"كردستان والأكراد" [ظ‎‎١‎١] (١٢٢/٢٢)

20
Okhian.t the Didan (under Ziz oghlu Mohammed Agha), the Sheddadt
(under Khalil Agha), Asian,! Khaldan Ann, Omerat,! Kortkan and Zirwala
(under Melik Zada Mustafa Agha), whose combined total does not exceed
2,500 houses, scattered over the district round Seruj; they are especially
rich in sheep, camels, and wheat, and own, according to common report,
1000 1 mrses."
It is said that the Barazi can muster a force of 5,000 to 8,000 fighting
men, with 3,000 rifles, besides a troop of 2,000 to 3,000 cavalry, with a
transport train of 200 camels; they could probably maintain this force in
the field for six months at least. They are credited with being favourably
disposed to the British; and one of their sheikhs, Mohammed Basrawi,
was charged with spreading propaganda in favour of a British protectorate
and was imprisoned at Constantinople; hut he was released on the inter
vention of the British Consul at Aleppo. They are in favour of the
independence of Kurdistan, but regard the idea as unpractical; they prefer
the Turks to the Arabs, in which they are followed by the Sheikhan, but
not by the El-Ann.
Two other small tribes are the Dinei, whose chief is Mohammed Agha
ibn Suleiman, who lives at Boz Tepe, and the Zerwerat under Mustafa-
’l-Meilij who lives at Tell Khajib.§ Both live a semi-nomad existence in
the neighbourhood of Seruj. Besides these Kurds, who a,re fellahin, there
are in the district of Seruj about 1200 tents of nomad Kurds ; in the
winter they leave the neighbourhood of Seruj, which becomes swampy, and
pitch their tents on drier ground further to the north ; they practise
robbery and brigandage on the road from Seruj to Urfah, while other
Kurds infest the road from Urfah to Diarbekr. A small number of purely
Turkish tribes also frequent this part of the country, to the number of
about 1,000 families.
t It seems that two chiefs, Mustafa ibn Meilij and Goghgoblu Khalil, at present
divide the paramount chieftaincy over these four tribes, the Okhian, Shadadan (or
Sheddad), Asian, and Zeruah (or Zirwala), who are otherwise unknown.
I This tribe is possibly identical with the El-Ann, the word “Omerat” being
perhaps a corruption of “ Amirat ” in Amirat-el-Aun. The chief of the El-Aun
is Hajji ‘Ali Masto.
* The Qai uimaqam of Seruj gave to the British Political Officer a somewhat different A
account of the Barazi and Ketkan tribes; he stated that the tribe of Barazi is under
the rule of Mustafa ibn Shahin Bey and is divided into six sub-tribes: (i.) The Ketkan,
under the Sheikh Basrawi, resident at Mazara, eight miles S. of Arab Punar; (ii.) The
Pijau, under Ghalib Bey and his three sous, Mustafa, Muslim, and Dimo, who live
round Seruj and, in the summer, at Tepe (Serrin); (iii.) The Alai-ud-din, under Mustafa
Ibn Shahin Bey, who spends the winter at Seruj and the summer at Tepe; the most
influential member of the tribe, after the chief, is Ahmed Bey; (iv.) The Sheikhan,
under the Sheikh Bozan ibn Nairn (or Niu hu ibn Bozan), who lives at Ziarat; the
tribe is settled on the south of the railway at Seruj; (v.) The El-Aun, a sub-division
of the Ketkan, under Hajji-’1-Masto, a resident of Serrin, and a prot6g6 of Basrawi;
the tribe inhabits the low ground close to the Euphrates; (vi.) The Omerat, a sub-
division of the El-Aun ; their chief is Hassan Itabi, who resides at El-Masudieh.
§ Probably branches of the Dinazi and the Zirwala respectively; the names are
perhaps corrupt.