File 2879/1919 Pt 1 ‘MESOPOTAMIA Kurdistan: The Suleimanieh Outbreak’
- Holding institution:
- British Library. India Office Records and Private Papers
- Data provider:
- Qatar National Library
- Title:
- File 2879/1919 Pt 1 ‘MESOPOTAMIA Kurdistan: The Suleimanieh Outbreak’
- Creator:
- Author: High Commissioner
Author: Commander of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force - Date:
- 1919/1921
- Description:
- Abstract: This item relates to the seizure of the ‘reins of government’ (f 283) in Suleimaniyeh [As Sulaymaniyah, also spelled Suleman Iyeh in this item], south Kurdistan, 25 May 1919, during an uprising led by Sheikh Mahmud [Shaikh Maḥmūd Barzanjī], and British military operations leading to the British Mesopotamian Army occupying the Suleimaniyeh Valley in June 1919. The papers notably cover:British concerns about the Kurdish independence movement, including the purported influence of the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress and Persian Kurdistan, and the potential of ‘unrest’ to spread to other parts of Kurdistan and into British controlled MesopotamiaThe capture and imprisonment of British officers and staff in Suleimaniyeh, including a list of the missing and interned officers and NCOs [Non-Commissioned Officers] (see ff 251 and 244)British intelligence, regarding the level of Mahmud’s personal as opposed to political ambitions, and casting doubt on the degree of local support for himThe concentration of British forces at Kerkouk [Kirkuk] and Chemchemal [Chamchamal] and the desire of the military and political authorities in Baghdad to ‘crush’ (f 255) Mahmud’s movement, recapture Suleimaniyeh, and occupy the Suleimaniyeh ValleyThe refusal to allow Sheikh Mahmud’s delegates in Aleppo to proceed to Paris to argue the cause of Kurdish independenceThe British forces’ capture of the Bazyan Pass, advance to Suleiman Iyeh, and collapse of the rising including the arrest of Sheikh MahmudDiscussions concerning the extension of the railway from Kizilrobat [Qizil Ribat, also spelled Kizil Robat in this item] northwards towards Suleimaniyah in order to facilitate the British advance and occupationRestoration of the civil administration in Suleimaniyah by the end of August 1919 and British hopes that Kurdish nationalism will dissipate following Sheikh Mahmud’s military trial and imprisonment in India serving a ten-year sentenceDiscussions in 1921 between the Colonial Office, India Office, High Commissioner for Iraq, and Viceroy of India, on the desirability of reducing the penal sanction against Sheikh Mahmud, and the eventual agreement by the High Commissioner of Iraq to arrange his relocation, under surveillance, in Kuwait [also spelled Koweit in this item].The primary correspondents are the: General Officer Commanding in Mesopotamia; War Office; India Office; Office of the High Commissioner for Mesopotamia (later Iraq); Secretary of State for the Colonies; Secretary to the Government of Bombay [Mumbai], Political Department; Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Political [Agent?], Baghdad; and General [Consul?], Baghdad.Physical description: 1 item (78 folios)
- Language:
- English
- Type:
- Archival item
- Type (Narrower):
- Other Texts
- Type (Broader):
- Text
- Subject:
- Nationalism
Political prisoners
Civil unrest
Imprisonment
Maḥmūd Barzanjī
Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force - Geographic region:
- Suleimaniyeh
- Rights:
- رخصة حكومة مفتوحة
- Identifier:
- 81055/vdc_100132142033.0x000004_ar
81055/vdc_100132142033.0x000004_en
IOR/L/PS/10/833/1
IOR/L/PS/10/833/1