Iraq From Manadate Independence by Ernest Main

Author:Ernest Main [Main, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781317846918
Google: XcyGDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-01-04T04:50:46+00:00

When the text of the Treaty was published (June 1930) the Kurds sent petition after petition to the League of Nations. A further complication arose in the allegation, made in the more extreme anti-British circles among the Arabs, that Britain was fomenting the Kurdish unrest with a view to delaying the termination of the Mandate. This allegation went too far for its purpose, for it was a virtual admission that the Kurdish protests (whether genuine or artificial) were in essence such as to justify a refusal by the League to grant immediate independence to Iraq. It was, however, found necessary to send the Acting High Commissioner and the Acting Prime Minister by air to the Kurdish districts to repeat formally the Iraqi Government’s undertaking regarding the use of the Kurdish language and the employment of Kurdish officials. In September 1930 there were serious riots at Sulaimani on the occasion of the elections. Accounts vary as to the first act of aggression, but a collision occurred between a large mob and the police. Military assistance was summoned and the crowd was fired on. Several on both sides were killed and wounded.

In October Shaikh Mahmud, breaking the undertakings he had given, suddenly appeared on the scene with an armed force which he brought from Persia and which swelled as he advanced into Iraq. He made formal demands, including a Mandate to be exercised by Britain, for Kurdistan. He proved stronger than had been imagined and only the most determined operations by Iraqi troops and police, aided by the British Air Force2reduced him after months of fighting. He was forced to come to terms and was sent to live at Nasiriyah on the lower Euphrates. His last rebellion, begun in October 1930, had lasted till May 1931.

Within a year there was a further rebellion, this time led by Shaikh Ahmed of Barzan, whose father had defeated the Turks in 1909. Whereas Shaikh Mahmud had led his insurgent bands through administered territory, the population of which was not wholly on his side unless he happened to be in the immediate neighbourhood, Shaikh Ahmed was the unquestioned leader of a compact territory, to all intents and purposes a hostile country, and moreover was extremely difficult terrain for operations with regular troops. High mountains and deep valleys, rough tracks and stony peaks gave every advantage to the Barzan hillmen. At the beginning of Spring (March 1932) an Iraqi column moved into the mountains against them, supported by R.A.F. machines for reconnaissance purposes. These operations proved a debacle. The Iraqi troops were caught in a narrow defile and as the attack developed on both sides the transport mule-drivers (civilians, not troops) fled. The disorder spread and the troops broke, certain of the officers preferring to fight another day. The British liaison officers helped to stem the rout, but what saved the Iraqi troops from annihilation was the attack on the rebels by the R.A.F. planes, which at great risk flew low and engaged them heavily, while the British officers were extricating the column from its inglorious position.

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