File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎23r] (43/450)

APPENDIX (A).
Delations between the Kurds, Ar\b Tribes, and the Turks.
A Joint Statement of four Arab Officers.
The Kurds .—From time immemorial the Kurds have been hostile to the Turks and
recalcitrant to Turkish rule. Except in the towns they never paid any taxes or
submitted to military service. When the war broke out the Turks fully realised the
importance of propitiating the Kurdish tribes. They knew that if they remained
hostile they would be a permanent menace and a peri] to the Turkish armies operating
in the Caucasus and in Mesopotamia.
Therefore they devised means of binding them up, without apparently interfering
with their freedom and secular independence. They played first on their religious
susceptibilities. Khalil Bey’s first action on his appointment as Vali of Baghdad, was
to proclaim the “ Jehad,” and inaugurate a campaign of denigration against the British
and the Bussians, whom he described as the sworn enemies of Islam. He warned the
Kurds that the Allies would no more respect the Shia’at than the Sunnat. He brought
out the sword of Hussein from Kerbela and the banner of Adi from Nejef, the two
most sacred relics to the Kurds, and begged the latter to save these holy relics from
profanation and their mosques from destruction; to protect their wives and daughters
from dishonour and murder; their homes and lands from devastation. When the
Turks saw that fanaticism had reached its climax, knowing from experience that they
could not rely on the Kurds, they decided to compromise them irretrievably by using
them as their tools for the Armenian massacres. Hereditary hatred, the innate instinct
of lust and plunder drove the Kurds heart and soul into the task of annihilating the
Armenians. However, reaction came, and the Kurds found, that they had been playing
into the hands ot the Young lurks, who m their turn began to lil-tieat the Kurds,
knowing that they could not afford any help to the enemy for fear of revenge and
renrisals on account of their participation in the Armenian massacres. This is how
matters stand at present. The Kurds for months past have been stubbornly opposing
the Russian advance in the Caucasus for fear of revenge specially on the part of the
Armenians who have enlisted in the Russian army. If an assurance could be given
them from responsible quarters, that no harm would befall them, that then lues and
properties would be safeguarded, and that the Armenians would not be allowed to play
havoc with them, the Kurds would welcome and help the Russians in the Caucasus and
the British in Irak. T ™ , , i ,
Arab Tribes in Irak .—The Arab tribes in Mesopotamia have never peen known to
be loval to the Turks, and, what is more, they always professed a very friendly feeling
towards EnRand. The present hostile attitude of some of the tribes has come as a
surprise to many. The Arab officers attribute this attitude, first of all, to the vigorous
anti-British propaganda carried on by the Turco-Germans ; secondly, to the strange
policy of the British in conquered territory. Besides representing to the Arabs the
calamities of a British ii^asion, with the consequent profanation of the mosques,
destruction of homes, abolition of Islam, &c, the Turco-Germans took good care to
enhance their propaganda with a show of gold, silver, and all sorts of costly gifts to the
Arab chiefs and leaders. At the time when von der Goltz proceeded to Mesopotamia
he took with him bags of gold and silver, and rich silk garments for the Arab chiefs
With regard to" the British policy in Mesopotamia, the officers believe _ that the
British Government did not play up to Arab nationalism as much as it might have
done They had expected the British Government to show greater consideration to
influential Arabs, specially those who had been known for their sympathies towards
England They expected they, would have been given a large share in the admmistra-
tion of the country Instead of that they were hardly noticed or even totally
Not only the realisation of Arab aspirations, which had been their goal for years, had
been deified them, but they had to submit to having imposed upon them Indian officials,
Indian institutions, and Indian culture.