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Coll 17/16(1) 'Iraq. The Assyrian Crisis' [54r] (118/1036)
The record is made up of 1 volume (514 folios). It was created in 17 Jun 1933-31 Aug 1933. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
3.
1C. Sir F. Humphry 3 then arrived, and the Prime
Minister asked him for his views on the situation.
11. It was agreed that the first point to he
tackled must he relief.
12. THE PRIME MINISTER then explained that it seamed
to him that the real danger v/as a political one. What
would happen if King Feisal were to disappear? Would there
not he a serious risk of the anti-British party producing a
state of things v/hich would lead to anarchy? The days were
past when any reliance could he placed on the desire of
Governments to maintain social order. The situation seemed
extremely dangerous.
13. Sir F. Humphrys thought these fears were un
justified. Although there wore occasional outbursts in the
press and a good deal of talk against the presence of the
Royal Air Force in Iraq, and same objections to various
arrangements in the Treaty such as those relating to the
railways, in his view there v/as no serious anti-British
feeling in Iraq and no one in Iraq was really opposed to the
alliance, which was recognised to he a fundamental necessity
for the protection of Iraq’s Independence.
14. Sir F. Humphrys thought that King Feisal v/as,
however, in a difficult position. It must he remembered
that in Iraqi public opinion the Assyrians ware the
aggressors (which was in fact the case). If we pressed
King Feisal too far to take punitive measures against
those who had retaliated against the Ac Syrians, His
Majesty’s position might become impossible. It was
probably for this reason, i.e. in viev/ of cur insistence
on his arranging for the immediate punishment of those
guilty of atrocities, that King Feisal had collapsed.
- He
About this item
- Content
The volume contains papers regarding the Assyrian Crisis in Iraq during 1933. It primarily consists of correspondence between HM Ambassador to Iraq (Sir Francis Humphrys), HM Chargé d’Affaires to Iraq (George Ogilvie-Forbes), and the Foreign Office.
The papers document the negotiations between Mar Shimun XXIII Eshai – the Patriarch of the Church of the East – and the Government of Iraq, regarding: the spiritual and temporal authority claimed by the Mar Shimun; the Assyrian Settlement Scheme; areas designated for settlement; and clashes between Assyrians, Iraqis and Kurds.
Ogilvie-Forbes and Humphrys reported on the movement of Assyrians into Syria, requests to the Syrian and French authorities that they be allowed to remain, proposals to disarm the group, and clashes with Iraqi troops when numbers of Assyrians returned to Iraq. The papers also document the proposed arrest or exile of the Mar Shimun by the Government of Iraq, and the volume also contains copies of letters exchanged by the Mar Shimun, the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and King Faisal.
The papers document the worsening crisis, including reports of looting and village burning at Dohuk [Dahūk], the murder of Assyrian prisoners by Iraqi armed forces led by Bakr Sidqi, and the Simele Massacre of August 1933. These papers include reports submitted by the Head of the British Military Mission in Iraq (Major General Rowan Robinson), the Administrative Inspector at Mosul (Colonel R S Stafford), and Major D B Thomson of the Assyrian Settlement Office. The file concludes with reports on the Simele Massacre, arrangements for the arrival of Mar Shimun and his family in Cyprus, the work of the Refugee Relief Commission in Mosul and Dohuk, and the establishment by the League of Nations of a Small Minorities Commission to investigate the crisis.
The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (514 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 510; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 1-510; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 17/16(1) 'Iraq. The Assyrian Crisis' [54r] (118/1036), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2872, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100086338446.0x000077> [accessed 7 February 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2872
- Title
- Coll 17/16(1) 'Iraq. The Assyrian Crisis'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1r:16r, 19r:31v, 33r:38v, 41r:83v, 87r:88r, 91r:237v, 239r:240v, 243r:343v, 348r:351v, 353r:353v, 355r:420v, 422r:431v, 433r:435v, 437r:445r, 446v:489v, 492r:492v, 498r:503v, 506r:510v, iii-r:iv-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence