Bey and Veysi Bey of the Karakechili, and Sinam Agha of the Sheikhan Kurds.