'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎50v] (100/122)

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will be as little respected as it was under the Turkish Empire.* They
may even be able to continue to practice their former livelihood, provided
that no foreign power receives a mandate to administer the country.
These men, then, would prefer an autonomous Kurdistan or, failing that,
they would be willing once more to accept the yoke of the Ottoman
Empire; but their motives are as selfish as those of the second class.
Other agents who seem to be working to liberate the Kurds from
foreign control are really actuated far more by hatred of the English or of
the Christians than by any form of altruism. There is perhaps in every town
a small section of the population who are genuine Moslems and who are \
driven by religious scruples to oppose any intervention by Christian powers,
on the ground that the Prophet Mohammed has taught distinctly in the
Quran that it is unlawful for Moslems to be subject to infidel powers.!
There are also many members of the Committee of Union and Progress
whose sole object is to baulk the plans and aspirations of the British, in
revenge for the downfall of their own schemes. And, lastly, there are
agents of the Arab Administration at Damascus, who work untiringly
throughout the Near East; they hope, not perhaps to include Kurdistan
in the realm of the King of the Hejaz, but to rouse among all the peoples
of the East an anti-British feeling in order to increase their own chances
of building up an independent Arab kingdom, which shall stretch from the
Mediterranean Sea to the confines ef Persia, and from the mountains of ^
Kurdistan, which bound tbe plain of the Euphrates and the Tigris, south-
* To put Kurdistan a^ain under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire would be to
throw away the last chance of settling the Armenian question on peaceful lines. To
allay the anxiety and to remove the hostility of the party which opposed the arrival
of the British through fear of condign punishment for their share in the Armenian
massacres, Major Noel was instructed to announce at Mosul that the British authorities
had decided to grant an amnesty to all such offenders ; in this it was stipulated that
there should be no forced return of stolen goods, subject to the restitution of persons
and immoveable property in all clearly-proved cases. This line of action was doubtless
dictated as much by policy as by the impossibility of bringing the real criminals to
justice.
t On the religious aspect of the movement, Major Noel makes the following
comment:—“ From the experiences that I have had during tbe last two months (viz.,
from March till May, 1919) on the Kurdo-Arab border, it would seem that the Arab has ^
a much more pan-Islamic orientation than the Kurd. Islam loouis much larger on the
Arab’s horizon than any question of nationality, whereas with the Kurd the national
question will, I feel sure, eclipse all others. It may not, perhaps, do so at present,
because the consciousness of national existence and aspirations is not properly roused,
but that this consciousness will be aroused is a fact which impresses itself upon me
more and more. It follows from the above that the, Kurd will be much easier to
administer than the Arab, provided that he feels that the development of his country
on national lines is receiving due consideration. The Kurd, moreover, is very
receptive, and a great outlet for superfluous energy will be found on the develop
ment of the arts and crafts which will follow the introduction of a modern method
of administration.” In this connection he notes that it is well-known that in the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s field and refinery in the south-west of Persia the best
mechanics are Kurds, many of whom have risen to positions of considerable
responsibility.