'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎53v] (108/501)

4
2. The Kinds of the Mosul Vilayet showed, throughout the war, that far from
wTtTZ r / W1 / h t16 Turks 111 a i m ’ they regarded the Turkish quarrel
with tlie Entente as none of theirs. The Turkish delegation can be
challenged to produce any evidence that the Turkish forces in Irak ever
received any assistance from the Kurds against the British. A small
^±, tllbal 5? ntln g en t wa s present with the Turkish force at
Um aibah, near Basra, in the spring of 1915. They were present but
they took an insignificant part in the operations; they returned to their
homes after the battle; and from that time the Turks got no more help
from the Kurds than they did from the Arabs. The Kurds of the Kifri
and Kirkuk areas left their homes and lands in great numbers to avoid
consei iption, and as soon as those areas were occupied by British troons
thousands of local Kurds came down from the hills wither they 3
ned to avoid having to identify themselves with the aims of Turkey'
t 5 ie . r l e ^ mai . n the lai ‘ge Christian element (mainly Nestorians and
Chaldeans) and the Yazidis. If the claim of the Turkish delegation is weak in so
l thl tbe n0 j, I V rklsh Moslem population is concerned, it is sti'll weaker as applied
he Yazid“s"a tr huieT mUnitleS ' R f to Turkish misrl ' le - active passiv^that
e Yazidis attribute the enormous reduction in their numbers which has occurred
during the last generation The Chaldeans remember too well what their
co-religionists in the Diarbekir-Mardm-Jazirah area suffered durino- the war to
desire the restoration of the Turkish rule. And finally, the Nestor "ans who were
dnven fiom the region of Julamerk and the Persian border bv Turkish troops durine
the war, who died ,n thousands in their flight to Irak, and who have settled in [hat
f. 16 " country rather than submit to Turkish rule in their own land would fio-ht to
the death rather than permit the return of their new homes to a people who tefthem
are the symbol of misrule and oppression. ( f 0 K tIlem
3. IIistorical.
Ottoman Emidre th f the l° ng historical connection of Mosul with the
Ottoman Empire justifies their demanding its return would apply with equal force
to Bagdad : for except for insignificant periods when it was under Peremn rule
a f * a ' "' lh P art Turkey as long as Mosul. Both are Arab towns built bv Arabs
EmpTre In'uoint el !f too ‘ n Spite ° f tkeir lon S inclusion in the Turkish
pire. In ponit of fact, the close connection between Mosul and Bagdad was
recogm^d by the Turks to this extent, that the Mosul Vilayet was formerly part of
the Pashahk of Bagdad. Even as late as the eighties of the last century when
Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was Vah of Bagdad, Mosul was included in his governorship The
conversmn of Mosul into a separate vilayet in Turkeyf dependmg upon
stantmople, was a measure dictated by administrative convenience only.
The argument from history is therefore not one to which importance can pronerlv
nf VV 6 / b COu d ^ lall y be appiied to a demand from Turkey for the return
of all the territories and States which she has lost. It would justify the demand hv
of deTeTt S war” 7 ° r pr ° VinCe of which 11 had been depribd as the consequent
4. Economic.
r P l i ,tmr,r e J U , I |, 11 m^ i e ^ 0 . nomic ar gum?nt, it is the weakest of all. The economic
of 41ennn ht kIos | uI Vl ! a y et are entirely with Bagdad and with the Arab City
of Turkey ' ' r/' ," 1 ' clt,es *; be National Pact itself leaves outside the boundaries
Kirkuk •m l at f ? 6 110 ^ ire ^ towns in the vilayet, viz., Suleimaniyah,
^mdrLtnl nT 1 he eX P° rtS of Suleimaniyah all go to Bagdad, whence all its
earrvincr trtrl^V ^ re !^ n a™ 0 ^ ta ^ ne( ^ i n exchange; Kirkuk lives mainly on the
thp ntW nnrl YV0en ® a gdad on the one hand, and Mosul and Suleimaniyah on
s prospentv depends on the maintenance of the connection between
favnnthi; o! [ M r l "■ hlch ' be ] ng nearest t0 Turkey, should present the most
t? a T of m ° r , he a 5 gui r ell ‘ of , the Turkish delegation, it is notorious that the
witk • 0 l Li 18 f l In °st entirely down-river with Bagdad and across the desert
Xnf ^ imports of tfie vilayet are piece goods, tea, sugar and coffee,
[yy ® of the f is Produced in Turkey or could even be obtained through Turkish
, ,. [7 cx fP " 1 gfeat difficulty and by diverting trade from routes which it
bfdes in7^ f ° r , CentU y! S u As ,‘° tbe ex P° rts - th o principal are grain, wool and
c an( ^ smaller but still important exports are timber, gum-

'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎53v] (108/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎53v] (108/501)

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