'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎214r] (432/862)

MODERN IRAQ 315
had taken the Assyrians at their own estimation. Now they were
wildly excited because they had broken the Assyrian reputation for
invincibility.
It was these troops which found a body of 400 unarmed Assyrians
gathered for protection at the police post of Simel, near Dohuk, and
massacred them in cold blood. This was the worst event; including
the victims of battle perhaps 600 Assyrians perished out of a popu
lation which now totalled about 25,000. 1 Afterwards, with the
assistance of Kurdish tribesmen and Shammar beduin, the Iraqi
soldiers sacked and destroyed 20 Assyrian villages and badly damaged
another 20 out of a total of 64, but the tribesmen were not guilty of
bloodshed. There seems little doubt that this massacre was, if not
long premeditated, at least arranged by the local army officers, and
that certain local civil officials must have connived at it; equally it
is true that the Arab administration as a whole was not implicated.
Care was taken to keep higher authorities and British officials without
news or out of the way at the crucial time. It was not till 16 August,
five days after the massacre, that news reached the Minister of the
Interior, who immediately intervened to stop the trouble and to
rescue the afflicted. But the leading nationalists and the Arab popu
lation as a whole rejoiced at the course of events. No punishments
were ever inflicted; instead, at a parade in Mosul the Crown Prince
Ghazi pinned decorations to the colours of the regiments engaged,
and the general in command, the Kurd Bekr Sidqi, noted for his anti-
Assyrian views, was given the title of Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . There were no more
massacres, but three-quarters of the Assyrians in Iraq expressed
a wish to leave Iraq and settle elsewhere. Eventually under League
auspices a commission was formed to find a new home for them out
side Iraq, and by 1939 some 8,000 had been settled in Syria along
the Khabur valley of the Syrian Jazira. The remainder are still in
Iraq. Britain defended the Iraqi Government before the League for
its behaviour in a deplorable crisis and prevented any hasty inter
vention in Iraqi affairs or any restriction of the country’s indepen
dence. But in Arab eyes Britain had merely failed to help her friends,
and her prestige suffered accordingly.
Other Minorities
The weakness of Iraqi governments in dealing with minority
problems is shown by their habit of laisser-faire towards the Kurds,
of whom they have been somewhat afraid, and their harshness towards
1 But on these figures see p. 383.