File 5655/1918 Pt 2 'Mesopotamia: Refugee Camp at Baqubah (1920 – papers)' [‎444r] (898/946)

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not received favourably by the Refugees, who above all else wished to re-occupy their former
homes, undei British protection, or if this latter was not possible, under another power which
would guarantee them security against Moslem oppression. Accordingly the suggestion was not
proceeded with.
in July, 1919, Kui dish disturances again broke out this time in Amadia, resulting in the murder
of B^.^lhical Officers. A British Force was immediately despatched to punish the rebels,
and the battalion of the Assyrian Mountaineers under British Officers, then at the Refugee Camp,
Ba qubah, was called upon and despatched to Mosul. Later Mountaineer Assyrian men, were
called upon to voluneer to go up to Mosul and act as stretcher bearers to the force operating against
the Kurds. Five hundred volunteers were raised and forthwith despatched to Mosul.
Shortly aftei the Amadia distrubance began it was suggested that the events in Kurdistan
might be turned to good account by expelling the Kurds from the Amadia district and on conclu
sion of operations, creating a Nestorian Enclave An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. . I beg to quote extracts, to explain the suggestion,
from a Memorandum of the Civil Commissioner to General Headquarters, Mesopotamia dated 21st
July, 1919 :—
At first sight, the lecent events at Amadia appear to make the Repatriation of Refugees more
difficult than ever.
I think however, there is a possibility of turning the recent events at Amadia to good account
in this direction.
The suggestion which I have to make, and which I owe to Colonel Leachman, is that during
the autumn -we should clear the district at Amadia, the inhabitants of which are predominantly
Christians of all Mohammedan Kurds, and make it into a Nestorian enclave An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. , into which we can put,
without difficulty, the whole of the Nestorian Community now at Baqubah. The valley is a
sheltered one. It would be sufficiently near us to be able to obtain some degree of material
assistance in the form of plough cattle, seed etc. They would be within the Mosul vilayet, and
thus subject to our jurisdiction, as is their desire, and the Military organization which is being
formed would if maintained in the form of local Gendermerie suffice to protect them against
occasional marauders.
The behaviour of the Kurds of this villey has put them beyond the pale, and we have every
right to clear them as an act of War.”
On the 4th August, 1919, the Civil Commissioner embododied this suggestion and proposals
for a Nestorian enclave An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. hv his despatch (No. 23268 to the 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. , London) which I quote
verbatim :—
“ Despatch No. 23268/119/48 dated 4th August, 1919, from Civil Commissioner in
Mesopotamia, to the Under Secretary of State for India, London, S.W. ”
Sir,
I have the honour to refer to my despatches 2460 of January, 22nd, and 19909 of July, 2nd,
regarding the Christian Refugees now at Ba‘qubah, and to submit the following proposals for the
repatriation of the Assyrians now there.
2. Before the war a community numbering some 27,000 Assyrians, practically all Nestorians (Apiwm4iit jj
had resided from time immemorial in the Hakkiari district of Kurdistan mainly in the districts of
Tiari—Tkhuma, Jilu and Baz as shown on attached map,
3. Under circumstances already detailed practically the whole of this community have been
evicted from their mountain homes, 17,000 have found a temporary but inclement refugee in the
torrid plains of Mesopotamia.
4. Various proposals for their repatriation last Autumn and the current spring of the present
year have had to be negatived owing to the Military situation. His Majesty’s Government, however,
have taken an active interest in the future security of this little people, and a suggestion was made in
October, last, that the portion of Kurdistan occupied by them should form an enclave An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. under
British auspices. In this connection I beg to invite reference to Sir Hirtzel’s memo. : of April,
22nd on the claims of the Assyrians, and to the correspondence ending with your letter P.3191,
June, 19th.
5. At the same time it was made this proposal was impracticable as the Military situation did
not enable us to place or maintain our Nestorian clients in any such enclave An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. , and they themselves
were unwilling to proceed to any area that was not virtually under British protection.
6. Recent events at Amadia as discribed in my teleram 8167 of 21st July (copy attached) affords
us as the prospective mandatory for Mesopotamia an opportunity of doing justice to the Assyrian
community in a manner acceptable alike to themselves and to European ideas of justice and right,
of solving one of the most difficult questions of religious and racial incompatibility in Kurdistan, of
disposing of a grave menace to the future peace of the Northern Mesopotamia, and of punishing those
responsible for the recent outrages at Amadia. Such an opportunity will not recur.
7. It is proposed to effect this in the following manner*:—All Kurds in the area marked “ A ” App 8 nd« 2 .
to be compulsorily removed by the column now on their way to repress the disorders at Amadia.
This having been done the Nestorian community now at Ba’qubah to be gradually moved up in the
first place into Area “ A ”. This area is within the existing recognized boundary of the Mosul vilayat
with Turkey.
8. Area “ B ” is at present nominally under Turkish authority, but it is virtually empty and
being the hereditary home of Nestorians there are strong reasons why we should replace them there,
as soon as we have established them in Area “ A.”
9. The whole matter has been discussed with the G.O.C.-in-Chief, Mes. Ex. Force, who is
prepared to take the necessary Military action in Area “A” and to provide material assistance so
far as lies in his power to enable the Nestorians to return to Area “ B ”. This includes provision of
arms and ammunition, of transport, animals, and of household essentials including millstones.