Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia
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^ ^^ MESOPOTAMIA (REVIEW OF THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION). o E E V I E W OF THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF MESOPOTAMIA NOTE. This paper gives aa account of the civil administration of Mesopotamia during the British military occupation, that is to say, down to the summer of tlie present year, when, a Mandate for Mesopotamia having been accepted by Great Britain, steps were being taken for the early establishment of an Arab Government. His Majesty's Government caU-^d for a report on this difficult period from the Acting Civil Commissioner, who entrusted the preparation of it to Miss Gertrude L. BeU, C.B.E. India Office, 3rd December 1920. JUtttunWO to 6ot]& 3l?ou£irsi of Darliatnent ftp CTominanli of ?&t0 Mnie^tv, LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be pui-chased through any Bookseller or directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses : Imperial House, Kingsvvay, London, W.C. 2, and 1 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W. ; Manchester .37, Peteb Street, ; Cardiff 1, St. Andrew's Crescjint, ; Edinburgh 23, Forth Street, ; or from E. PONSONBY, Ltd., 116, Grafton Street, Dublin. 1920. Price 2s. Net. [Cmd. 1061.] 11 ^sc,\\ K^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Chapter I. — Occupation of the Basrah Wilayat - - - 1 II.—Organisation of the Administration _ _ . 5 III.—The pacification of the Tribes and Relations with the Shi'ah towns up to the fail of Baghdad - - - 20 IV. -Relations with Arab and Kurdish Tribes, and with the Holy Cities after the fall of Baghdad - - - 33 — V. The Occupation of Mosul ----- 47 VI.—The Kurdish Question - - - - - 57 VII.—Development of Administration. The Revenue Depart- ment ------- 74 VIII.— Judicial Administration ----- 90 IX.—Organisation of the Edu.cation Department, Levies and Police, Civil Medical Service, Department of Commerce and Industry, Public Works, Raihvays, Finance, and Establishment - - - _ _ • . 103 X.—The Nationalist Movement - - - - 126 Index - 148 I ^' Mesopotamia: Review of Civil AdministratioD. CHAPTER I.—Occupation of the Basrah Wilayat. In the spring of 1910, Ottoman rule in Mesopotamia was epitomised by a singularly- competent observer, Mr. J. G. Lorimer, British Resident at Baghdad, in words which " X cannot be bettered. The universal Turkish system of administration," he wrote in " the Political Diary for the month of March, is in almost every respect unsuitable to 'Iraq. The Turks themselves must recognise that it is a failure here, but probablj' few of them appreciate the cause, though that is sufficiently obvious. 'Iraq is not an ' integral part of the Ottoman Empire, but a foreign dependency, very much in the ' and its officials to minute rough ; government by sedentary according regulations, ' framed at Constantinople for Western Turkey, can never be satisfactory. I had no ' idea before coming to Baghdad of the extent to which Turkey is a country of red ' tape and blind and dumb officialdom, nor of the degree in which the Turkish ' position in 'Iraq is unsupported by physical force. One cannot but admire, however, ' the dogged and uncomplaining resolution with which the Turkish civil bureaucracy ' and skeletion army persist in their impossible tasks, the former in that of governing ' according to code and paragraph, the other in that of maintaining a semblance of ' order." This description outlines the conditions prevailing in the country at the outbreak ^ of war, except that the intervening four and a half years of administration under the auspices of the Committee of Union and Progress had tended to exaggerate former evils while arousing hopes of improvement which could not be fulfilled. Encouraged by the catchwords of liberty and equality, the subject races of the Ottoman Empire began to formulate aspirations wholly contrary to the centralising spirit which animated the Committee even more than the regime it had replaced. Claims to local autonomy, which had first been heard in Syria, were enunciated there in more assured tones and found an echo in Mesopotamia, not only among the Arab population, but also among the Kurds, who had been no less alienated than the Arabs by a spasmodic assertion of authority which the Ottoman Government was powerless to maintain. It is not too much to say that the Mesopotamian Wilayats of Basrah, Baghdad and Mosul had reached the limits of disorder consouant with the existence, even in name, of settled administration. For years past British Consular officials had been accustomed to receive embarrassing requests from local magnates and tribal chiefs that the British Government should put an end to the intolerable chaos by assuming control of the country. British maritime and commercial interests in the Persian with its < Gulf, together political importance to the Government of India, had thrust upon us responsibilities there which we could not avoid. Our position with regard to the ruling Arab chiefs along its shores had gradually been consolidated. We had entered into treaty relations with the Sultan of Masqat, the Shaikhs of the Trucial Coast and of the Island of Bahrain. Ibn Sa'ud, Ruler of Najd, who in 1913 had pushed his way down to the was anxious to obtain our and the Shaikh of sea, recognition support ; Kuwait, always apprehensive of Ottoman encroachments, had been assured of our protection, and the Shaikh of Muhammarah, Arab by race though a subject of Persia, looked to us for help in maintaining his position against Sultan and Shah alike. a I These alliances were valuable asset when war was declared on Turkey on "^ 29th October 1914, and it was of primary importance to make clear to the chiefs of the Gulf the causes of the breach with the Ottoman Empire and the scope of hostilities. Accordingly the Political Resident issued on 31st October, under the orders of His Majesty's Government, a proclamation to the Arab rulers of the Persian Gulf and their siibjects explaining 'that Turkey had entered into war at the instigation of Germany, to her own destruction, and that it seemed impossible to hope that the Ottoman Empire could be preserved. To the chiefs who had enjoyed the benevolent protection of Great Britain we promised that no act of ours should threaten liberty or [2041] PS 2340 Wt 22376/369 300U 12.20 J^ 2 507542 reh'gio'n; afiffwe' required of them on their part that they should preserve order and tranquillity in their territories and should not allow the foolish among their subjects to disturb the peace of their dominions or to injure British interests. By pursuing this course they would emerge from the troubles which surrounded them stronger and freer than before. On 1st November a second proclamation of wider application was issued, touching the holy ylaces in the 'Iraq. With these assurances the chiefs of the Gulf were satisfied. During tlie whole course of the war we encountered from them no hostility, while the unwavering friendship of leading men, such as the Shaikhs of Muhanmiarah and Kuwait and the Ruler of Najd, proved of inestimable value not only to the British Government but also to the Arab cause. On 6th November, the British-Indian force which had been concentrated in readiness at Bahrain, landed, under the command of General Delamain, at the mouth of th^Sha,tt::al-' Arab, and under cover of the naval guns, took Fao fort. On the same day SirTercy Cox, who had accompanied the force from India as Chief Political Officer, issued a proclamation in which he reiterated the regret of the British Government at having been forced, by the unprovoked hostility of the Turkish " Government, into a state of war. But let it be kuown to all," the " proclamaiion continued, that the British Government has no quarrel with the Arab inhabitants " on the river banks, and so long as they show themselves and do not harbour " friendly Turkish troops or go about armed, they have nothing to fear, and neither nor " they their property will be molested." During the month of October the Turks had been clearing their encumbered decks for action. For the better part of 25 years the peace of Basrah had been rent and the slumbers of successive Walis disturbed by the activities of a member of the leading Sunni family of the district, Saiyib Talib, eldest son of the Naqib. In turn adherent of the Conunittee of TJnion and Progress and of its rival, the Liberal Party, Saiyid Talib's ambitions were centred on the hope of converting the Basrah Wilayat into an independent Arab amirate with himself as amir. For some years he and his associates had dominated the town of Basra, and held the local Ottoman authorities in defiance. Saiyid Talib was fully alive to the hazards he was taking, and in October 1914, when Enver Pasha pressed him to come to Constantinople, probably as the best means of getting rid of him, he made advances to us through the Shaikh of Muhammarah. In return for recognition as local chief, he offered to raise an Arab revolt, A reply was sent to him through Shaikh Kliaz'al of Muhammarah, advising him to remain in Basrah and co-operate in our interest with the Shaikhs of Muhammarah and Kuwait and with Ibn Sa'ud. He was promised immunity from taxation for his date gardens, protection from Turkish reprisals .and the maintenance of the hereditary privileges of himself and his father, the Naqib. Here negotiations halted, and before our forces reached Basrah Saiyid Talib's position there had grown too precarious. He fled to Kuwait and thence to Ibn Sa'ud, who interceded with us on his behalf. He ended by going to India in voluntary exile, and was permitted in 1917 to remove to Egypt, where he remained till February 1920, when he returned to Basrah.