File 5655/1918 Pt 2 'Mesopotamia: Refugee Camp at Baqubah (1920 – papers)' [‎440r] (890/946)

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE REFUGEES FROM 1914 TO THE TIME OF THEIR EXODUS
FROM ASIA MINOR, KURDISTAN AND NORTH WESTERN PERSIA IN 1918.
Midsummer 1918, saw the arrival in the occupied territory of some forty thousand destitute
and exhausted refugees. Before Moslem oppression and armed hostility by Turk, Kurd and
Persian, these Christians, men, women- and children, had been forced to flee from their former
homes in the Mountains and Plains lying between Lake Van in Turkish territory and Lake Urumieh
in Persia, and seek protection from the British whose ally they had declared themselves to be,
some three years previously.
These refugees are of an ancient Christianity and may be grouped under three distinct
heads:—
{a) Armenians, from Asia Minor and Lake Van.
(6) Assyrians from the district of Hakkari in Turkish Kurdistan, and formerly Turkish
subjects.
(c) Assyrians and Armenians of Urumieh and Salmas plains and formerly Persian subjects.
Under the above three headings I propose to relate briefly the course of events which led up
to this general exodus of Christians from Asia Minor, Kurdistan and North Western Persia.
(A).—THE ARMENIANS.
Everybody has heard of recent years, about the constant oppression of the Armenians, their
many massacres witness that of 1895 and 1896 which they suffered at the hands of the Turks,
and last but not least, their final massacring during this war at the hands of Turk, Kurd and
Persian. Their history has been one long tale of bloodshed and misery culminating, during the
World War, in their being driven out of their country and dispersed over the world as outcasts.
Of the fourteen thousand odd Armenians that we took under our wing and accommodated in
the occupied territory, roughly three quarters of them came from Lake Van and Bitlis. The others
are odd remnants of the nation, picked up from various parts of the Ottoman Empire, concentrated
in the Mosul vilayet and despatched to this camp.
I append herewith a return giving the distribution and numbers of the Armenians as they stood
on 1st October, 1919.
On the outbreak of War, the situation in the Van vilayet was more or less quiet. Consequently
the Armenians remained loyal to the Turks, until about March, 1915, when on the advance of the
Russians towards the town of Van, they severed their connection with their Muhammadan rulers,
and toew ™ their lot with their Christian allies the Russians. At tins tune there were many
Armenians serving in the Turkish Army. These were promptly massacred by the Purks. In June
of the same year the Russians evacuated Van and retired to the Caucasus. The Armenians en
masse accompanied them.
Two months later the Russians again advanced to Van and a great number of the Armenians
returned to their homes with them, but only to be left in 1917 to the mercy of the Moslems, when
the upheaval in Russia came, and the subsequent withdrawal of its Army fiom Asia Minor too
Dlace In the beginning of 1918 they were forced to leave their homes and flee across Turkish
Kurdistan to Salmas in North Western Persia. On the way a large numbej of them were mas
sacred, this time at the hands of Simko a Kurdish Chief.
A few months later, harassed on all sides by Turk, Kurd, and Persian, once more they had to
flee and along with some thirty thousand Assyrians the mighty retreat from North Western Persia
began-—a trek of 500 miles for men, women and children, destitute and demoralised, who sought to
find in the British Government the protection so long denied them.
(B) THE MOUNTAINEER ASSYRIANS FROM KURDISTAN.
into Turkish Kurdistan. , . , , , ... ,
Prior to the War they numbered about 1,00,000 souls but this number included some thousands
v, v, i • r f i AmpnVa The greatest number of these Assyrians dwelt between Mosul,
who had emigrated to America, me greaiebL iiuniut A c hirat nf Free Tribesmen
Lake Van and Lake Urumieh and may be divided into two sections, the Ash.rat ot 1 ice Inbesmen,
and the Ryat of subject people.
" Dealing first with the Christians of Hakkari in Turkish Kurdistan. As I mentioned above these
were divided into two classes :—
(1) Ashirat or Tribal Assyrians.
(2) The Ryat or subject people. L ' r ^ .
The tribal Assyrians lived in almost inaccessible fastnesses on the upper waters of he Great
Zab. They werelor the most part simple shepherds, ^^withc^oleteweaggsand acknowledg-
ing no lordship other than their Patriarch Mai Shim un an ‘ a n in 1
The Turks had no direct dealings with them, but when °f Always"
influence to set the Kurdish tribes against them. The Assyrians on the othe. hand we.e always
ready for reprisals against the Kurds.