Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎94r] (187/290)

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.J
Printed for the Foreign Office. November 1919.
SECRET.
[I.D.C.E., 31st Meeting.]
FOREIGN OFFICE.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
Minutes of Meeting held at the Foreign Office on Monday, November 17, 1919, at 6 p.m
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
{in the Chair).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P., i
Secretary of State for India, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Sir Arthur Hirtzel, K.C.B., Under- ,
Secretary of State for India, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , j
General Sir Alexander Cobbe, V.C., |
K.C.B., Mihtary Secretary, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Major WLcNoel., C..Z &, Xis.o.,
Mr. S. Armitage Smith, C.B., Treasury.
Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, K.C.B.,
D.S.O., Chief of Imperial General Staff,
War Office.
Major-General Sir W. Thwaites, K.C.M.G.,
C.B., Director of Military Intelligence,
War Office.
Captain C. P. R. Coode, D.S.O., Director
Operations Division (Foreign), Admiralty.
Mr. G. J. Kidston, C.B., Foreign Office.
Major H. W. Young, D.S.O. (Secretary).
Situation in
Kurdistan.
Mesopotamian
Railways.
The Conference had before them : (l) Note by the Secretary,
I.D.C.E., on the situation in Kurdistan (I.D.C.E.-267 I); (2) Addi
tional note by Secretary, I.D.C.E., on the situation in Kurdistan
(I.D.C.E.-3583); (3) Minutes of War Cabinet Committee meeting
held on the 22nd September, 1919 (I.D.C.E.-3236) ; U) Aide -memoire
(I.D.C.E.-3582).
The Chairman said that the Conference had met to discuss the
question of the future of Kurdistan, and to consider British policy
towards that part of the Middle East. This discussion had been
postponed from time to time, not because its urgency was growing
less acute—it had been growing more acute—but because they were
awaiting the arrival in England of Major Noel, who was probably
better qualified than anyone else to advise them on the subject.
Asa consequence of the campaign in Mesopotamia, which had
resulted in the capture of Baghdad, we had been brought into
contact with the Kurds in the regions adjoining the Persian frontier,
and at a later date, when by the terms of the armistice the Turks
evacuated large areas inhabited by Kurds, we had naturally taken
their place. These were the circumstances under which British
garrisons and British political officers had originally been introduced
into Kurdish areas. As time went on we had begun to ask ourselves
what policy we should ‘adopt towards these apparently friendly
people, who led us to suppose that they were anxious to enter into
closer relations with us.