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Coll 17/16(1) 'Iraq. The Assyrian Crisis' [‎345r] (700/1036)

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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. .

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Aid© - Memoire.
The Council of the League of Nations, Airing the Session held
on December 15th, 1952, adopted the following resolution#
•♦In conformity with the proposal submitted by the Committee
charged by its decision of December 5th, 1932, to prepare a
draft resolution regarding the question of the Assyrian
community in Iraq in the light of the report of the Permanent
Mandates Commission of November 14th, 1932$
Adopts the view of the Permanent Mandates Commission that
the demand of the Assyrians for administrative autonomy within
Iraq cannot be accepted;
Notes with satisfaction the declaration of the representa
tive of Iraq of the intention of the Iraqi Government to select
from outside Iraq a oreign expert to assist it for a limited
period in the settlement of all landless inhabitants of Iraq,
including Assyrians, and in the carrying out of its scheme for
the settlement of the Assyrians in Iraq under suitable
conditions and, so far as may be possible, in homogeneous units,
it being understood that the existing rights of the present
population shall not be prejudiced;
Peels confident, if these measures do not provide a
complete solution of the problem and there remain Assyrians
unwilling or unable to settle in Iraq, that the Iraqi
Government will take all such measures as may be possible to
facilitate the settlement of the said Assyrians elsewhere;
Requests the Iraqi Government to be so good as to keep it in
formed in due course of the result of the foregoing measures.”
According to the above resolution the Iraqi Government
obviously cannot be held responsible for those Assyrians who,
unwiiii n g to settle in Iraq, emigrated to other countries of
their own free will. The Government deeply regrets the
unwarranted

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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
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Coll 17/16(1) 'Iraq. The Assyrian Crisis' [‎345r] (700/1036), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2872, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100086338449.0x000065> [accessed 31 January 2025]

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