'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎49v] (98/122)

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another massacre which would destroy the last remaining witnesses of
their past and would effectually confuse the issues.
By this time the Christians were thoroughly frightened. A deputation
was sent off in hot haste to me at Mardin to ask for British intervention.
The government also began to have its qualms, for its propaganda had
slightly miscarried. Peeling was to have been worked up against the
British, not against the Christians, while the inopportuneness of another
massacre was fully realised. However, a neat way out of the difficulty
suggested itself. The Kurdish Club was to be made the scapegoat, which
could be done with a show of justice owing to the activities of its more
corrupt and fanatical members. Under the guise of protecting the
Christians, an inconvenient organisation opposed to Turkish sovereignty
could be suppressed.
‘ The Christians were accordingly told that it was the Kurds,
instigated by the Kurdish Club, who thirsted for their blood. After their
experiences of the last few years, they were always ready to believe the
worst, and it was only natural that they should have given full credence
to this new presage of disaster. From words the Government proceeded
to deeds. Guns were mounted on the citadel to overawe the town, the
military were called out, the leaders of the Kurdish Club were arrested,
and finally the club itself was closed on the 4th of June.
The Government had saved the situation—the situation of its own
creation ! ”
.§ 2.— Origin and Causes of the Movement.
From the above sketch of the Kurdish movement, it is evident that
an extensive propaganda is being carried on amongst the Kurdish tribes, a
propaganda which is primarily anti-British and perhaps also anti-Christian,
and secondly pro-Kurdish. It is necessary in the first place to discuss
the local influences at work in Kurdistan and then to investigate its origin,
which is almost certain to be found outside the country, in Constantinople
and to a small extent in Egypt. The motive which seems to weigh most
heavily with all classes of Kurds, as far as they have any political opinions
at all, '" is the fear that the Allies will set up an independent kingdom of
* Major Noel quotes the following popular verse, well-known in Kurdistan, as re
flecting the feelings of the average Kurdish peasant on the question of independence :
“ If we had a King,
“ He would be worthy of a crown ;
“ He should have a capital
“ And we should share his fortune.
“ Turk and Persian and Arab
“ Would all be our slaves;
“ But what can we do? Our market is dull;
“ We have the goods but cannot find a buyer.”
The same officer relates that a Kurdish merchant at Derek said to him : “ We, the
Kurds, do not mind what the government is, so long as it is a just one.”