The TurkmenReality in Iraq

Arshad Al-Hirmizi

2005

XfRKTJX VAKTI

Kirkuk Foundation

isaN:975-6849-i1-BPublication No : 12English Series : 2

A publication ofKerkiik Vakfr

{Kerkuk Foundation)P.O.Box 61 .- BeyoSlu,

lstanbul/ Turkey

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First Editlonlstanbul - 2005

Introduction7

Chapter OneThe truth about the Turkmen Territories in Iraq

t1

Chapter Two,The Stand of British Government duringthe Negotiations of Mosul Question

35

Chapter ThreeOccupation Powers Look at Kirkuk&Kifri Figures

6l

Chapter Four

Kirkuk Massacre in 192479

Chapter FiveGavurbaghi Massacre in Kirkuk

91

Chapter SixKirkuk Massacre 1959, The Incident and Truth

109

Chapter SevenThe Demographic situation of the Turkmens in lraq

t6t

Chapter EightTuzhurmatu 1954-2004

183

Chapter NineErbil in History

t87

Conclusion193

The Turkmen Charterr95

Bibliography2rl

Appendix ILaw of Administration for the State of lraq

for the Transitional Period223

Appendix 2267

Map269

Ir/\tjI)

Introduction

A report of the International Crises Group (ICG)indicates the existence of racial, religious and cul-tural differences in Iraq that may later develop intofissures affecting the united structure of the Iraqisociety. ICG is an international, non-profit and mul-tinational organization, the employees of which op-erate in the five continents, and whose board in-cludes many prominent figures in the fields of poli-tics, diplomacy, business and media. Its headquarteris in Brussels.

The warning of the Group is totally justified, forIraq has long suffered from a suppressive govern-ment that followed a series of incompatible regimes,all of which failed to produce a unified con$titutionfor the Iraqi people; and a decade's boycott and po-litical isolation has further damaged the social fabricof the nation and obstructed the movement towardbuilding new and civilized Iraq.

The question that arises here is: will wisdom andinsight inspire the people of Iraq, so that they willcome together in a unified and civilized march to-ward building a modern lraq? Or, will racial andtribal inclinations for immediate rnaterial benefitsfor each disparate group defeat any conclusive andpermanent solution?

8Kana'an Makeyya, in an interview with ICG, be-lieves that the upcoming Iraqi constitution must:"put Iraq before any other factor, so it will be able toexpress what is common among all of us", and "wemust avoid the formulas that prioritize certaingroups, and that say neither "Iraq is an Arab countrywith Kurds minority" nor "Iraq is an Arab and Kurd-ish country with other minorities in it".".

When she was a member in the Group of the Princi-ples of Democratic Work, Rand Rahim Franki sug-gested two crucial aims. The first enables the differ-ent ethnic groups to live together in peace with nogroup being superior to the others, and which thebenefits of all groups being equally balanced. Thesecond aim is to create a strong Iraqi identity, and asense of joint lraqi citizenship.The truth that must be revealed here is that theTurkmens have been articulating such aims for along time. Reason leads us to accept, as Iraqis, thatIraqi citizenship must be inclusive of everyone,without any single minority or group having specialprivileges; always provided that the right to expresspolitical and cultural differences and opinions isguaranteed.

This book aims at two things, the first to prove theactual existence of the Turkmens in Iraq, and to re-ply to those who considered them extraneous to theIraqi consciousness, by presenting solid evidence oftheir geographical and demographic existence; andto show their participation in Iraqi affairs and provetheir inclusion in the Iraqi nation.

IThe second aim is to prove that racial and culturaldiversity enrich Iraq society, and that all efforts mustbe directed towards serving a free, united, variedand democrat Iraq, where the rule of the law andhuman rights and dignity are maintained.

The aspirati-ons of civilized nations have proven thatrespect is not something you can earn by the numberof people overpowered, or by thinking in terms ofmajorities and minorities. Rather, human dignity is aguaranteed right and must be respected at all timeswithout di scrimination.

I hope this humble effort will be considered anothercontribution aimed at highlighting the Turkmenpeople, who comprise the third basic element of theIraqi nation. And I hope this work will be anotherincentive for our brothers of other nations to get toknow this important sector of the Iraoi people, itsliterature, art, culture and its serious participation inthe haqi civilization over centuries.

I must acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to themany friends who contributed to this study by theirdedicated involvement, for example, in translationand editing. In particular, I must single out for spe-cial commendation Dr. Shaheen Al-Nakeeb,Dr.Hussein Al- Falahi, Rami Qassim and Ian Ren-nie.

And God Bless.

Arshad Al-Hirmizi2005

11

Chapter OneThe truth about the Turkmen Territories in Iraq

Despite the fact that almost everyone knowsthe ethnic nature of such territories, there has beenbig debate about the identity of the Turkmen's' terri-tories in lraq. Different lraqi ethnicities had lived inthese territories and met the sons of the Turkmenpopulation, which is one of the major ethnicities.They learned their language, sang their songs andstudied their literature and poetry.

Political and economical situations led some peopleto try to change the national identity in the above-mentioned territories, either by evacuating the na-tives or by flooding it with immigrants who enjoyedsecurity and peace in these territories.

So many people have introduced, with conclusiveproof, their evidences about the fact of these territo-ries, many books and articles have been published inthe same context and shed light on this matter.

My previous book "The Turkmen and the IraqiHomeland" dealt with the question of the Turk-men's' territories, and cited a lot of references andresources that talked about the truth of the Turkmenterritories. This research, however, will deal withthis issue from a different angle, which depends onciting the non-Turkmen and non-Turkish writerswho dealt with the subject, and support all that withthe appropriate international maps and documents.

12

i- The map of the national diversity in the northterritories of Iraq, which was prepared by the Brit-ish, showed the regions of the Christians, the Arabsand the Kurds. It also indicated the regions wherethere were more than one minorityl.

In the reglon separating Arabs and Kurds, the mapindicated with a different color (Brown) the citycenters and boroughs inhabited by the Turks or rheTurkmens as stated by the map illustration. TheTurkmen's' Territories were defined as follows:Telafer, Mosul villages, Erbil, Altunkopru, Kirkuk,Kifri, Karatepe, Hanekin, Kizlarbat, Mendeli

2- Miss Gerffude Bell, the oriental secretary of theBritish Higher Commissioner in lraq, mentioned, inher famous letters published by Elizabeth Bourgwenin lnndon in 1961, and translated later into Arabicby Jaffar Al-Khayyat; her observations about Iraqand its political climate.

Miss Bell, said in her letter dated 14th August 1921sent to her father:"The referendum was carried out, and Faisal waschosen by consensus, save Kirkuk did not vote. Theresidents of Kirkuk's cities and towns are Turkmens,and the villages are inhabited by the Kurds; and bothparties refuse the Arab authority". 2

t Britirh National Archives, London. File No.F.0.925141335, see Appendix 2' Iraq Fi Resail al-miss Bell "lraq in Miss1917-1926," Translation and Commentary

Bell's Letters,by Jafaar Al-

13

3- Mohammad Dhaifallah Al-Mutairi, a Kuwaitiwriter, mentioned the following in his book "TheProblems of Mosul and Iskenderun and the Arabic-Turkish Relations":"Turkmens are spread over a curved geographical

line that starts from Telafer on the lraqi-Syrian bor-ders and ends at Mendeli on the Iraqi-Irani bordersthrough Kirkuk, the center of the Turkmens with thehighest density of Turkmen population, and Erbil,which was one of the old settlements for the Turk-mens, and the second city after Kirkuk in respect ofnumber of Turkmens. Telafer is the biggest districtin Mosul which includes about two hundred villagesin addition to several cities like Nenawa, Tazehur-matu, Dakuk, Kifri, Hanekin, Kizlarbat, Mendeli,Saadiyeah, Shahraban, and Altawah". 3

4- Geoff Simons in his book "Future lraq" says that"Turkmens are carrying political problems resultedfrom the geographical borderlines imposed by for-eign countries, and Turkmens speak a Turkic Lan-guage with Oguz dialect".a

Khayyat, Dar Al-Mawsuat al-Arabiyya, Beirut 2003, P.383.

3 Mohu**ud Dhaifallah Al-Mutairi: Muskilata Al-Mosulwal-Iskandarona wal-Ilaqat al-arabiyya-al-Turkiyya'?rob-lems of Mosul and Iskandaron and the Arabic-Turkish Rela-tions". l't print, Al-filisriyyah Company of Printing, Cairo2003. Page 71.4 Geoff Simons "Future Iraq: US policy in reshaping theMiddle East". Translated by Saeed Al-Adhm, l" print. Saqibooks, Beirut 2004. Page 64.

14

5- In his book "Opposites Struggle- Iraqi oppositionafter Gulf War", Dr. Ali Mohammad Al-Shemranistates his opinion that the most of Kirkuk, before theimmigrations, was totally Turkmen. Moreover, heincludes some data about the nature of Turkmencitizens living in Iraq:"Turkmens of Iraq are part of the Muslim Turkmensliving now in Turkmenistan and the adjacent territo-ries in the Central Asia and Syria. And as it is thecase for Arabs, Turkmens are divided between themaccording to sectarian or doctrinal 6ases. Whereassome of the Turkmen living in Telafer, Dakuk,Tazehurmatu, and Kizlarbat are Shia'a Muslim; themajority of those living in Kirkuk, Altunkopru andKifri is Sunni Muslim.It is for sure that the Turkmens of Kirkuk were themajority until the mid of the 20th century, when thenumber started to decrease to the half or less due tothe Kurd immigration from the neighboring villages.The number of Kurd immigrants increased later onbecause of the prosperity of the petrol industry inKirkuk".s

6- The Columbia Encyclopedia states that the popu-lation of Kirkuk in 1987 was ,418624 distributedamong Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds. It also statesthat Kurds became minority there since most ofthem have been departed.6

5 Dr. Ali Mohammad Al-Shemrani:Sera"a al-Adhdad,Al-Muaradha Al-Iraqiyya ba'ada Harbil Khaleej, "OppositesStruggle- Iraqi Opposition after Gulf War"". Al HikmaPublishers, I-ondon 2ffi3. P age 134.6 http://www.encyclopedi a.com/html/k/Kirkuk.

15

7- As for Orient Encyclopedia, it says that the popu-lations of Kirkuk are Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmensand Arabs. 7

8- The Microsoft Encyclopedia says about Kirkuk:Kirkuk is the center of petroleum industry in Iraqand is linked with pipelines that are used to transferoil to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea. The major-ity of population in Kirkuk is Turkmens in additionto Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and Armenian.8

9- One of the encyclopedic studies I would like tomention here is the Encyclopedia of VernacularArchitecture of the World published by the Univer-sity of Cambridge. This encyclopedia touches thenational status of Kirkuk when it discusses this sub-ject, and states that the majority of Kirkuk's popula-tion is Turkmens, and the actual number of them inIraq is no less than two and a half million. e

10- The Illustrated Atlas of the World mentions lan-guages used in Iraq, and they are: Arabic, Kurdishand Turkmen.lo

7 Encyclopedia of Orient.8 Microsoft Encyclopedia. Global security..org' Paul, Oliver, Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture ofthe World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977.l0 Illustrated Atlas

-of the World, by Readers Digest Asso-

ciation, 2001. Page 1917.

16

11- The Reader definitely remembers what havebeen mentioned by the Encyclopedia Britannicawhich mentioned in earlier editions the actual statusof Kirkuk, for it stated that Kirkuk basically was aTurkmen city although there were people speakingArabic and Kurdish there. So many claims and de-mands led the Encyclopedia to change that state-ment. And since the Encyclopedia is fair and enjoysintegrity, it mentioned, in its latest editions, thatKirkuk has a mixture of people, Turkmens, Arabsand Kurdishi putting the Turkmens first.ll

12- In his book "A History of Iraq", Charles Trippmentioned that the Washington Accord clearlystated the ethnic diversity in the Kurdish territoriesand in the country as a whole, and had equally rec-ognized the ambitions of the other minorities likethe Turkmens, Assyrians and Keldanians exactlylike the Kurdish. 12

13- Kristina O'Donnely in her book "The Horse-man" states through one of her novel's characters,Burhan; whose wife told him that she left on hisdesk a bulky file about Turkmens, the Third largestminority in Iraq which expatriated before more thanone thousand year from Central Asia to reside in AlMosul, Kirkuk and Erbil; and that no one rememberstheir tragedy. She adds in her diaries: don't thoseaggrieved people have any rights? Are they secondtype people, for why do the successive govemments

t t h,,p,//***.britannica.com/eb/12 Churl", Tripp, A History of Iraq, CUP, Londo n 2002,P.274

17

have neglected mentioning their real number ofpopulation that exceeds the two millions?For God's Sake! Don't you know that those peopledescend from Turkish origins like those who live inturkey and the previous southern former Soviet Un-ions republics? They were subject to extensivegenocides by some Irailis. This report mentions thatminorities' right declaration issued by the rulingparty was preached again, and the protesting Turk-mens, especially students and educated people, werearrested and tortured; and in most cases executed.l3

14- If we look closely at the official coffespon-dences and the governrnental circulars in Kirkuk wenotice that the language used to address the residentswas Turkish language only. The British High Com-missioner, for example, had issued a communiqud inKirkuk in Turkish Language only after the events ofthe Kirkuk massacre carried out by some membersof the Levy Army of the Teyarian on the 4th of May,1924. Abdulrazzaq Al-Hasani, a historian, justifiedthat by saying that Turkish was the dominant lan-guage in Kirkuk.ra

15- The records kept at the British National Ar-chives include many correspondences, we mentionhere as an example the circular issued by the Gover-

l3 K.irtinu O'Donnely, The Horseman, Rose Intl. Publish-ing House, USA 2003, P.554-555.

14 Suyy"d Abdulrazak Al-Hasani:Tarikhul Wazarat Al-Iraqiyya "History of Iraqi Cabinets". Public Cultural Af-fairs Dept., Baghdad, Part l, 7'h edition 1988, P.206.

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norate of Kirkuk in the occasion of Eid Al Adha(Sacrifice Feast) in 1933, which included the sched-ule of the occasion's ceremony and the official re-ceiving the head of tribes and other people for theoccasion. The circular was issued in Turkish onlyand a copy of it was sent to the British Counselor inKirkuk.rs

16- The law of Local Languages was issued as rec-ognition for both the Kurdish and Turkmen lan-guages in the regions inhabited by the people ofeach language. Some research papers state that thelaw was issued in 1931. We know that the statutes ofthe law were approved by the Cabinet in it sessionof the 5th of August 193016, and the law was labeledas Law No. 174 of 1931. In accordance with thislaw, trials were permitted in Turkish and Kurdishlanguages in Duhok and Shekan of Al Mosul gover-norate; Erbil and Makhmour in Erbil governorate;and Kirkuk and Kifri in Kirkuk governorate. Articlefive of the law stated that the language used at housefor most students, whether that language was Ara-bic, Turkish or Kurdish, is the language of learningat elementary schools. The schools of Kirkuk andother adjacent regions started teaching using Turk-men language, and the reference of this matter can

tt Bri,irh National Archives, London, FileF/Ol624lItu Dr. Ibrahim Khalil Ahmad, Tattawur al-Tateem Al-Watani fil Iraq "The Development of National Education inIraq (1869-1932)", Center of Arab Gulf Studies at BasraUniversity 1982. P. 193.

19

be traced in the documents of the Royal Court inIraq, file no. Cl2l7 of the year 1931.17

17- The Declaration endorsed by the DeputiesCouncil in its session of May 1932, was addressedto the lrague of Nations, and concluded Iraq's obli-gations designated by the L,eague's committee of the28th of January 1932. Article 9 clearly stated that themajority in Kirkuk and Kifri (i.e. Kirkuk Gover-norate) are Turkmens, and Turkish and Kurdish lan-guages in addition to Arabic were all official lan-guages in that region.l8

17 Th, law was published in the Waqae' Newspaper on I'tJune 1931. See: Tarikhul Sadaqa Baynal Iraq wa Turkiya"History of friendship between Iraq and Turkey", ShakerSaber Al-Dhabit, Dar Al Maerefa Publishing House, Bagh-dad 1955.l8 S"e Say"d Adbulrazzak Al-Hasani in the pervious refer-ence and also see Satee' Al Hosari: Muthakkaraty fil Iraq"My Diaries in lraq" part 2 1927-1941, Al Taleaa House,Beirut, l't edition 1968, p.550 See Dr. Walid Hamdi: Al-Kurd wa Kurdistan fil Wathaik Al-Britaniyya "Kurds andKurdistan in the British Documents", Sejel Al Arab Publish-ers 1992, P.234. See Dr. Aziz Al Hajj: Al-Khadiyya Al-Kurdiyyah fil Ishrinat "Kurdish Issue in the Twenties" ArabInstitute of Studies and Publishing, I't print 1984, P. 208.See Awni Farsakh, Al-Akkaliyyat fil Tarikhul Arabi "Mi-norities in The Arab History", Riyadh Al-Rayyes for Pub-lishing, l't print 1994, P.397, See also: Nashatul Iraq Al-Hadeath "Rise of Modern lraq" by Henry Foster, translatedby Saleem Taha Al-Tekriti, second part , Al-Fajr for pub-lishing and distribution, l" print, P.472.

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18- A report from the British Ambassador in IraqMr. J.M. Trulbil addressed to the British Minister ofForeign Affairs, Anthony Eden, about the former'svisit to Kirkuk, Suleimaniya and Erbil during theperiod from 10-14 May stated the following:"The issue of minorities in Iraq is based on the rela-tionship between the Arabs and non-Arabs, and thisrelation is evident now than ever before. The coexis-tence and harmony is clearly demonstrated inKirkuk, for Turkmens constitute the majority of thepopulation in that region and they live with Arabsand Kurds side by side".le

19- In 1957,The Ministry of Social Affairs -

TheGeneral Census Dept- printed a special guidebook inboth Arabic and Turkish to be distributed to thoseworking in registration in Kirkuk and other Turkmenregions. Moreover, registration form 1 of 1957 wasprinted as well, and it included the registration datain fuabic and Turkish in separate forms. Havingconcluded the (Education and Language) not (Na-tionality) caused contradictory in the registrationnumbers for most people indicated Arabic as theirfirst language since it was the official language ofthe state.2o

20- lf we go to (Four Centuries of Modern lraq)book by Hemsley Longrigg, we find that the book

l9 British National Archives, London, File No.F.O1173198738, report of the Oriental Dept. Ell0l8l2'o Guid"book of registration: Arabic script was printed atAl-Tamadon printing House, while the Turkish one wasprinted at Al-Rabeta Publishers, Baghda{ 1957.

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discussed the residence regions of Turkmens, for itsays: the remaining scattered gloups of the Turkmenimmigrants were grouped in Telafer, in along line ofvillages from Deliabbas to the Great Zab, and mostof them were in Kirkuk.The book mentioned that Kirkuk was a charmingcity that had not changed over two centuries, norhad the long line of Turkmen villages spread all overthe Great Road, nor did the distant villages whoseresidents were farmers. It stated, as well, that therewas an increasing Turkish influence wherever therewas a majority of Turkish people and Turkish Creed.Longrigg deliberately mentioned Kirkuk in his book,and mentioned that the language of Kirkuk's peoplewas Turkish.2l

2l- lf we closely look at another book of Longrigg,we notice that he had described Turkmens as farm-ers with no tribe, and that they exist in large num-bers in Kirkuk, Altunkopru, Erbil and Kifri. Fur-thermore, they have existence also in Tazehurmatu,Karatepe and Dakuk along the road between Bagh-dad and Mosul. A number of them existed in themiddle road between Mosul and Sinjar. Longriggalso mentions the Turkmens' merger in the generallife of Iraq after the issue of Mosul was settled, hesays, none of the Turkmens in Kirkuk, Kifri andother adjacent villages ever tried to provoke themystery that has a lot of benefits, for they did not

2l St"ph"n Hemsley Longrigg, "Four Centuries of ModernIraq History" Translated by Jafar Al-Khayyat, 4'h print 1968,Sharif Radi Publications, Kom-Iran. P. 21, 122, 361.

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make any troubles once the issue of Mosul was set-tled.22

22- In reference to the clash about the ownership ofMosul Region, Vladimir Minorsky clearly mentionsin his article "Defining the Clash Region", thatTurkmens constitute the majority along the histori-cal road (Silk Road) that crosses south of Mosul andpasses most of its villages like Telafer, Erbil, Al-tunkopru, Kirkuk, Tuzhurmatu, Dakuk, Tazehur-matu, Kifri and Kardtepe.23

23- Khairi Amin Al Omari who has so many studiesin the history of modern lraq, said, while discussingthe struggle over the throne of Iraq, that Kirkuk isinhabited mostly by Turkmens.2a

24- Abdulmajeed Hasib Al-Qaysi said in an inter-view with the Al-Hayat newspaper on 1" of June

22 St"phrn Hemsley Longrigg, "Modern Iraq from 1900-1950" Translated by Salim Taha Al-Tikriti, Al-Fajr Publish-ers, Baghdad, lstprint 1988. Pp 30, 315. The translator men-tions hbre that the author of the book occupied the positionof the British Political Governor of Kirkuk for a while. Hewas fully acquainted with Turkmens situation, their behav-iors and villages. Thus, his judgments were built upon ob-servation and experience.

" Vludi.i, F. Minorsky, "Mosul Question" Translated by

Salim Shahen, Kurdish Studies Ceriter, Istanbul 1998,P.22.to Khui.l Amin Al-Omari, Hikayat Siyassiyah min tarihillraq Al-Hadeeth '?olitical Tales from Modern Iraq His-tory", Afaaq Arabia for Publishing and Distribution, Bagh-dad, 2M Edition, P. 66.

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2000 while replying to a critique of his book titled(The Assyrians) that his interest in studying the po-litical modern history of Iraq began 50 years ago, hementions in his above-mentioned book that Kirkukis a Turkmen city, that most of its residents are ofTurkish origins and that their neighbours are thetough Kurdish people.2s

25- Fareeq Al-Muzher Al-Faron, one of the 20'srevolution's leaders, discussed the national structureof lraq. He mentioned that the minority that is origi-nally non-Arab is in the north and they are: Kurdishin Suleimaniyah and Erbil, Turkish in Kirkuk andsome Armenians, Assyrians and Nestorians'in Mo-sul.26

26- David McDowell, however, says: although Mo-sul's population is mostly Arabs, Turkish-speakingTurkmens once inhabited all the cities and villagesalong the road to Baghdad.2T

27- Sati Al-Hosari in his book "My Diaries in Iraq"says, upon his clash on l92l with Captain N. Farell,25 Abdulrnuleed Hasib Al-Qaysi: Hawamesh Ala TarikhulIraq Al-Siyasi Al-Hadeeth, Al-Athuriyyoun "Footnotes ofthe Modern political History of Iraq, The Assyrians", GlobalEncyclopedias Center, London, I't print 1999,P.41.

2u Fur"q Al-Mozher Al-Faron:Al-Hakaik Al- Nase'a filThawral Iraqiyyah sanat 1920 wa Nataijuha "The Truthabout the Revolution of 20s and its Results" Balagh Insti-tute- Najah Publishers, Baghdad,2nd print l9g5,Pzl.27 David McDowell, "A Modern History of Kurds", I.B.Tauris, New York, 1996.P.144.

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the Counselor of the Ministry of Education, whenthe former refused the job of secretary of the Direc-tor of Education, that Captain Farell proposed an-other suggestion that was:"Go to Kirkuk, and be the director of educationthere. They speak Turkish there and so do you!"And this very suggestion was proposed by Farell toRostom Haidar, Director of the Royal Court Office,based on the claim that people of Kirkuk speakTurkish.28

28- While discussing the diversity and regional na-ture of the population in Iraq, Seyyar Jamil mentionsthat: "As for the Turkmens spread over designatedregions in the north of Iraq, they have chosen thevillage and towns of Kirkuk to the east of TigersRiver and Telafer to the west of Tigers River. Theorigins of those people go back to the Turkmen Statethat ruled in some of Iraq's regions".2e

29- lt we look at Munther al Mousli's book "Politi-cal and Party Life in Kurdistan" we see that he isciting the American journalist William Eaglton Jr'.sbook "Mahabad Republic- 19 46 Kurdish Republic".This states that there is a region suitable for the giveand take principle, i.e. Kirkuk, for it is equally di-

28 Suti'" Al-Hosari, previous reference, part one lg2l-Ig27,Pp 140-142.'n Siyu, Jamil: Zu'ama wa Affandiyyah, Al-Pashawat al-Uthmaniyyoun wal Nah{hawiyyoun al-Arab "Leaders andGentelmen, Ottoman Bashas and Renaissance Arabs" AlAhliya for publishing and distribution, Amman-Jordan, l"print 1999, Pl l3l.

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vided between Turkmens and Kurds; whereas theregion located to the West and North West wherethe oil well are, contains a mixture of Arab andTurkmen villages.30

30- If we look deeply into the political literature, wefind that the book which contains the diaries of LateNadhim Tabakchali, commander of the SecondBatallion that was in Kirkuk, illustrates the politicalview at that time. According to him, being the com-mander of the troop, he reported to the General Mili-tary Governor in Iraq about the racial clash inKirkuk between Kurds and Turkmens.3lTabakchali refers in another report to the decisionsof the First Teachers Convention held from 2-5 Feb-ruary 1959, which stated that Kurds had never beenthe majority in Kirkuk, but rather a minority up untilthen.32

31- If we look at the British document of the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs No. 1342551371, we can see

30 Munther Al-Musli: Al-hayatul Siyassiyah wal Hizbiyya fiKurdistan '?olitical and Party Life in Kurdistan- Arabicvision of the Kurdish case", Riyadh Al-Rayyes Publishers,London, 1991, P.38. Mousli described Eaglton as a friend ofthe Kurds and referred to Georges Fathallah's Translationof the book, P.75.?l Lawyer Jasim Mukhlis: Dhikrayat Nadhem Al-Tabakchali wa Mudhakkarat al-Muhami Jasim Mukhlis"Memories of Nazim Tabakachali and Jasim Mukhlis" Al-Asriyah Bookstore, Saida-Beirut 1969, P. 420, Report ofTabakachali to the General Military Governor E.S/56/363dated 14-15 February 1959.7)-- Previous reference, part 2, P.50.

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that it refers to a telegram sent by the British Em-bassy in Baghdad to the Eastren Dept. on 18th ofJuly 1958, and states that: "Kirkuk residents speakTurkish to a great extent".33

32- Another document of the British Ministry ofForeign Affairs, document No. 1342121371, whichcontains a classified letter No. 1286 dated 12 August1958 and is addressed to the Ministry of ForeignAffairs, say that "Kirkuk region has a Turkish ma-jority".3a

33- In his third book about Iraq, the researcherHanna Batatu says that "Kirkuk, which is an oil cen-ter, is located 180 miles (280 km) to the north ofBaghdad. It was literally a Turkish city until veryrecently. Kurds had moved to it gradually from theneighboring villages, and began intensive immigra-tion to it by the time the oil industry was flourishing.And by 1959, Kurds formed one third of the regionin the time the number of the Turkmens decreaseddrastically to less than half. Other Turkish citiessuch as Erbil had witnessed similar situations. Erbilitself became very Kurdish in a very peaceful man-ner, while Kirkuk people were quite stubborn andkept strong and intimate cultural bonds with Turkey,

33 Lu*y., Jasim Mukhlis, Previous reference, P.423.3oAl- Iruq fil Wathaik al-Britaniyya " Iraq in BritishDocuments 1958-1959, translated and commented by retiredbrigadier general Khalil Ibrahim Hasan, Baytul Al-Hikma -Baghdad, I't print 2000, P. 158.

27

and had unified themselves through a deeper senseof the Turkmen identity".3sBatatu has also discussed the geographical distribu-tion of the basic religious-national minorities, andsays:"On the old mail road of Baghdad-Mosul-Istanbul,one can find a line of Turkmen settlements such asTelafer, Tazehurmatu, Dakuk and Karatepe whichare Shi'a Muslim; and Kirkuk, Altunkopru and Ki-fri, which are Sunni Muslim".36

34- ln his book "The Republican Iraq", Dr. MajeedKhadori describes Kirkuk, Altunkopru and Telaferas districts inhabited by Turkmens.3T

35- Dr. Ali Al-Wardi, the eminent Professor of So-ciology, discusses the Turkmens regions of resi-dence in lraq, and mentions them residing in cities

35 Hanna Batatu: Iraq, AL- Kitabul Al-Thalith, Al-Shiyouyyoon wal Baathiyyoun wal Dhubattul Ahrar "Iraq-The Third Book, Communists and Baa'th and Free Offi-cers", translated by Afif Al-Razaz, Arabic Researches Insti-tution, l" Arabic print- Beirut 1992, p.224.36 Hunnu Batatu: Iraq, Al-Kitabul Awwal, Al-TabakatulIjtimmayiyya wal Harakatul Thawriyya minal AhdulOPthmani hatta Kiyam Al-Jumhuriyyah" Iraq- The firstbook, Social classes and revolutionary movements fromOttomans to the Republic" translated by Afif Al-Razaz,Arabic Researches Institution, l" Arabic prinr Beirut 1990,p.58-58.

37 Dr. Mui."d Khadori: Al-Iraqul Jumhuri"The RepublicanIraq", Sharif RadiPublications, Kom-Iran 1968, P.201.

28

and villages layed out vertically, thus separating theregions of Kurds from the rest of Iraq.38

36- Dr. Qassam Al-Jumaily mentions in his book"Iraq and the Kamalian Movement" which is pre-pared to be printed by Dr. lzzat Oztoprak, that Brit-ish official Henry Dobbs had visited Kirkuk in 1923after the spread of the news about the Turkmensstand in Kirkuk and other adjacent towns and vil-lages, and their intention to boycott that elections ofassigning Faisal as a king for Iraq. Mr. Dobbs metwith the Turkmen tribal chiefs, and expressed theBritish preparedness to acknowledge the nationaland cu-ltural rights of the Turkmens in Iraq without

20hmtts."

37- Dr. Fadhel Al-Ansari srates in his book "Resi-dents of kaq" that Turkmens are the third nationalityin Iraq and are spread over the region from Telaferto Mendli in a line that separates Arabs and Kurds;and that most of the Turkmens reside in Kirkuk.a0

38- The Iraqi writer, Meer Basri, in his book "GreatFigures in Modern Iraq Literature" says that theTurkmen literature is still prospering in Kirkuk and

" Dr. Rli AL-Wardi: Dirasa fi Tabiatul Mujtama Al-Iraqi"Study on the nature of the Iraqi Society, Al-Haidaria Book-stores, Baghdad 1996. P. 143.iq-' Al-Jumaily, Qassam Kh., Irak ve Kemalizm Hareketi(1919-1923), Ataturk Arasrirma Merkezi, Ankara, 1999,P.r08.oo Dr. Fudil Al-Ansari 'R.esidents of lraq". Baghdad

29

inneighboring regions, as is the Kurdish literatureSuleimaniyah.ar

39- Dr. Jamil Mousa Al-Najjar states in his booktitled "Ottoman Administration in Baghdad" that theTurkmens stayed in the northwestern territories( ofBaghdad region) in Kizlarbat, Hanekin, Shahraban,Mansoriyah, Deliabbas, Kazania, and Mendeli; andsays that they also lived in great numbers in the cit-ies and villages of Mosul.a2

40- The Egyptian author, Dr. Hassan Bakr Ahmad,in one of his books: "Arab-Turkish relationships:Now and in the Future" estimates the number ofTurkmens in Iraq to be from two million to two mil-lion and a half.a3

41- Thamer Abdulhasan Al-Amri mentions in his 9part encyclopedia "Encyclopedia of Tribes in lraq"that Turkmens in Iraq have a great common identity,especially in Kirkuk and some other northern territo-ries, they are gathered by the spirit of brotherhoodand citizenship with their Arab and Kurdish brothers

't M"", Basri: Aalamul Adab fil Iraqul Hadeeth ":ModrernIraq literature Great Figures", part l, wisdom house, Londont994,P.27.o2 Dr. Jamil Mousa Al-Najjar: Al-Idaral Othmaniyya fiWilayat Baghdad "Ottomanic Administration in BaghdadWilaya", Madbouli Bookstores, Cairo 1990, P.ll6.o3 Hurrun Bakr Ahmad: Al-Ilaqatul Arabiyya

-Al-Turkiyyabaynal Hadher wal Mustaqbal "Arab-Turkish RelationshipNow and in the Future", Emirates Center for Strategic Re-search, Abu Dhabi 2000,p.49.

30

under the common sky of lraq. They practice differ-ent jobs and crafts, and they own different sports,cultural, artistic and social clubs. Some of themwere brilliant and eminent in the fields of literature,art, education and other fields.aa

42- Abdullatif Al Shawwaf in his book "EminentFigures" says that the Turkmen element has gradu-ally settled in the north western plains to the north ofIraq in the region that separates Iraq from the Iranianregions in Sheherzor region, and they have settledon the both sides of the line that connects Kirkukwith Tazehurmatu, Kifri, Shahraban, south ofDeyala up north to Altunkopru, Erbil, Mosul andthen Telafer.AL Shawwaf mentions this while introducingSuleiman Fattah, the first Governor of Kirkuk afterthe establishment of the state. Fattah is of Turkmenorigin, and his father Suleiman lived in the Teseenvillage in Kirkuk suburbs.as

43- The Human Rights Report issued by the Immi-gration and Citizenship Department in the U.K. in-dicates that Kirkuk is a niajor center for the Turk-mens in addition to residences in Erbil, Mosul andDeyala. It also indicates that while some sourcesclaim that they number about three hundred thou-sand people; while the actual number is about two

oo Thuru. Abdulhasan Al-Amiri, Mawsuatul Asha'ir al-Iraqiyya "Encyclopedia of Tribes in Iraq", part 9, GeneralEducational Affairs Dept., B aghd ad 1995, P .2 | 6.a5 Abdullutif Al Shawwaf: Shakhsiyyat Nafidha "EminentFi gures", Kofan Publ ishers, London 1993, Pp7 0-7 2.

31

million. The report discusses they are deprived oftheir cultural rights and the use of their own lan-guage even in the regions where they are the major-iry.46

44- Reinhard Fischer in his MA thesis at BerlinUniversity titled "Turkmens in Iraq", mentions thatthe most important center for the Turkmens in Iraqis Kirkuk. Moreover, he points out that Kirkuk hasthe biggest Turkmen community in Iraq.aT

45- W. R. Hay in his book "Two Years in Kurdi-stan" tells the experiences of a political employeebetween 1918-1920 in two of the most importantcities in the Small Zab region, namely Kirkuk andSuleimanyah. He says that the first city (Kirkuk) inaddition to Erbil is inhabited by the Turkmens whileSuleimaniyah is a Kurdish city. Hay mentions in thesame book that Kirkuk is the center of the Turkmenswho form the majority in the city.48

46- Scott Taylor mentions that Turkmens in Iraq areabout two million and are the second largest minor-ity in Iraq. They are different from Arabs and Kurds,for they are descend from Turkish origins and some

ou Hurnun Rights Report, Immigration and Citizenship Dept.London, U.K.47 Fir"h"r, Reinhard, Die Turkemenen Im Irak, FreiWissenschaftliche arbeit zur erlangung des grades eines.Magister Artium, Universitat Berlin.ot

"ur, W. R Two Years in Kurdistan, London. Sidegwick&

Jackbson Ltd. 1921.

32

of them remained in the region where the Kurdsseparated themselves from Saddam Hussein.ae

47- Abdulrazzak Al-Hilali said that the British-IraqiTreaty concluded in 1922 stated in Article three thatno discrimination based on national, religion or lan-guage should take place against any of the residentsof Iraq. The same treaty also guaranteed minori-ties' rights to establish their own schools and teachstudents using their own languages.When the law relating to elementary school wasissued, an article was added, stating that: "Arabic isthe Ianguage of teaching in all governmentalSchools. As for the regions where Arabic is not thelanguage; the language of teaching shall be decidedby resolution from the Cabinet".On the strength of that, teaching was conducted inKurdish where Kurds are the majority, and in Turk-ish in the regions speaking Turkish. Despite that, theArabic language was taught at the 5th and 6th grades.The elementary, secondary and high school studentsof the latter regions had to sit for the Ministerialexams, were conducted in Arabic; therefore, stu-dents started to see how difficult it was to pass theseexams since they do not speak Arabic very well, andthey complained to their parents. Kirkuk's HighSchool Principal was the first to think of a solutionfor this problem. On 10/8/1927, he sent the follow-ing report (No.78) to the Director of Education inthe northern region:

on S"o,, Taylor, Spinning on the Axis of Devil, TurkishTranslation by Dr. Mohammad Zia, Jati Publications, Istan-bul 2004.

I33

"For a long time, teaching in Kirkuk schools wasconducted in Turkish with respect to the local lan-guage, but students in the high school classes andstudents in senior elementary 'classes are behindtheir fellow colleagues, and fail the exams con-ducted in the Capital, especially the Baccalaureate,which is necessary for the continuation of their stud-ies. This is in spite of the fact that they spare noeffort. It is evident for me that the obstacle they faceis being deficient in the use of Arabic Language, forthere is not the slightest difference between the twocurricula and their teachers are highly qualified.Being deficient in Arabic has prevented them bene-fiting from the higher education. At the same time,we should not forget the loss of great books of lit-erature and arts in the Turkish Language, whichweakens the studies in that language. Therefore, theonly way to keep teaching in the first four classes inTurkish, while the last two classes and high schoolmust be in Arabic, thus allowing students to registerin Baghdad, Beirut and Egypt's universities andcolleges, and advance and increase their generalknowledge. It will also bridge the gap created by theloss of Turkish books.This way is the most beneficial to them, and guaran-tees their future more, if you approve it. I pledge toyou to intercede on this issue with whoever is con-cerned, so they can implement it commencing nextacademic year. Thus our nation and youth willbenefit from their natural capabilities of absorbingmodern sciences and knowledge."The Director of Education in his turn forwarded theletter to the Municipal Council, which decided on I I

34

August 1927 to send the subject with recommenda-tion of approval to the Governor of Kirkuk.The Governorate submitted the proposal to the edu-cation committee, which agreed to it and returned itto the Municipality Council that submitted the pro-posal on 18 August t927 to the Ministry of Interior.After studying the proposal and its justifications, theMinistry of Interior submitted it to the Cabinet. Theproposal was discussed on the Cabinet's meeting on31 August 1927, upon Cabinet approval, the Minis-try of Education initiated the proposal from gradefive and upper in Kirkuk's schools.The Municipal Council of Erbil had submitted thesame proposal on 25 December 1927 since educa-tion there was in Turki.sh or Kurdish, thus the newsystem was applied stariing 21 April lgz}.so

to Abdul.u"uk Al Hilali: Tarikhul Tateem fil Iraq fi AhdulIntidabil Britani I92L-1932 "History of Education in Iraqduring British Mandate Era 1921-1932", Public EducationalDept., Baghdad 2000, Pp 128-133.

Chapter TwoThe Stand of the British GovernmentDuring the Negotiations of the Mosul

Question

There were many discussions about the the Mosulquestions, and different kinds of evidence presentedby both sides, the Turkish and the British, whendealing with the question of Mosul in LausanneConference.

Moreover, there are a lot of books that cover thisissue in details, and include the proposals of IsmetPasha, head of the Turkish delegation to the negotia-tions, and those of his counterpart, Lord Curzon.

The most important thing to notice about thesebooks is that they all deal with the public discus-sions of the conference and neglect the pre-publicconference negotiations, although reports on theconference state the existence of such discussions.

I tried hard to get any detailed signal of those pre-public conference discussions, especially the Britishmemorandum sent by l,ord Curzon to the Turkishdelegation days before the open sessions. All that Icould find was very brief signals from small parts ofthese memorandums, but never had the full text.sl

5l H"*y Foster: Nashatul Iraq el-Hadeeth "Rise of ModernIraq", Translated by Salem Taha Al-Tikriti, part 1, AL Fajrfor publishing and distribution, Baghdad 1989, P. 232.Mohammad Hamdi Al-Jafari: Britaniya wal Iraq "Britain

36

Therefore, I decided to include here the full text ofthe British memorandum because it includes theTurkish arguments, and the British reply on them.

It is noticeable .that the Turkmen issue occupied alarge part of this memorandum, but the hushing upblocked these facts so researchers and other inter-ested people would not use them. We have to notice,in addition, that the document abounds with histori-cal and factual mistakes that can be proved wrongthrough the facts of the region; and we will indicatethese after dealing with the scripts of memorandumin details.s2

and lraq", Public Educational Dept., Baghdad 2000, P.41.The most important signal was mentioned in the book ofFadel Hussein: Muskilat AI-Mosul 'Mosul Problem", Ishbe-liah Publishers, 3'd print, Baghdad lg77 ,P.30.t' M"*orundum No. E 14103/13003/44, British NationalArchives, London, File No. F.O.12861869.

37

Dear Ismet Pasha,

In our various conversations about Mosul, you men-tioned to me the grounds, racial, political, strategic,historical, &c., on which you're Government restedtheir claims for the return of the Mosul Vilayet. Itold you in reply that I contested each one of theseclaims, and I now send you a memorandum with thereasons for which I do so, and which-quite apartfrom the fact that Great Britain cannot give back acountry of which she is a mandatory under thekague of Nations- render it quite impossible for myGovernment to contemplate the surrender of theMosul Vilayet.I am, &c.

CURZON OF KEDLESTON.

Enclosure in No. I .Memorandum on Mosul.

THIS memorandum is submitted by the Britishdelegation in order [o summarise the reasons forwhich the demand made by the Turkish delegationfor the restoratipn to Turkey of the Mosul Vilayetcannot possibly be entertained.

These reasons are racial, political, historical andeconomic. In each case they contradict and destroythe arguments, based on the same considerations,upon which it is understood, from such explanations

38

as have been received, that the Turkish delegationrelies in support of its case.

1". Racial.The population of the Mosul Vilayet consists ofKurds, Arabs, "Turks" (Turkmens) and Christians,with some thousands of Yazidis. The number ofthese various elements may be deduced from twotables of statistics, which were compiled by Britishofficers employed in the vilayet, who, partly onhorseback, and partly with the aid of the roads madeand the motor transport inffoduced since the Britishoccupation, visited most of the corners of the vilayetin the years after the war Table A is an estimatemade in 1919, in which the population of the vilayetis shown by religions. Table B is an estimate madein 192I, as the result of a close and more prolongedinvestigation. The population in this table is dividedaccording to race.

The total population of the Mosul Vilayet is returnedas 703,000 odd in the 1919 estimate and 785,000odd in the l92l estimate, the difference being due toan increase in the population in the Mosul plainarea, formed by the Mosul plain and the surroundinghills, arising from.

The return of large numbers of the population fromthe Turkish or Arab armies.

The return of still larger numbers of families to vil-lages which, owing to the state of starvation result-ing from war conditions, had been abandoned beforethe British occupation,

39

The settlement of a large number of Assyrian refu-gees.

It was established by these investigations that thewhole of the great town of Mosul, the whole of thecounffy north of Mosul on the right bank of the Ti-gris as far as the boundary of the vilayet, the wholeof the country south of Mosul on the right. Bank ofthe Tigris, and most of the country south of Mosulon the left bank of that river as far as the Erbil

-

Kirkuk -

Kifri road, is Arab.

As to the "Turks" they are not Osmanli Turks, theycall themselves Turkmens, and the Turanian lan-guage they speak resembles Azerbaijani rather thanthe Turkish of Constantinople. They are undoubt-edly descendants of Turkmens who came to kaqlong before Osman founded the Ottoman Empire,probably from those Turkmens whom the AbbasidCaliphs hired to defend their territory. The theorythat the Turkmens are descendants of what was for-merly a foreign mercenary garrison is supported bytheir distribution. Tall Afar, an almost exclusivelyTurkmen town, stands guard 45 miles west of Mosulon the border of the Syrian desert Except for thistown and the neighbouring Turkmen villages, andfor a few scattered Turkmen villages in Mosul plain,the whole of the Turkmen population is distributedalong the eastern road from Mosul to Baghdad, no-tably in and around the towns of Erbil, Altun Kupri,Kirkuk, Tazehurmatu, Dakuk, Tuzhurmatu, Kifriand Qaratepe The estimates of numbers are:-

40

Tall Afar and surroundingvillagesVillages in the Mosul plain

10,0004,895

14,895Kirkuk and surroundingVillages 25,000Kifri, Tazehurmatu,Dakuk, Tuzhurmatu

and Qaratepe 10,000

35,000Erbil and Altun Kupri 15,000Grand total of "Turks " (The few in theSuleimaniyah area Being Omitted)

64,895

The proportion of "Turks "to Arabs can be shownmost effectively by the statement that the "Turks "inthe whole of the Mosul Vilayet are less numerousthan the Arabs in the town of Mosul alone.

The Kurds are estimated to be more than twice asnumerous as the Arabs in the Mosul Vilayet, andabout seven times as numerous as the Turkmens.They are separated from the Arabs by a line whichfollows roughly the line of Turkmen towns men-tioned above and north of that the foothills of themountains. They are believed to be descended fromthe Medes, who were so closely identified with the

41

Persians in early times, but whether this is true ornot, they speak an Iranian tongue closely allied toPersian and resemble the Persians for more closelythan either the Turks or the Arabs.

Of the non -

Mahommedan populations, though inthe aggregate they outnumber the Turkmens consid-erably, it is not necessary to speak in great detail.The estimates are:

Yazidis (probably of Kurdish origin, but holding anon Moslem belief)

30,000Christians (mainly Assyrians-

some Nestorian, some Catholic) 62,225Jews 16,865The main body of the Yazidis live in Jebel Sinjar,but there are many Yazidi villages nofih

- east of

Mosul. The Christians are to be found mainly inMosul city, in the Erbil area, in a string of prosper-ous villages (of which Al Qosh and Tall Kaif are thelargest) to the east of the Tigris, and in the Dohuk

-

Amadiyah country. Most of the Jews live in Mosulcity, but Jewish communities are to be found in theKurdish and Turkmen towns, and isolated individu-als or families among the Kurdish tribes.

The case of the Turkish delegation in so far as it isbased on ethnic consideration comes, therefore, toth.is:-

They ask that there should be united with the Turksof Asia Minor a population consisting as to one

-

42

twelfth of Turkmens, with whom they may be ad-mitted to have some racial affinity, as to nearlyseven

- twelfths of Kurds, who have no more affin-

ity with the Turk, except the possession of a com-mon religion, than have the Chinese, as to three

-

twelfths of Arabs, who not only differ from theTurks in race and language, but are connected by thestrongest bonds of language, race and sympathywith the population of Baghdad and Basra, and as tomore than one

- twelfth of non

- Moslem elements,

which, however much they may differ from eachother, have not a single bond

- racial, linguistic,

religious or cultural -

with the Turks.

Table I- POPULATION of the Vilayet of Mosul byReligions according to an Estimate made in 1919.

Division

Sunni

shiah

Jewish

Christian

OthefRe-ligioNS

Total

Mo-sulEr-bilKirkukSuleimani-vah

244.71396.r0085.000153.900

17.180

5.000

----

7.6354.800r.4001.000

50.6704.100600100

30.1801.00

:.

350.378106.00092.000155.000

To-tal

579.713

22.180

14.835

55.470

31.180

703.378

43

Table 11. -

POPULATION of the Vilayet of Mosulby Races according to an Estimate made in 192I.

Division

Ar-abs

Kurds

Turks

Chris-tians

Jews To-tal

Mo-sulAr-bilKirkukSuleimani-vah

t70.6635.r0010.000

r79.820*77.00045.000r52.900

14.89515.00035.0001.000

57.4254.r00600100

9.6654.8001.4001.000

432.468106.00092.000155.000

To-tal

185.763

454.720

65.895

62.225

16.865

785.468

xlncluding 30.000 Yazidis.

2. Political.The next claim of the Turkish delegation is that thepopulation of the Mosul Vilayet desires to return toTurkey because of its Political or historical affinitieswith Turkish rule. Even if this were true of a major-ity of the inhabitants of the Turkmen towns who,under Turkish rule, enjoyed a position of privilegeby no means warranted by their numbers, it cannotpossibly be sustained in so far as the Kurds, the Ar-abs and the non

- Moslem elements of the popula-

tion are concerned. It is undeniable that the Arabs ofMosul are enthusiastic supporters of the new Iraq

44

State and of King Feisal. The result of a plebisciteconducted throughout Iraq in 1919 gave a unani-mous vote on the point that Basra, Baghdad andMosul should be united and form one State. Sincethen, on the arrival of the Emir Feisal in the country,the Mosul Arabs showed quite unmistakably theirdesire to be connected with the Arab Government atBaghdad and to be under the rulership of King Fei-sal. They received the Emir with acclamation, theyvoted unanimously that he should be King; theyswore allegiance to him this latter plebiscite in-cluded the whole of the vilayet except the Kurds inthe Suleimaniyah, Raniya and Rowanduz areas,who, being a compact body of people of an entirelydifferent race and language, obviously requiredseparate treatment. The Arab areas with the Kurdishdistricts adjacent to them, and the Turkmen towns,all gave their votes, and with the exception ofKirkuk all voted for inclusion in the Iraq State andfor the accession ofFeisal to the throne oflraq.

As to the Kurds, they are a people with a keen senseof nationality, a deep pride in their race and lan-guage, and a desire to be as free to manage theirown affairs as their pursuit of economic progresswill allow.

It is said to be the contention of the Turkish delega-tion that the Kurds of the Mosul Vilayet are onewith the Turks of Asia Minor in aim. Two pointsmay be stated in reply:

It is perfectly well known to people who lived inIraq before the war that communications between

45

Suleimaniyah on the one side and Baghdad and Mo-sul on the other were constantly cut, that Turkishofficials appointed to Suleimaniyah often waited atMosul for months before they could venture to setout on their iourney, and that when such Turkishofficials reached their posts in Southern Kurdistanthey were frequently helpless in the face of the de-termination of the Kurds to brook no interferencefrom the distant Government of Constantinople.

The Kurds of the Mosul Vilayet showed, throughoutthe war, that from being united with the Turks inaim, they regarded the Turkish quarrel with the En-tente as none of theirs. The Turkish delegation canbe challenged to produce any evidence that theTurkish forces in Iraq ever received any assistancefrom the Kurds against the British. A small Kurdishtribal contingent was present with the Turkish forceat Shuaiba,near Basra, in the spring of 1915. Theywere present, but they took an insignificant part inthe operations, they returned to their homes after thebattle, and from that time the Turks gdt no morehelp from the Kurds than they did from the Arabs.The Kurds of the Kifri and Kirkuk areas left theirhomes and lands in great numbers to avoid conscrip-tion, and as soon as those areas were occupied byBritish troops thousands of local Kurds came downfrom the hills whither they had fled to avoid havingto identify themselves with aims of Turkey.

Finally, there remain the large Christian element(mainly Nestorians and Caldenians) and the Yazidis.If the claim of the Turkish delegation is weak in sofor as the non- Turkish Moslem population is con-

46

cerned, it is still weaker as applied to these non -

Moslem communities. It is to Turkish misrule, ac-tive and passive, that the Yazidis attribute the enor-mous reduction in their numbers which has occurredduring the last generation. The Caldenians remem-ber too well what their co

- religionists in the Diar-

bekir, Mardin -

Jazirah area suffered during the warto desire the restoration of the Turkish rule. Andfinally, the Nestorians, who were driven from theregion of Julamerk and the Persian border by Turk-ish troops during the war, who died in thousands intheir fight to Iraq, and who have settled in that aliencountry rather than submit to Turkish rule in theirown land, would fight to the death rather than permitthe return of their new homes to a people who tothem are the symbol of misrule and oppression.

3. Historical.The Turkish contention that the long historical con-nection of Mosul with the Ottoman Empire justifiestheir demanding its return would apply with equalforce to Baghdad: for, except for insignificant peri-ods when it was under Peisian rule, Baghdad waspart of Turkey as long as Mosul. Both are Arabtowns built by Arabs and maintaining their Arabcharacter, in spite of their long inclusion in theTurkish Empire. In point of fact, the close connec-tion between Mosul and Baghdad was recognized bythe Turks to this extent, that the Mosul Vilayet wasformerly part of the Pashalik of Baghdad. Even aslate as the eighties of the last century, when MidhatPasha was Vali of Baghdad, Mosul was included inhis governorship. The conversion of Mosul into aseparate vilayet in Turkey, depending upon Constan-

47

tinople, was a measure dictated by administrativeconvenience only.

The argument from history is therefore not one towhich importance can properly be attached. It couldequally be applied to a demand from Turkey for thereturn of all the territories and States which she haslost. It would justify the demand by any country forany city or province of which it had been deprivedas the consequence of defeat in war.

4. Economic.If we turn to the economic argument, it is the weak-est of all. The economic relations of the MosulVilayet are entirely with Baghdad and with the ArabCity of Aleppo, both of which cities the NationalPact itself leaves outside the boundaries of Turkey.If we take the three chief towns in the vrlayet, viz,Suleimaniyah, Kirkuk and Mosul, the exports ofSuleimaniyah all go to Baghdad, whence all its re-quirements in foreign goods are obtained in ex-change, Kirkuk lives mainly on the carrying tradebetween Baghdad on the one hand, and Mosul andSuleimaniyah on the other, and its prosperity de-pends on the maintenance of the connection betweenthe three, as for Mosul, which, being nearest to Tur-key, should present the most favourable case for theargument of the Turkish delegation, it is notoriousthat the trade of Mosul is almost entirely down

-

river with Baghdad and across the desert with Syria.The imports of the vilayet are piece goods, tea, sugarand coffee. Not one of these is produced in Turkeyor could even be obtained through Turkish territoryexcept with great difficulty and by diverting trade

48

from routes which it has followed for centuries. Asto the exports, the principal are grain, wool andhides, and tobacco, and the smaller but still impor-tant exports are timber, gum tragancanth and gall

-

nuts. Every ounce of the tobacco grown, except therelatively small quantity needed for local consump-tion, goes to Baghdad and is consumed in the Bagh-dad and Basra Vilayets, the surplus grain of the Mo-sul Vilayet goes to feed the people of Baghdad, andthe timber to build hpuses in Baghdad. The wool,the hides and the gum, and the gall - nuts which arean important ingredient in the manufacture of Euro-pean ink, go entirely to foreign countries. Howcould Mosul dispose of grain, wool or hides in Tur-key, when Turkey itself is a large producer of allthese products or of tobacco in a country which haslarge tobacco producing areas of its own? Baghdadis dependent on the Mosul Vilayet for its wheat sup-plies to such an extent that during the war, when thetwo vilayets were separated by military operations,the British military authorities had to import wheatfrom India to feed Baghdad city and district. A strik-ing instance of the manner in which economic con-siderations cut across ethnic boundaries is the factthat the Erbil

- Altun Kupri district, which is partly

Turkmen as to the towns and mainly Kurdish as tothe agricultural areas, lives almost entirely on sup-plying Baghdad with grain. It is hardly an exaggera-tion to say that if the country north of the existingboundary between Turkey on one side, and Syriaand Iraq on the other, ceased to exist, the economiclife of the Mosul Vilayet would hardly be disturbedat all. Iraq, as it is, can do without Turkey, but Mo-sul is indispensable to Baghdad.

Ia

i

I

49

5. Strategic.It is further urged by the Turkish delegation that thesouthern boundary of the vilayet of Mosul, whichruns along the Jabal Hamrin in a south

- easterly

direction as far as the River Diyalah, and then alignthe Diyalah as far as the Persian frontier, would con-stitute an excellent strategical frontier between Tur-key and Iraq. This contention cannot be accepted forone moment. The adoption of the Jabal Hamrin

-

Diyalah line would in fact make the position of theIraq State untenable. In the first place, the Poweroccupying Mosul need only hold up the export ofgrain from that place to cut off the capital of Iraqfrom its main source of wheat supply. Secondly, aday's easy march would enable any such Power tocut the sole road between lraq and Persia, a roadwhich is vital to the economic life of Baghdad andBasra, whose people live very largely on the Persiantrade. Thirdly, the position of an Arab Governmentin Baghdad, which is some 560 miles by tiver fromthe southern limit of the Iraq State, would be quiteimpossible if the frontier of a possibly unfriendlyState were only 70 miles distant. Lastly, there ap-pears to be no particular reason why the Arab Stateof lraq or Great Britain as the Mandatory Power,should hand over to the Turkish Governmen! a placewhere it might think fit to maintain an army corps asa menace to the surrounding regions.

6. The National Pact.Lastly it has more than once been stated by theTurkish delegation that their claim for the recoveryof the Mosul Vilayet, or at any rate of Mosul town,is supported by the first article of the National Pact,

50

passed by the Turkish Chamber of Deputies on the17 the. February, 1920.It can easily be shown thatthis is not the case. The article reads as follows:-Inasmuch as it is necessary that the destinies of theportions of the Turkish Empire which are populatedexclusively by an Arab majority, and which on theconclusion of the armistice of the 30 the. October,1918, were in the occupation of enemy forces,should be determined in accordance with the voteswhich shall be freely given by the inhabitants, thewhole of those parts, whether within or outside thesaid armistice line, which are inhabited by an Otto-man Moslem majority, united in religion, in race andin aim, imbued with sentiments of mutual respect foreach other and of sacrifice, and wholly respectful ofeach other, s racial and social rights and surroundingconditions, form a whole which does not admit ofdivision foq any reason in truth or in ordinance.

In the first place it is both a novel and a startlingpretension that Power which, has been vanquishedin war should dictate to the victors the manner inwhich they are to dispose of the territories whichthey have wrested from the former. It would be in-teresting to know if a single instance can be found inhistory in which the Turks having conquered anyterritory by force of arms have ever encouraged thevanquished to demand a plebiscite in the area inquestion or have expressed a willingness to abide bythe result of such a vote.

But let us examine the argument a little more closelyin reference to the present case. The first propositionof the article is that the plebiscite is to be held in

51

area "populated exclusively by an Arab majority. "It is difficult to understand how any area can bepopulated exclusively by a majority since the exis-tence of a majority implies the existence of minori-ties also. But further it is the contention of the Turksthemselves that the Arabs are not in a majority in theMosul Vilayet, but that they are outnumbered by theother elements in the population, viz, Kurds andTurks and that this is the case is shown by the fig-ures of the second table to which reference has beenmade, and which reveal a total of 454,720 Kurds and65,895 Turks or Turkmens, as compared with185,763 Arabs. Therefore, if the Turks are to claim aplebiscite, it would seem that their argument doesnot admit of its being applied to the Mosul Vilayet,because the Arabs are not in a majority there.

But, thirdly, supposing the argument to apply to theentire area, irrespective of majorities or minorities, ithas already been pointed out that such a plebiscitehas already twice been held and that on each occa-sion it has resulted in a verdict hostile to the Turkishclaim. In 1919 the inhabitants of the Mosul Vilayetvoted unanimously in favour of continuedincorporation with Baghdad and Basra. In 1921 thewhole of the Arabs, the Kurds of the adjacentdistricts and the whole of the Turkmens (with theexception of Kirkuk) voted again for inclusion in aState of lraq, and chose the Emir Feisal as theirKing.But the article in the Pact introduces another andstill more fantastic distinction. According to it, onlythose portions of territory which were occupied byenemy forces on the 30th. October, 1918, are to be

52

allowed thus to decide their destinies. On the southfrom Mosul, which they entered immediately after-wards. We are thus led to this absurd result that theArabs who live in the entire territory south of thearmistice line are to be invited to dispose of theirfate four years later by plebiscite, while the Arabpopulation of Mosul town itself, who form morethan one

- third of the Arab population of the whole

vilayet, are to be deprived ofthat right. The case hasonly to be stated to demonstrate the absurdity ofsuch a claim. It is perhaps unnecessary to add thatarmistice conditions have nothing to do with theprovisions of peace treaties and that no Europeanpeace treaty made since the armistice of 1918 hasattempted to follow the lines of occupation laiddown in the armistice which preceded them.

Finally, a claim, equally untenable and even moreincomprehensible, is put forward in the second halfof the article, which reads : The whole of thoseparts, whether within or outside the said armisticeline, which are inhabited by an Ottoman Moslemmajority, united in religion in race and in aim, im-bued with sentiments of mutual respect for eachother and of sacrifices and wholly respectful of eachother, s racial and social rights and surrounding con-ditions, form a whole which does not admit of divi-sion for any reason in truth or in ordinance. It beremarked in passing that the word "Ottoman "is noteasily understood in this context. The sympathywhich unites Moslem peoples is generally recog-nized, it is a mafter of religion, but it is difficult toappreciate what unity of race can link together Se-mitic Arabs, lranian Kurds and Ural

- Altaic Turks,

53

or why the fact that they have once been forced tosubmit to Ottoman rule should bind them to remainin the Ottoman Empire for all time. In fact, theTurkish Government and the Turkish people areapparently ready at one moment to concede the freedetermination of their future destinies to the Arabpeoples, and at the next moment to demand thatterritories inhabited by an Ottoman Moslem major-ity - a phrase which, if it means anything at all, ap-plies equally to the Kurdish, Turkish and Arab popu-lations of the former Turkish Empire- should not bedivided "for any reason in truth or in ordinance."

It would appear, therefore, that the claim for therestoration to Turkey of the Mosul Vilayet is notonly prohibited by the considerations, racial, politi-cal, historical and economic, which have been enu-merated in the earlier part of this memorandum, butthat it is quite inconsistent with any interpretationthat can possibly be applied to the first article of theNational Pact.

Lausanne, December 14, 1922

Lights on the Memorandum:The British memorandum and its subsequent discus-sion by the British delegation throughout the meet-ings of negotiation of the Mosul question representsa typical psychological and mental orientation ofany occupying power throughout the ages, for itsees things from one perspective only, totally ignorethe suppressed people's aspirations, and classify anyliberation movement as either intellectual stupidityor treason.

54

Population tables:The British mentioned that they collected the spe-cial population tables of the region by means ofBritish officers visiting every single part either onhorseback or by other means of transportation.

The British presented this argument to oppose theofficial census carried out by the Ottoman State,which used accredited statistical bases and did notneed to tamper with the origin and nationality of thepeople. The British, however, insisted that theirstatistical means were more accurate, despite thefact that the British themselves stated that theywere incapable of entering the Suleimaniyah regionbecause of the post World War One events and theresistance movement against the British occupation.

A crucial fact was ignored by most researchers,which is: the Ottoman and British census figuresdepended on the map of Mosul; and the borders ofthis region are wider than the distribution of themodern Iraqi state. Readers will find later on thisdocument a full illustration of these maps that re-veals the nature of these distributions that showedKurdish existence in some regions to be greater thanthey actually were, if we exempt the residents of theregions that were within the map at first, and subse-quently became part of the Turkish lands.

The memorandum claims that during the time of thealleged census, the number of Christians was greaterthan the number of Turkmens in the whole counffy.I believe no one agrees with this claim, and none ofthe Christian sects, whether Keldo-assyrians, Yaze-

55

diyah or Sabi'a, have supported such a claim. More-over, we notice that Erbil bnd Suleimaniyah werepresented as being bigger than Kirkuk, the fourthbiggest district in kaq after Baghdad, Mosul andBasra.

Defining the Turkmen Language:The memorandum mentioned that the language ofthe Turkmen in Iraq is theTuranic language, that itis similar to the Azerbaijan language and is not thelanguage used in Istanbul. We mention Istanbul, thecenter of the Ottoman Empire because the memo-randum and speeches of Lord Curzon persistentlyand continuously referred to it as Constantinople,the old name of the city before it was conquered bySultan Muhammad Al-Fatih in 1435, and later be-came known as Istanbul in the Islamic and Westernworlds.

The memorandum purposefully refused to mentionthat the dialect used in the Turkmen regions of lraq,Azerbaijan and in Anatolia is the same; and if thedialect of the Kirkuk people is not different from theone of the Azerbaijani people, then it is not differentfrom that of the people in the Turkish towns of Urfaor Arzurum. This fact did not prevent the differen-tiation between the language of the Anatolia regionfrom that of Istanbul, Istanbul, whose dialect is con-sidered the base of the Turkish language.

The Stand against the British Occupation:The memorandum ignored the stand of the Iraqipeople against the occtipation, and presented a fakedclaim that Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens were sympa-

56

thetic to the British Administratiof, and that all theArabs refused Turkish rule for this reason.

The memorandum, moreover, ignored the seriousevents in Iraq after the British occupation; theymainly ignored the public revolution known as theTwenties Revolution, which embarrassed the Britishoccupation authorities two years before the negotia-tions of Mosul began. The memorandum showedthat the Kurds showed no sympathy towards theTurks, and their sympathy was merely for the Brit-ish. And there is a clear contradiction when describ-ing the Arabs' stand concerning the fate of the Mo-sul district, and their attitude to the British Occupa-tion in this memorandum and in other British offi-cial correspondence.

We see Miss Gertrude Bell, the oriental secretary ofthe British Custody Authorities in Iraq, say ,in herletter dated 14 March 1920, that the Kazimiyahtribal chiefs believe in the principle of Islamic Unityand fight the British by every possible means. Themost famous tribe is one called ALSADER. In an-other letter dated 5 September of the same year,Miss Bell says that the problem for the British isthat the tribes do not want to be part of the unifiedstate, and that the cities cannot proceed withoutthem.

Bell says, in her letter dated 28 September 1922:Turks are preparing, may God disgrace them, toattack Akrah this time; and the tribes think that theTurks are the only ones who have power. And shecontinues by saying at the time "we were all con-

57

cerned with the Turkish Propaganda; we did notrecruit any national elements in the ministry."

In another letter dated 20 February 1924, Miss Billsays that Mushref Al-Dandal and Raees Al-Okedatare connecting with the Turks. "I know that becauseI have known those people personally since 1907, asI know their neighbor in the North East, MustafaPasha Al Juburi, one of the Turks strongest support-ers. "

53

In addition to that, Miss Bell in her letter dated 21August 1921 said that one of the Northern ShammarTribe chiefs, Ajeel Al-Yawar, came to meet theBritish early in 1917, but he went back to the Turks."After that, when Mosul was with us, he came to us;and suddenly went back to the Turks without usknowing why."

After accurately describing Ajeel Al-Yawar, shesays that she told him once that they were sorry healways went to the Turks, and asked him why he didthat. Ajeel answeied that the reason was lrgman."When I came to Mosul answering his invitation, Itired to speak with him and he asked me to remainsilent. He told me that I was like a woman and thathe does not recognize my status in my tribe, beinghead chief. I went back to my tribe, and what elsecould I do?"54

t'Iruq in Miss Bell's letters, ibid, P.580, 5l l, 195, l4lso tbia p.390

58

If the memorandum says that all Turkmens, save theTurkmens of Kirkuk, were sympathizing with.theBritish Authorities, Miss Bell in her letter of 7th ofJune 1920 says:"Shammar Tribe, upon provocation from the Sheriefand his senior officers, went to Telafer located 40miles to the West of Mosul, and asked the people ofTelafer to declare their joining the Arabic govern-ment and to prove it by killing the English. There-fore, they killed Captain B. Stewart, a wonderfulman who won the Ice of War medal with two otherEnglish officers (Jafar Al-Khayyat, translator, saysthat those two men were Sgt. Lawer and Sgt.Walker), and other people with him. The villagers,in addition to that, captured Captain Parlo, PoliticalGovernor Assistant, and sent him to Telafer twodays later, where they deliberately killed him infront of his house (Jafar Al-Khayyat, translator,corrects this by saying that Captain Parlo was killedtwo miles away from Telafer).

A discipline campaign was sent at once. Wecouldn't catch the Shammars because they were inNusaibeen. All the people of Telafer will be ex-pelled and asked to go to other villages and plains,and all houses will be demolished, and we will notpermit any rebuilding of the town.ss

As far as the Kurds are concerned, Miss Bell says,when talking about the Suleimaniyah people refus-ing joining the new country, and when talking aboutthe Rowndoz incidents, that the British bombarded

ts mra p.tso

59

it with 20 aircrafts, and they hoped that the Kurdtribes would not help the 300 Turks on the borderswho formed the Rowndozcamp.s6

Janet Wallach in her book titled "Desert Queen"staes that the pro-Turks Kurds were demanding thattheir district be joined to the Turkish lands beforethe conference of Luzan began, for they felt nearerto Turkey and Iran than they did towards Iraq andthe Arabs.s?

A report by the officer of the special services de-partment in Suleimaniyah sent on 14 October 1925to the Command Base of Air Forces in Baghdadshowed his opinion about the tribal chiefs inSuleimaniyah who supported Turkey and the fightagainst Britain. He mentioned Ahmad Saeed Beek,Kader Afandi Karadaghli, Tawfiq Aziz Agha, FarisAfandi, Saleh Lawa, Shiekh Mustafa, SalehWardian, NoJri Mohammad, Sayed Nouri SayedAhmad Bab Rasol, Sayed Kareem Ahmad SayedBab Rasol, Sayed Nouri Nakib, Sayed MohammadKajala, Aref Baba Rehan, Amin Habib Agawhajji,Saleh Qassim, Mulla Khalid Imam, Ahmad AminAttar, Majid Beek Hajji Rasol, Shiekh SalihSershkam, Ahmad Hajji Mahmoud Rash, Hajji Fa-tah Kadir, Tawfiq Dawlmnd, Sultan Afandi, andAbdulrahman Lolo. In addition, certain tribes werementioned like the Hamawand, Zenkenah, Jibariand Talbani tribes. And he mentioned certain tribal

56 tbid p.+7657 Junet Wallach, Desert Queen, First Anchor, New York1999, P330.

60

chiefs like Sheikh Mustafa Abdulkadir, Mo-hyieldeen Kani Kawa, Najimeldeen Kalarkah,Saeed Taymar, Sayed Ahmad Khankah, KadirAhmad Khanakah, and Raoof Furkan.ss

58 B.itirh National Archives, London, File No. AIFV23l3g6

61

Chapter ThreeOccupation Powers look at Kirkuk and Kifri

Figures

The reports submitted by the British Intelligenceservices show total ignorance ofthe real situation inthe Turkmen areas and about the figures who leadthe civil society. Instead of cooperating with thoseleaders in order to comprehend their way of think-ing and to find the best way to make use of theirpowers, the British authorities adopted the policy ofmarginalizing them and declaring them traitors,claiming that he who doesn't join their herd is dis-loyal to them.

The contradictions included in these reports are self-revealing, for we see them describing an eminentfigure in the city as being a man of his word and ofinfluence; and later describing the same man asbeing ignorant, lazy, and imbalanced simply be-cause the intelligence services loathed his politicaland local influence upon the people. We notice thatthe report refers to one of the national local com-munity leaders, the late Khairallah Hassan Afandi,who was infected by a serious. disease. The reportwriter deems it necessary to include in his report thephrase that he wishes him to die soon.

And due to the special circumstances affecting Iraqin that era - the affects World War One, the Mosulissue and the l,ouzan Conference - Britain catego-rized the world into two categories, pro-Britain andanti Britain, i.e. those who did not accept the occu-

62

pation and fought against the British geed, and whobecame to be known later as trouble makers andrioters. It was noticed that the overwhelming major-ity of the Turkmen society was on this side. It isworth noting that the intelligence reports, after be-ing de-classified, showed that those who were saidto be pro-Britsh were in fact great freedom fighterswho were actually organizing resistance forces.Unfortunately, the wrongful charge of being on theside of the British resulted in them being rejectedand abused by their fellow citizens.

The report presented by the special services depart-ment in Kirkuk on 27 November 1925 and ad-dressed to the Central Command of Air Forces inBaghdad gave information about who the depart-ment calls "bad figures" in Kirkuk, and those "badfigures" were the civil society leaders.se

5e Classified report No. S.K/49 in File No. AIR/23|396 inthe British National Archives, London.

63

The figures the report mentioned are:

KIRKUKTZZET PASHA

Aged about 50 Brother -

in -

law of NAZIM Beg.Hates King FAISAL and his Diwankhaneh is ameeting place for all pro

- Turks and disgruntled

elements though he usually avoids committing him-self publicly. Was a rallying point for the pro- Turksduring the visit of the Lrague, s Commissioners in1925. Some time previously had a mutual affange-ment with SAMI Beg (q. v.) JEMAL Effendi (q. v.)KHAIRULLAH Effendi (q. v.) and Haji HASSANof TEL ALI whereby they were to combine effortsand institute an organized system of propaganda forthe Turks. In April 1925 was reported to be hand inglove with Mullah RZA (q.v.) in a scheme for ad-vdncing the Turkish case vis a vis the l.eague'scommission. Has much expense and little happinessin his present domestic circle and is developingsymptoms of miserliness.

SAMI BEG NAFTCI{EZADEH)S / 0 SALEH Pasha, the great man of the NAFT-GEZADEHS in Turkish times. Aged 28. Clever andunscrupulous. His Diwankhaneh is a focus for pro-Turks in Kirkuk but he takes the most careful pre-cautions to exclude anybody in whom he has not gotthe completes confidence.Was spokesman for the Turkish party on the occa-sion of the lrague's commissioner's visit?

64

Has recently made submissive overtures to the Mu-tasarrif.

HOSSEIN BEG NAFTCHEZADEH)Aged about 50. Has a large house in the BEGLERquarter of KIRKUK. Though bucolic and blunt

-

witted he is recognized as the head of the NAFI-GEZADEH family.

He is seldom in KIRKUK now and spends most ofhis time in TOPZAWEH a village which wassearched for rifles on the 15th April 1925 with butmeagre result. He frankly prefers the Turks to the

. Arabs but does not appear to take a very active partin pro

- Turkish intrigue or propaganda.

OARA HOSSEIN AGHA

Aged about 45. Related to the NAFIGEZADEHSthrough his mother and lives in the BEGLER Quar-ter.Is perpetually engaged in pro

- Turk intrigue and

propaganda.Owns a fair amount of property in KIRKUK andneighbouring villages but is not wealthy.

MAHMOUD BEG S/O SALEH BEG(NAFTCHEZADE)

Aged about 50. His father commanded a TurkishGendarmerie B attalion.Was appointed Census Official in KIRKUK in Au-gust 1924 and subsequently dismissed.

65

Is described as being a cowardly fool.

OAMBER AGHA

Lives in the BEGLER Quarter, aged about 50, wasimprisoned together with JEMAL Effendi (q .v.) andSHUKRI KAPANCHES (q. v.) for seditious activi-ties in September 1925. His son SHAKIR Aghaaccompanied NAZIM Beg to Turkey in March 1925after the kague, s commissioner's visit.

IBRAHIM EFFENDI

Formerly Mufti, in which appointment he succeededhis father, and appointed Qadhi of KIRKUK in Feb-ruuy 1925.Was formerly much identified with the pro

- Turk

party in KIRKUK but of late appears to have comeinto line with his brother

- in

- law ABDUL MAJID

Effendi the present Mutasarrif.In no way to be trusted.

WAged about 30. Lives in the SARIKISH Quarternear IZZET Pasha's house. Youzbashi on TurkishStaff. Fair Knowledge of English. Was prisoner ofwar 1918, employed in the KIRKUK Serai 1920

-

21 transferred IRAQ Army training School 1921,where he obtained a commission but avoided havingto fight against the Turks in the ROWANDUZ op-erations by malingering. Was permitted to resign.Schoolmaster in the ILMIYEH IN 1923. Too sly toair his opinions publicly he is nevertheless an out

66

and out pro -

Turk who requires watching. Is a greatfriend of one SALEH Effendi.6o

ANAYAT EFFBNDI ( TEKRITLIZADEH )

Relative of Haji IBRAHIM Beg and cousin of WA-HAB Beg (q. v.) Aged 65. Lives in the SARIKA-HYEH Mahallah Relative of Haji IBRAHIM Begand cousin of WAHAB Beg (q. v.) Aged 65. Livesin the SARIKAHYEH Mahallah Turkish Qaim-maqam of AZEZIEH and subsequently a member ofthe committee of "Union & progress "Believed tohave led the JEBOUR into refusing to participate inthe elections in 1924.

His wife owns a quarter share of the crops at BU-TAM and MAHUS (JEBOUR) wears a white poul-tice round his fez. Failing health and disinclined foractive pro

- Turk endeavour. Is much disliked owing

to his foul temper.

MOHAMMED SHAKIR EFFENDI (S/0 MO-HAMMED JEMIL)

Native of SULAIMANI. Lives in the AKHIRHOSSEIN Quarter. Mudir of SHUAN 1919. ac-countant KIFRI 1920. Treasury officer KIRKUK1921. Utter failure, lazy and weak minded. Pen-sioled 1922. Suspected of being one in whose housea certain number of offensives pro

- Turk posters

are produced.

60 Obuiourly it is Sai Kahya quarter where Izzet Pasha usedto live also.

I67

RASHID AKIF

Aged 30. Qorieh Quarter. Step brother of AHMEDNAJI. Schoolmaster, and would be poet. Arrestedfor sedition l7

- 3

- 23, expelled from KIRKUK

and believed to have gone to BASRAH.6I

SAEED DABBAGH. (KIRKUKLI)

Aged about 50. Was business agent to FARHAN ALRODHAH (q.v.) with whom he proceeded on a visitto Shaikh MAHMOUD when the latter adopted thetitle of king early in 7923, a visit at which ShaikhMAHMOUD was highly elated as seeing the extentof his "Kingdom "and the distances which

-greatArab chiefs were prepared to come in order to payhomage to him.

Returned to the ALBU ALI with FARHAN in Feb-ruary 1923. FARHAN soon tired of him howeverand SAYID DABBAGH fled to SULAIMANI afteTreceiving a severe beating at the hands of his master.He was then wanted by the police and disappearedfor a matter of about two years having proceeded; itis said, to Turkey. Recently reported as having re-turned with letters from the Turks to RIFAAT Begof the DAOUDA, FARIS Beg of the BAYAT, SAIDKHALIL Agha of the KAKAI and to various triballeaders of the UBAID proceeded to Shaikh MAH-MOUD in September 1925.

6l Rashid Akif Al-Hirm izi, theknown poet, Died 1973

t

a

I

68

FAKHRI BEG

Aged about 40. (KIRKUKLD. Two years assistantMal Mudir under the Turks at KOI and then did twoyears as full Mal Mudir at ROWANDUZ. Sacked byHay in the spring of 1919. Since the British occupa-tion, he has been a well known anti

- British and

anti -

IRAQ Government agitator.Sentiments entirely pro

- Turk though it is difficult

to see what he could gain through a return of theTurks to KIRKUK. Was arrested on 15

- |

-24 ands'entenced to four months, imprisonment for corre-sponding with sheikh MAHMOUD regarding politi-cal events, strengths and movements of troops etc.In conjunction with his two brothers, KHARI Begand ABDULLAH Beg (q. v.) runs a shop in theirhouse where they sell motor spares, peffel, paraffinand oil.

KHAIRI BEG S/O ALI BEG

MAHALLAH SHATERLU KIRKUK.Aged about 40. Has an uncle JELAL Effendi (q. v.)who is Mudir H OSPITAL KIRKUK. Has twobrothers FAKNRI Beg (q. v. ) and ABDULIAH Beg( q. v . ) with whom he shares a house worth ap-proximately Rs, 5 , 000/- where they run a shop formotor spares, petrol oto.Has a third brother KAMIL who is a Revenue clerkunder the Turks at SILKA. Was before the war aclerk in the sharia court KIRKUK and served withthe Turks in the ranks during the war. Is with histwo brothers, a noted pro

- Turk and, together. with

the eldest FAKHRI, was sentenced in March L924 to

.69four months, imprisonment for corresponding withsheikh MAHMOUD.

ABDULLAH BEG

Aged about 30 years.Entirely illiterate, was during the war, a private inthe Turkish Army.Has two brothers FAKERI (q. v.)and KHAIRI (q.v.) )MUSTAFA BEG

Aged about 45. Lives in the SHATERLU Quarter.Cousin of SIDDIQ Beg (deceased) whose posi-tion in the SHATERLU BEGZADEHS he has suc-ceeded to, a pro

- Turk and intensely embittered

against Government over the death in exile of SID-DIQ Beg.On intimate terms with KHAIRULLAH Effendi.Has a certain religious standing and, though parsi-monious and mean, he is much respected inKIRKUK.

JEMAL EFFENDI (YAKUBZADEH)Lives on the QALAH. EX - Mudir press KIRKUK.Diligent and indefatigable pro

- Turk seditionist and

propagandist and propagandist for which propensi-ties he lost his job and has on three occasions seenthe inside of the KIRKUK " lock

- up " somewhat

lacking in sense -

a fact which was amply demon-strated when he edited the " KIRKUK STAR "

70

S AADULLAH EFFENDI (MUFTIZADEH)

Aged about 28. Lives in the AKHIR HOSSRIN Ma-hallah. EX

- schoolmaster. Of a retiring disposition

but prone to giving voice to seditious utteranceswhich have on four occasions landed him in theKIRKUK Jail.A great friend of JEMAL Effendi (q. v.) the onetime press Mudir. 62

sagEo EFrtNot .

Aged about 40. Sometime contractor to the publicworks Department. Lives in the SHATERLU Quar-ter. A pro

- Turk but timid and impoverished and of

little account. frequents the Diwankhaneh ofKERIM the judge.

SHUKUR KAPANCHER.

Aged about 45. Lives in the QORIEH Quarter. Wasa water guardian under the KIRKUK Municipalitybut dismissed by the present Mutasarrif who wasthen Rais Baladiyeh. .Sometime I-evy Contractor.Recklessly outspoken and a well known pro

- Turk.

Imprisoned for fifteen days in September for sedi-tious utterances.

MULLA RIZA EFFENDI

Aged about 60. Lives in theKIRKUK. Much identified

PIRYADEH Quarter of'with the 1920 distur-

62 A *"ll known Turkmen poet (1895-1972)

71

bances. Has of late been noticeably circumspect inhis utterances from the pulpit but would undoubt-edly become inflammatory were there any serioustrouble in KIRKUK.63

ALI AGHA (AWJIZADEH) S/O SABIR AGHA

Aged about 28. Owns a little property in CHAR-DAKLU village but is somewhat impoverished.Formerly professed loyalty to Government but issomewhat impoveri shed. Formerly profe ssed I oyal tyto Government but is now identified with the pro

-

Turks and pafticularly with said AHMEDKHANAQA. No particular ability. His mother is asister of FARIS Beg of the RAYAT.

HAJI HASSAN (AWJIZADEH)

See page 41. "Personalities "Aged about 60. Has ahouse in the AWCHI Quarter of KIRKUK but livesat TEL ALI in the JEBOUR. Has two sons,MOHAMAED and HOSSEIN.Was appointed Mudir of the MELHA Nahieh inTurkish times which post he held for eight yearsuntil eventually dismissed for taking bribes. Was amember of the wali of MOSUL's Mejlis up till1913. During his Government service he acquired

' by some means or other much property in KIRKUKand in the NEL