'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎221r] (440/501)

[414 aa—3]
c
lhe.se nomads, principally of the Hartoshi and Miran confederations, were a
constant source of trouble to the Vali of Van; after having wintered on the west bank
ot the ligris, and crossed that river in spring by the boat bridge at Jezire, the sheep
tax being collected as they traversed the bridge. His difficulty was to prevent petty
raids and looting by these invaders, who might properly be said to belong to the
Vilayet of Diarbekr, in which Jezire was situated, on villages of sedentary Kurds and
Armenians in the Shattakh and Merwanen districts, and also to prevent inter-tribal
fighting between the two great factions, the Hartoshi and the Muran, of the
nomads.
For this latter purpose a half squadron of regular cavalry from the Van garrison
was usually posted with the chief of the Hartoshi in the Farashin Yaila to watch his
movements ; and it may be noted that these troops were under the military Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of
the Van garrison, and not directly under the Vah or Civil Governor, while these two
officials did not always work together, thereby causing further trouble.
Generally, no military operations were undertaken against these two great
confederations from Van, they being left to fight it out on their own in the autumn
towards Jezire, which they usually did ; the region between Merwanen and Shernakh
being regarded as a sort of no man’s land, at any rate outside the jurisdiction of the
Governor of Van. As I have mentioned, the authority of the Sanjak of Hakkiari
terminated about the Kokobulend Peak, and thus there was a wide area of country
south-west of Nurduz before the authority of the Mosul Vilayet could be said to be
reached, and consequently there was no idea at all of a settled frontier between the
Vilayets of' Van and Mosul in this direction.
It is true that at one time an attempt was made to instal a kaimakam under Van
at Elk, a small village on the head waters of the Khabur, but shortly after 1 passed the
charred remains of the kaimakam’s house in that place, he having just escaped with
his life from the surrounding Kurds, who burnt it over his head. As a result, the
attempt was abandoned and not tried again, and, except when a small military expedi
tion was sent to chastise some outlaws of the Zshiriki Kurds who attacked my caravan
passing above Elk at Haidan-i-Ziril, the district was left alone, and no touch was
preserved with the Mosul Government.
Looked at from the south, from the point of view of Mosul, a kaimakam was
maintained at Amadia, who established a very shadowy authority over the powerful
Kurdish bheikh Berwari, who dominated the middle Khabur Valley, and was generally'
left alone by him.
Since our occupation, Mr. Jardine, one of our district officers, has travelled over
and surveyed this middle Khabur district, and it would seem that any effective control
by the Government of Van remains as far off* as ever, namely, that it is still confined
to Nurduz and Shattakh, a very long way off.
It may be mentioned that Shattakh was completely devastated and destroyed
during the war, and that the uplands of Nurduz also suffered, so that the control of
Van in this direction is probably more shadowy than ever, and miles out of touch with
our present Mesopotamian border.
Thus again, taking the intricate mountain districts which lie north of Zakho
traversed by the middle course of the Hazil River, we find that before the war the
Mosul Government maintained a kaimakam in Zakho, but that he had little or no
control over the Kurdish aghas who held various natural fastnesses in the gorges of
the middle Hazil ; they were left severely alone, except when their conduct became
outrageous, and then a. small military expedition was organised in Mosul, and after
much trouble managed to storm through their narrow gorges into their strongholds and
extract some reparation for their continual looting.
Our own troops during the later stages of the war sent a small expedition into
this district, and had some difficulty in penetrating the difficult fastnesses of these
Kurds. The course of this river Hazil is a very curious one.
The upper waters consist of a large number ot streams rising in Harakol Dagh
and the other ranges which surround a wooded basin called Bestenjik, and then
converging like the sticks of a fan to one enormous gorge in the hills to the south,
where they unite to form the course of the middle Hazil, which, after traversing some
very remarkable gorges and receiving tributaries through narrow limestone gateways
on either hand, finally emerges into the Zakho plain and joins the Khabur below that
town.
Now, the wide basin of the Bestenjik, although some 30 miles across, remained
entirely uninhabited, except for a few parties of Kurds whom I saw gathering
oak galls.

'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎221r] (440/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎221r] (440/501)

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