The British Betrayal Of The Assyrians THE BRITISH BETRAYAL OF THE ASSYRIANS YUSUF MALEK FORMERLY OF THE IRAQI CIVIL SERVICE JUNE 1917 - SEPTEMBER 6, 1930 Author of Les Consequences Tragiques du Mandat en Iraq 1932 With introduction by William A. Wigram, DD Published by the Joint Action of The Assyrian National Federation and The Assyrian National League of America - 1758 North Park Avenue, Chicago IL (Books may be secured by application of this address only) First published in 1935. Copyright 1936 By the Author No part of the book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America, The Kimball Press, Warren Point, N.J. Dedicated to the Assyrian People in commemoration of the Assyrians who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Iraqi Government. Y.M. Assyrian International News Agency Books Online www.aina.org 1 AUTHOR’S PREFACE The atrocities deliberately perpetrated by the forces of Faisal, the puppet king on a shaky throne, led by their ill-bred officers against the Assyrians in Iraq during August 1933, the month that should mark a black spot in British history, have necessarily accelerated the publication--as an urgent necessity--of a part of a comprehensive book on the Iraqi minorities which I have in view. The British Government has betrayed, and has certainly proved herself unworthy of, the trust that other Eastern peoples have placed in her. She received many warnings as to the precarious position of the Iraq minorities in an emancipated Iraq, but it continued to ignore the appeals made to it and set aside the apprehensions felt even by the members of the Permanent Mandates Commission. Though unfortunately the Assyrian men, women, and children, who, in defence of their very honor, have been most brutally massacred with the usual Arab savagery, are lamentably and irretrievably lost, yet it is not too late to save the remnant if only as a monument to British perfidy and injustice. This is not impossible. It is incumbent upon the leaders who, rightly or wrongly, placed their “implicit trust” in the British Government and British liberal, to mend their ways. I am not cognizant of the circumstances that led the Assyrian leaders at the time to be swayed by the British policy but the blood of our martyrs who have fallen victims to the “implicit trust” and that villainous policy, is loudly crying to save those who are in the lion’s mouth. The Assyrian people who have been sorely tried for the last nineteen years (1915-1933) and have encountered many bitter tribulations, want and need a stable and honest policy that can offer it a real, permanent peace and security, which, in the last sixteen years (1918-1933) of trial has been definitely proved impossible under the British domination. In April 1933, I attempted to return to Iraq and had to see Sir Harold Stow, the British Consul-General of Betroth. He was kind enough to advise me to do so, but, at the same time, he communicated with the Iraqi Consul-General of Betroth, Camilla al Galena, to say that it would be in the interests of Iraq if I were allowed to return when the Iraq Government could place me under strict policy surveillance. I subsequently approached the Iraqi Consul in writing on the 15th of April and he, after having communicated with Badgered, sent me a letter No. 622/4/12 dated 22-5-33, the translation of which I append herewith: “The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has, in letter No. 3711, dated 3rd May, 1933, informed me that the Iraq Government cannot accede to the requests embodied in your application, but it can confirm that no legal action will be taken against you for your past prejudicial activities against the interests of Iraq.” This sounds very nice; but what about “illegal actions” so common in Iraq? The requests embodied in my application to which the Iraqi Consul makes reference, and to which the Iraqi Government could not accede, included a request for my personal safety and liberty while in Iraq. Upon further inquiry, the Consul on the 8th of June, 1933, informed me that he could give me no particulars other than those contained in his letter No. 622/4/12, dated the 22nd of May, 1933, which meant nothing to me because of its vagueness and ambiguity. Sir SAT’s recommendation, presumably made bona fide, was that I be permitted to return to Iraq under the understanding that I was to be placed under “strict police surveillance.” I discovered this from the Iraq Consul himself who was kind enough to furnish me with copies of his correspondence with Baghdad. I have quoted this minor case to illustrate the value of the League of Nations paper guarantees in Iraq for “the full protection of life and property of the Iraq minorities”, and to show how impossible it is for the members of the Iraq minorities, Chaldeans and others included, to approach the League of Nations and report the daily violations of the paper guarantees by the Iraq Government, however grave and acute such violations may be, without exposing themselves to reprisals. The pronounced policy of the Iraq Government clearly aims at the destruction and extinction of the Assyrian race by merging it forcibly in the body politic of Iraq. In the face of the recent atrocities (and more are probably to follow) committed against the Assyrian men, women, and children, against all laws of civilization in Iraq, and particularly in the Mosul Liwa, by the armed forces of the Iraq Government for which preparations were being made some months previously, England remained a mere observer, and her “moral responsibility” undertaken at Geneva through the medium of Sir Francis Humphrys, her 2 accredited representative, proved, as we constantly maintained in writing and otherwise, not to be worth the paper upon which it was recorded. In his last day, Sir Francis will have something on his conscience. We were betrayed by England on every possible occasion, and were finally handed over to a so-called Arab Government, without adequate or reasonable safeguards for our safety. Our grievances and claims have been deliberately misrepresented as I informed, (through the kind favour of Mr. George Naqqash, the brilliant Lebanese writer Mr. Rennie Smith of the Inter-parliamentary Union, London, from beginning to end, and it is the firm belief of many, as well as mine, that more misrepresentations will follow; hence there is the absolute necessity for the present work. As an Assyro-Chaldean by nationality, and one of the indigenous inhabitants from the heart of Mosul, with thirteen years of continuous experience of the Iraqi government and the British officials, I claim the right of being able to state our side of the case. Living in exile for the last twenty-nine months (April 1931-August 1933) with no possible access to my documents, I regret that I shall not be able to produce a comprehensive book as I originally desired. But my memory has not failed me, and will not, I hope, do so now. I hope that the present work will serve to give the readers, and particularly those interested in the Assyrians, a general idea as to the recent events leading up to the barbarous acts committed by the regular armed forces of the Iraq Government against the peaceful Assyrian civil population. Chapter I has been written by the Assyrian National League of America. Chapter V has been written by Col. F. Cunliffe-Owen. Chapters VII and second half of Chapter X have been written by Dr. David B. Perley. The indexing is also his work. Chapter XIII has been contributed by Col J.J. McCarthy. I am indebted to them all for their valuable services. For permission to re-publish Lt.-Gol.A.T. Wilson’s’ excellent Crisis in Iraq , originally published in the Nineteenth Century & After Review of October 1933, I am indebted to the author and to the publishers, Constable & Company, Limited, 10-12 Orange Street, London, W.C.2. For the reading of the galley proof, I am indebted to Mrs. D. B. Perley of New Jersey and Mr. George K. Eshaya of Illinois. For the reading of the page proof I am again indebted to the former. For the excellent illustrations, I am indebted to Mr. George Mardinly and to Mr. Lutfi Dartley, more especially to Mr. Charles S. Dartley, all of the State of New Jersey, U.S.A. It is a pleasing duty to express my sincere thanks to Hon. Nicholas O. Beery, the ex-Police Court Judge and Prosecutor of the Pleas of Passaic County in New Jersey, for his generous assistance rendered in reading and correcting every page of proof as it came from the compositor, and for his counsel with regard to matters of general presentation. My thanks are due also to the generous scholars, such as Max Zucker, Esquire, Rabbi and Lawyer, Judge Joseph A. Furrey, Joseph J. Durna, an attorney of New Jersey, and Prof. E.J. James, B.D., Ph.D of Chicago who have improved the book by their suggestions and painstaking criticism. It is gratifying to acknowledge my supreme obligation to the Assyrian National League of America and to the Assyrian National Federation* in America. The latter is composed of the Assyrian National Union, Inc. of Massachusetts, the Assyrian National Association of Connecticut, the Christian Aid Society of Philadelphia, Pa., the West New York Branch of New Jersey, the Newark Branch of New Jersey. Had it not been for their zealous co- 1 operation, the present work would not have been possible.