'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎202v] (409/862)

HISTORY
2 Q2
risings were ill co-ordinated. Trouble began when the small Kark-
hiya tribe cut the railway (9 Aug.) near Baquba. The garrison at
Baquba was hurriedly withdrawn (12 Aug.), and the same day towns
folk and tribesmen together murdered the administrative staff at
Shahraban.
From Shahraban trouble spread to Kifri in the Kirkuk province of
southern Kurdistan. The Kurds, though they had no fellow feeling
with the Arab nationalists, were as ever opposed to all government.
But they had been chastised effectively after a rising in 1919 and the
chief trouble-maker, Shaikh Mahmud, was not in the country
(p. 308). In the Erbil province the local levies at Ruwandiz and
Koi Sanjaq were withdrawn to Erbil. There they were overawed by
the local chiefs and tribesmen, but the Political Officers stood firm
and the chiefs proved reasonable. They, like other Kurds, simply
demanded an assurance that Mosul vilayet would not be returned
to Turkey nor placed under direct Arab administration. The most
serious rising was that of the Surchi Kurds around Aqra; but they
made the mistake of attacking a camp of Assyrian refugees who
repelled them with very heavy losses. The Sulaimaniya region was
kept in hand without troops by the forceful personality of its remark
able Political Officer Major Soane and his assistants.
By mid-October the situation had been everywhere restored, the
insurgents defeated, and the security of communications made good
by a system of blockhouses at every important centre. The fury of
the rebellion subsided, and necessary punishments were carried out.
When Sir Percy Cox arrived as High Commissioner it was possible
for a fresh start to be made in setting up the new mandatory regime
with the help of the moderate elements.
The New Constitution
The period of civil administration under British military control
ended, and the establishment of the Iraqi State and Constitution
began, with the arrival of Sir Percy Cox in October 1920 as High
Commissioner of the mandatory regime. He immediately estab
lished a Council of State such as had been promised in June, con
sisting of a President, nine departmental ministers, and nine ministers
without portfolio; the latter included a number of tribal shaikhs, a
fact which greatly assisted in the pacification of the country. The
next step was to appoint Arab officials or mutasarrifs to the liwas
(divisions or provinces) of the country, with former Political Officers
to advise them. The old Turkish electoral law was revised by the