In 1879 the three northern Sandjaks of the Vilayet of Baghdad - Kirkuk (until 1893
Shahrizor, Kurd.: Kerkûk), Mosul (Kurd.: Mûsil) and Sulaymanya (Kurd.: Silemanî) -
were detached from that Vilayet to form the new Vilayet of Mosul. (1)
(1) Northern Iraq was conquered by the Osmanli in the early 16th century and
a separate Elayet of Mosul was probably erected at the end of the same
century.
In 1855 the Elayet was abolished and the region became part of the Elayet
of Van (Hakkari until 1864). It was transferred to Baghdad in 1865.
SOUTHERN KURDISTAN (HÊRÊMI KURDISTAN)
The largest part of the Vilayet (all of Sulaymanya, two-thirds of Kirkuk and half
of Mosul) was inhabited by Kurds, forming in this way so-called Southern Kurdistan.
The Kurds had voluntary accepted Osmanli rule in 1514 and as a result the Osmanli
Sultan had formally recognized the existing Kurdish principalities (Baban, Badinan,
Soran, etc) as independent states under Osmanli supervision. (2)
In the course of time, this fargoing self rule was however gradually abolished and
by 1870 the last of the principalities had disappeared, the Kurdish tribal leaders
now only retaining some power in local affairs as part of the Osmanli Sandjaks and
Kaza. (3)(2) The Kurdish princes could strike their own coinage, didn't pay tribute to
the Sultan, etc. Even the Friday sermon (Khotba) was pronounced in their
name.
The only restrictions to their full independence were the interdictions
to make alliances with foreing powers, to modify the frontiers of their
principalities and to revolt against the Sultan...
(3) The last major traditional revolt against this new situation occured in
1880 - 1882 under the leadership of Shaykh Ubaidullah.
It was also in this period that the first modern Kurdish nationalist
movement - the Hiviya Kurd (Kurdish Hope) - was founded in 1910 by
Khalil Hassan Motki. Its further development was however prevented by
the outbreak of WWI.
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CHIEF OSMANLI ADMINISTRATORS
Vali
1848 Vecibi Pasha
1849 - 1855 Müshir Khamil Pasha
1855 : Mosul area part of the Elayet Hakkari/Van and - since 1865 - of Baghdad
Vali
1879 - 1888 ...
1889 Kürd Reshid Pasha 1... - 1889
1889 - 1894 ...
1894 - 1895 Aziz Pasha
1896 Abdullah Pasha
1897 Zihdi Bey
1898 Abdülwahib Pasha
1898 - 1900 Hüseyin Hazim Pasha
1901 Hadji Reshid Pasha
1902 - 1904 Nuri Pasha
1905 - 1908 Mustafa Bey
1909 Fazil Pasha
1910 - 1912 Tahir Pasha
1913 - 1916 Süleyman Nasif Bey
1916 - 191. Haydar Bey
Chronology
1918 :
Nov : After the signature of an armistice with the Osmanli at Mudros on oct 30,
the Vilayet of Mosul was occupied by detachments [Commander : MajGen. Sir
Alexander Stanhope Cobbe (1870 - 1931)] of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary
Force and British political officers toke over the administration of the
former Sandjaks of Mosul and Kirkuk and their subdivions.
Dec 01 : In an attempt to rally the Kurdish tribes, the Kurd Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji
(1... - 1...), Master of the Qâdiri Sufi house of Barzanja was appointed
governor (Hikimdar) of the former Sandjak of Sulaymanya. (1)
1919
May 23 : Revolt of Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji against British presence and proclamation
of an independent Kurdish state.
Jun 17 : Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji was defeated at the battle of the Bazyan Pass.
Sulaymanya now also came under direct British rule.
1920
Apr 24 : Mosul was declared a part of the mandated territory of Mesopotamia, which
was entrusted to the British.
Aug 10 : Treaty of Sèvres : The Osmanli formally ceded the Vilayet - intented to
become the heartland of a future Kurdish state - to the Allies.
Nov 11 : Installation of a provisional Iraqi administration.
Although Mosul formally remained a separate mandated territory, most of it
now de facto came under Iraqi administration (Mutessarifs were appointed
to Mosul in dec 1920 and to Kirkuk in feb 1921), only Sulaymanya remaining
under the direct authority of the British High Commisioner.
1922
Feb 01 : The Turkish Grand National Assembly announced its intention to "liberate"
Mosul, hereby giving recognition to the unformal actions of Turkish troops
in the Vilayet since 1921. In the course of the following weeks large parts
of Mosul were occupied and Turkish local administrators were appointed.
The British were forced to evacuate Sulaymanya, leaving behind a powerless
provisional council chaired by Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir (1... - 1...), brother
of Shaykh Mahmud.
Sep : In an attempt to restore British-Iraqi authority, Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji
was once again appointed Hikimdar of Sulaymanya. He immediately revolted.
Nov : Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji assumed the style of King of Kurdistan.
Dec 24 : A further attempt to rally the Kurds was made by granting them autonomy
within the Iraqi state.
1923
Jul 23 : Treaty of Lausanne : formal end of the Anglo-Turkish war over Mosul.
It was decided to submit the dispute about the territory to the Council
of the League of Nations. A three-men commission was appointed to examine
the problem. (2)
1924
Jul : Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji was defeated.
Dec 24 : New British proclamation concerning an autonomous Kurdish government within
Iraq.
1925
Dec 16 : The Council of the League of Nations decided to entrust the mandate over
Mosul to Iraq, on condition that the special rights of the Kurds would be
respected.
1926
Jan 13 : Turkey recognised the right of Iraq over Mosul, in exchange of a share in
the Mosul oil production and the promise not to intevene in the affairs
of Turkish Kurdistan.
Jan 23 : The Kurds of Iraq were offered a special regime and limited autonomy. (3)(1) British Representatives
(like all other British administrators in Mosul subordinated to the military
administration in Mesopotamia)
1918 - 1919 Maj. Edward William Charles Noel 1886 - 1974
1919 Ely Bannister Soane 1881 - 1923
(2) Members of the Mosul Enquiry Commission (at work in Mosul from jan to may
1925) :
Carl Einar Thure af Wirsén (Chairman) [(Swed.) 1875 - 1...]
Col. Albert Paulis [(Belg.) 1875 -1933]
Pál, gróf Teleki [(Hung.) 1879 -1941]
(3) Except for the fact that Kurdish was introduced as language in the primary
schools of Sulaymanya, no other parts of this decision seem to have been
implemented.
As a result new revolts occured :
- 1930 - 1931 : Last revolt of Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji.
- 1931 - 1937 : Revolts of the Barzani, under the command of Shaykh Ahmed
Barzani (1... - 1956)
- 1943 - 1945 : Revolt of the Barzani, now headed by Mulla Mustafa Barzani,
(1903 - 1979), brother of Shaykh Ahmad.
Of the different Christian communities living in the Vilayet (Armenians, Chaldeans,
West Syrans or Jacobites, ...) the most important were the Nestorians, also known
as Assyrians after the ancient people of which they claimed to be the descendants.
Christianism had been introduced in the region between the 1st and 3rd centuries.
At first the communities had been subject to the Patriarchate of Antioch, but in
410 they proclaimed their independence and established the separate Church of the
East (as opposed to the other "Western" Churches) under the authority of their own
Catholicos, who at some date added the style Patriarch to his title and who later
in the same century adhered to the Nestorian heresy. (1)
The power of the Church was at its highest in the 13th century when dioceses were
erected as far as Mongolia and China, but afterwards - as a result of the campaigns
of the Mongols and of Timur Lenk - its zone of influence was largely reduced to the
frontier region of Anatolia, Iran and Mesopotamia, part of which later came under
Osmanli rule.(2)
Here the Church was recognized as a separate "Millet" (3) of which the Catholicos
Patriarch became both the religious and secular head.
Out of fear that they may join the advancing British and Russian troops, the Osmanli
started persecuting and deporting the Assyrians in 1915.
As a result the vast majority of the community in the Empire moved to Urmia in Iran
where a de facto independent Assyrian administration was briefly established in feb
1918.
Soon afterwards the territory was however occupied by the Osmanli and the Assyrians
were now removed by the British to the refugee camp of Baquba near Baghdad.
From here the vast majority later (1920 - 1922) moved to the Mosul region, while
some minor groups returned to their ancestral homelands or toke refuge in the U.S.
and in Sweden.
At the same time there were some diplomatic attempts and some military actions to
obtain either the complete return to the homelands or some kind of autonomy within
the Iraqi state, but nothing came of it. (4)(1) This is not the place to list all differences (both theological and ritual)
between the Nestorians and the other Christian Churhes. It is sufficient
to say that the original rupture was a consequence of different views over
Christ : unlike most of the other churches - who advanced that he had two
natures (a human and a divine) inseparably joined in one person - Nestorius
claimed that he was two distinct persons.
(2) The Church was further weakened in 1551 when part of it united with the
Roman Catholic Church (see here).
(3) Millet = Nation : Religious community enjoying fargoing administrative,
religious and cultural autonomy within the Osmanli state.
(4) Agitation was at its highest in 1933 when the Iraqi government revoked the
secular powers of the Catholicos Patriarch and forced him into exile.
The League of Nations then appointed an Assyrian Committee to find a new
home for the Assyrians. After the idea of moving them to Niger had been
given up, part of the community was relocated to French Syria.
After this the so-called Assyrian question silently disappeared from the
international and Iraqi agenda.
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HEADS OF THE COMMUNITY
Catholicos Patriarchs
"His Holiness ... Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphonte and Patriarch of the Church
of the East"
(Office hereditary since 1450)
1820 - 1861 Mar Abraham Schimun XVII
1861 - 1903 Mar Rouel Shimun XVIII
1903 - 1918 Mar Benyamin Shimun XIX, assassinated 18.. - 1918
1918 - 1920 Mar Paulos Shimun XX, brother 1890 - 1920
1920 - 1975 Mar Ishaya Shimun XXI, brother, in exile
since 1933, assasinated 1908 - 1975
Regents for incapacitated Mar Paulos Shimun XX and during the
minority of Mar Ishaya Shimun XXI (5)Religious Affairs
1918 - 1927 -Mar Yosip Khnanishoo,
metropolitan of Rustaqa
-Mar Timotheos, metropolitan
of ... in India (until 192.)
Secular Affairs
1918 - 1927 -Gen. Dawud d'Mar Shimun,
father of both Patriarchs
-Surma d'Mar Shimun°, aunt of
both Patriarchs, also delegate
of the Assyrian people to the
peace conferences
(5) In the troubled period 1918 - 1920 much power was de facto held by Gen.
Agha Petros (18.. - 192.) a military commander and self proclaimed Prince
of the Assyrians.
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