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Historical Timeline from 1915 to the 1958
Iraqi Revolution
Assyrians, The Province of Mosul (Nineveh)
and the League of Nations
 by
Assyrian Information Management (AIM)
Posted: February 25, 1999 at 07:04 PM CT
This is a brief historical timeline
detailing the plight and suffering of the
Assyrian nation.
The Assyrians of today are the
indigenous
Aramaic-speaking
descendants of the ancient Assyrian people,
one of the earliest civilizations emerging
in the Middle East, and have a history
spanning over 6750 years. Assyrians are not
Arabian, we are not Kurdish, our religion is
not Islam. The Assyrians are Christian,
with our own unique language, culture and
heritage.
Although the Assyrian empire ended in 612
B.C., history is replete with
recorded details of the
continuous presence of the Assyrian
people till the present time.
  January
2, 1915
The Holocaust Continues
 Plundering,
massacres and destruction of seventy of
Urmia's villages in the plains. "There was
absolutely no human power to protect these
unhappy people from the savage onslaught of
the invading hostile forces. It was an
awful situation. At midnight the terrible
exodus began; a concourse of 25,000 men,
women, and children, Assyrians and
Armenians, leaving cattle in the stables,
all their household hoods and all the supply
of food for winter, hurried, panic-stricken,
on a long and painful journey to the
Russian border, enduring the intense
privations of a foot journey in the snow and
mud, without any kind of preparation... it
was a dreadful sight... many of the old
people and children died along the way."
(The Death of a Nation, pp. 119-120)
Statement of the German Missionaries
"The latest news is that four thousand
Assyrians and one hundred Armenians have
died of disease alone, at the mission,
within the last five months. All villages
in the surrounding district with two or
three exceptions have been plundered and
burnt; twenty thousand (20,000) Christians
have been slaughtered in Armenia and its
environs. In Haftewan, a village of Salmas,
750 corpses without heads have been
recovered from the wells and cisterns
alone. Why? Because the commanding officer
had put a price on every Christine head...
In Dilman crowds of Christians were thrown
into prison and driven to accept Islam."
(The Death of a Nation, pp. 126-127)
 Please
visit the
Assyrian History Timeline: 1900's
section for eyewitness accounts information.
April
26, 1916
"The Syxes - Picot Agreement"
   During
World War I, the powerful countries of Great
Britain, France and Russia met to decide on
the Partition of the Ottoman Empire’s
territories after the war had ended. In
what was called,
"The Syxes - Picot
Agreement", April 26th
- October 23rd, 1916,
in which Mosul (Nineveh) was decided
to be zoned as a territory under France’s
control.
NOTE: This secret
agreement was made public by the new
Bolshevik Government of Russia after the
revolution (this agreement was to remain top
secret and confidential.)
1919
Peace Conference in Paris, France
 Three
Assyrian groups were scheduled to
participate in the Peace Conference in
Paris, France; Assyrian delegates from the
United States, Iraq and Iran.
The
Assyrian group from Iran arrived first,
included S. Ganja, L. George and L.
Yacoboff, and since Great Britain feared the
presence of a group which she can not
control, not having much authority in Iran,
the British forced the Assyrian delegate of
Iran to leave Paris and not participate.
Then the Assyrian delegate from the
USA arrived which included: S. Raji, M.
Shakour, A. Barsoom, B. Bakous, A. Ablahad,
A. K. Yousuf, R. Najeeb, G. Zabouni, S. A.
Namiq and Rev. J. E. Werda.
Their
demands were basically to establish an
Assyrian independent territory including
northern Bet Nahren beginning from the lower
Zab River, Diyar Bakir and extending to the
Armenian mountains and under the protection
of the super powers.
Rev. Joel Werda in his petition
concluded;
"We
have the most conclusive proofs to show that
the Assyrians were urged by the official
representatives of Great Britain, France and
Russia, to enter into the war on the side of
the Allies, and were induced into a state of
belligerency with the most solemn promises
of being given a free state. The Assyrians,
therefore, having risked the very existence
of their nation, and having made such
appalling sacrifices upon the altar of
freedom, demand that these promises of the
Allied governments now be honorably
redeemed."
Great Britain and the US delegates
denied the petition explaining that the US
president F. Wilson is having strong
reserves from any plans to divide Turkey.
The Assyrians from the USA returned empty
handed.
The Assyrian delegate from Iraq after
too many delays by the British authorities
was approved to travel on July 21st, but on
one condition, to pass by London, England
first. There, Surma Khanim, the head of the
delegate was kept in London until the
conference of France finished its
deliberations.
Surma's demands were very realistic
which were to allow the Assyrians to return
to Hakkarri, basic freedoms, the release of
all prisoners and the punishment of the
criminals responsible for the atrocities
committed against the Assyrians.
April
19, 1920 - Treaty of Sèvres
Between Great Britian, Allies and Turkey
   This
treaty, signed on August 10, 1920, put the
foundations for the new Turkish frontier
post World War I. Assyrians were not
permitted by Great Britian to participate in
these deliberations under the ground rule
that the Assyrians were not an equal power
with the rest of the participants. But the
Assyrian issue was discussed and the scheme
was to contain full safeguards for the
protection of the Assyro-Chaldeans and other
racial or religious minorities under
articles 62, 63, 140, 141, 142, 147, 148,
149, and 150 and as a result of this treaty,
Mosul (NINEVEH, Assyria) was given to Iraq
while France was guaranteed 25% of Mosul
(Nineveh)’s oil production.
Article 62 of the Treaty states:
"... this plan must provide complete
guarantees as to the protection of the
Assyro-Chaldeans and other ethnic or
religious minorities in this area. To this
end, a commission made up of British,
French, Italian, Persian and Kurdish
representatives will visit the area so as to
determine what adjustments, if any, should
be made to the Turkish frontier wherever it
coincides with Persian frontier as laid down
in this treaty."
November
20, 1922 - Treaty of Lausanne
Between the Allied powers and Turkey
The
Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923,
took place after Turkey requested that the
issue of Mosul (Nineveh) needed to be
re-examined again. Assyrians once again
were not allowed to participate as Great
Britian stood in their way, but again they
were promised that their rights will be
protected, worth mentioning that Agha
Petros, General of the Assyrian Army,
attended the opening ceremonies. The United
States stood beside Great Britian in these
deliberations as the latter promised 20% of
the oil industry business to be awarded to
American companies. Turkey lost its appeal
to win Mosul (Nineveh) back based on Great
Britian's claims that this region will be
saved for the future settlement of the
Kurdish and Assyrian people, and no final
agreement was reached.
Article 39 of the treaty states:
"There will be no official restriction on
any Turkish citizen’s right to use any
language he wishes, whether in private, in
commercial dealings, in matter of religion,
in print or at a public gathering.
Regardless of the existence of an official
language, appropriate facilities will be
provided for any non-Turkish-speaking
citizen of Turkey to use his own language
before the court."
May
21, 1924 - The Constantinople Conference
Between Great Britian and Turkey
The
Assyrians were told that Britain is fighting
their case for them and that there is no
need for them to attend. A letter on behalf
of the Assyrians and their settlement was
written under the direction of Sir Henry
Conway Dobbs, the British High Commissioner
in Iraq, under "Statement of Proposals for
the Settlement of the Assyrian People in
Iraq", in that regard.
The
government of Turkey, claimed that Mosul
(Nineveh) is part of Turkey and Fet’hi Beg
declared that the Assyrians, who he referred
to them as Nestorians, are welcomed to live
in their previous lands in Turkey where they
will find freedom. Sir Percy Cox, stated
that Mosul (Nineveh) belongs to Iraq and
that the Christian Assyrians need protection
from Turkey.
This was part of his statement;
" ...His Majesty’s Government has
decided to endeavor to secure a good treaty
frontier, which will at the same time admit
of the establishment of the Assyrians in a
compact community within the limits of the
territory in respect of which His Majesty’s
Government hold a mandate under the
authority of the League of Nations, if not
in every case in their ancestral habitation,
at all events in suitable adjacent
districts. This policy for the settlement
of the Assyrians has the full sympathy and
support of the Iraqi Government, which is
prepared for its part, to give the necessary
cooperation for giving effect thereto."
No
agreement was reached at the end. Turkey
then massed its troops on the border to
occupy the Mosul (Nineveh) Province by
force. The Assyrian Levy Force of 2000 were
sent north to protect Iraq, since the Iraqi
army at this time was unfit to undertake
such task. The Assyrian force was largely
responsible for the annexation of Mosul
(Nineveh) to Iraq rather than to Turkey, as
an official of the League of Nations stated.
August
6, 1924
Britian's Request to League of Nations
 Britain
requested from the League of Nations to look
into the issue of the borders between Iraq
and Turkey. And a Frontiers Commission was
established to look into the matter on Oct.
21, 1924.
June
16, 1925
Recommendation of League of Nations
The
Commission presented its findings and
suggested the importance of protecting the
Assyrians if they were to return to Turkey,
their freedom, reimbursements for all their
loses during the Great War and the full
authority of the Patriarch, Mar Eshai
Shimun, over his people.
Recommendations were not approved
upon. And it was finally recommended that
the issue should be referred to the
Permanent Court of International Justice in
The Hague, an integral part
of the charter of the League of Nations
which was later replaced by the
International Court of Justice after the
birth of the United Nations.
September,
1925 - "The Hague"
The Permanent Court of International
Justice
Took over the disputed border line
issue and in
Dec. 1925,
adopted a resolution which refused
the idea of the Assyrians return to Hakkarri
and gave that region to Turkey, while giving
Mosul (Nineveh) to Iraq and settling on a
border line almost matching the same status
quo line which was called the Brussel Line
and recommended the continuation of the
British mandate on Iraq another 25 years to
safeguard the Assyrian interests.
June
5, 1926
Treaty between Britian and Turkey
Treaty
between Britain and Turkey was signed
settling the issue of the borders and Mosul
(Nineveh) province. Hence Britain gained
possession of Mosul (Nineveh)’s rich oil
fields and set out to deny the rights of the
Assyrians.
In July 1927, Captain Fowraker, a
Levy officer who spoke Assyrian fluently,
became incharge of the settlement issue. He
noticed that Assyrians were scattered all
over north of Iraq, in contradiction to the
League of Nation’s decision to settle the
Assyrians in a "Homogeneous Enclave".
November
11, 1927
Human Rights of Assyrians
The
Assyrians continued to protest about their
mistreatment and continued to send letters
to the League of Nations which requested a
report from both of the governments of
Britain and Iraq about the situation. The
Permanent Court of International Justice in
The Hague, did not accept
the reports of Britain and Iraq and
requested from both countries to fulfill
their obligations towards the Assyrians.
November
13, 1928
British Treaties and Assyrian Petitions
Britain
dropped the earlier established
recommendations by the Mandate Commission
and declared that those recommendations
should be directed to the Turkish Government
and not the Iraqi government, since Hikkarri
is the original homeland of the Assyrians
and those who escaped have no intentions to
return to Turkey. Hence, they should occupy
whatever land the Iraqi government has
provided for them.
Meanwhile, the Turkish
Council-General in Baghdad stated earlier on
June 25, 1928;
"The
Turkish Amnesty Law did not cover the
Assyrians, who would not be permitted in any
circumstances to enter Turkey; And that any
Assyrian who attempted to enter Turkey would
be punished."
 Several
treaties were signed and ratified between
Britain and Iraq in the next two years in
what seemed to be Britain’s preparations to
clear the way for Iraq to enter the League
of Nations.
Three
petitions were received by the Mandate
Commission stressing the fears of the
Assyrians regarding the termination of the
Mandate; they were dated in Sept.
1931, Oct. 20, 1931
and Oct. 23, 1931. One of
these was rejected by Sir Francis Humphrys
on the grounds that it was submitted by
Captain Rassam (Hermiz Rassam’s son) who was
not qualified to represent the Assyrians
even though it was given to him by the
Assyrian Patriarch but he, Humphrys, still
pledged the ‘moral responsibility’ of Great
Britain to the future attitude of the Iraqi
government.
The
Oct. 23, 1931 petition was
submitted by His Holiness Mar Eshai Shimun
XXIII, in Mosul (Nineveh), asking for
permission to allow the Assyrians to leave
Iraq before the end of the Mandate since it
would be impossible for the Assyrians to
live in Iraq. This decision was reached at
with the agreement of all the Assyrian
leaders and when responses to this petition
were delayed, the Assyrians decided to take
action and planned for a general
‘cessation of service’ by all the
Levies.
The
Mandate Commission reviewed the Assyrian
petition and was still not satisfied with
Britain and Iraq’s assurances of protection
of Minorities. Worth mentioning here that
Sir Humphrys was accused by his own fellow
British officials to fabricate lies in
regards to the Iraqi government’s sentiments
about the Assyrians.
The Mandate Commission gave its
recommendations, stating that they are
concerned about the Christians, and
accordingly, average people were given the
right to submit any petitions to the League
of Nations, directly, in the future.
In
partial compliance with requests of the
petition, the Iraqi government set up a
further land-finding committee. It
discovered but little land both cultivable
and available. In fact, they found
malaria-ridden, swampy lands, and in their
usual obnoxious style, recommended
expenditure on an irrigation scheme to
produce more. Hundreds upon
hundreds of Assyrians died with malaria in
those lands.
The
Council of the League of Nations accepted
the recommendations and Iraq issued a
declaration guaranteeing the protection of
minorities on May 30, 1932.
Accordingly Iraq was accepted in the
League of Nations on October 3, 1932.
December
5, 1932
Mar Eshai Shimun in Geneva
The
Assyrian national question was taken to
Geneva by the Assyrian Patriarch, His
Holiness Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII again when
he addressed the Permanent Mandate
Commission meeting and urged the Council to
fulfill its obligations toward the Assyrian
Nation. The League yet again granted the
Assyrians their rights of homogenous
community in Iraq with a local
autonomy.
This was discussed again in Dec.
15th, 1932.
August,
1933
The Assyrians are Massacred
The New York Times
August 19, 1933
 "The
Nestorian Patriarch Mar Eshai
Shimun, Patriarch of the
Assyrians, who has been under
detention for some time for
having declined to sign a
declaration of loyalty to King
Faisal and agree not to thwart
the scheme of the League of
Nations for the settlement of
the Assyrians, was deported by
the order of the government
today (August 18, 1933) and
deprived of Iraqi nationality.
The British air officer
commanding in Iraq was present
at the Hinaidi airdrome when Mar
Shimun left in a British machine
for Jerusalem en route to
Cyprus...."
The Argus Newspaper (published
in Melborne, Australia)
August 21, 1933
"In accordance with the Iraq
government's deportation order,
the Patriarch Mar Shimun left
today (August 19, 1933) in a
Royal Air Force airplane, by way
of Palestine, for Cyprus, where
his father and brother have also
been given asylum..."
The Sydney Morning Herald
August 21, 1933
"The press reports quoted above
say that His Holiness left
Hinaidi airdrome in a British
aircraft for Cyprus by way of
Palestine. But, did the British
Royal Air Force plane fly His
Holiness (and those with Him)
direct to Cyprus after stopping
in Palestine? Material dug up
by Romeo Hanna tells us it did
not. It tells that His Holiness
disembarked in Palestine and was
flown to Cyprus in another
British RAF machine several days
later. What we Assyrians of
Australia find interesting about
the material is that this second
British RAF machine was piloted
by an Australian pilot who at
the time was stationed in
Basra."
Related Information
1918: The Assyrians of
Shamizdin, Turkey
1933: The Assyrians of Khabur,
Syria |
August - 1933
At the village of Kouba near Bab
Chikchik, four Assyrians were
attacked. Two were killed and
two were wounded.
(The British Betrayal of the
Assyrians, p. 166)
August 4-5, 1933
Eight Assyrian soldiers were
killed, during the fight with
the Iraqi army on the
Syrian-Iraqi borders.
(The Assyrian Tragedy, p. 49)
August 7, 1933
The Iraqi army returned to Mosul
(Nineveh) and right through its
way began a systematic
massacre. At the same time the
Qaimaqam of Zakho, ahmed
al-Dibuni tortured 46 Assyrians
to death.
(The
Assyrian Tragedy, p. 52)
August 11-16, 1933:
The
Simele Massacre
"The Assyrian population of the
village of Simel was
indiscriminately massacred; men
women, and children alike. In
one room alone, 81 Assyrians
from Baz were barbarously
massacred. Priests were
tortured and their bodies
mutilated. Girls were raped and
women violated and made to march
naked before the Arab army
commanders. Holy books were
used as fuel for burning girls.
Children were run over by
military cars. Pregnant women
were bayonetted. Children were
flung in the air and pierced on
to the points of bayonets. In
Dohuk 600 Assyrians were
killed."
(The Assyran Tragedy, p.
53-54)
Description of the
Massacre
"Suddenly and without the least
warning the troops opened fire
upon the defenseless Assyrians.
Many fell, including women and
children, and the rest ran into
the houses to take cover... A
coId blooded and methodical
massacre of all the men in the
village followed... This took
some time. Not that there was
any hurry, for the troops had
the whole day ahead of them.
Their opponents were helpless
and there was no chance of any
interference from any quarter
whatsoever. Machine gunners set
up their guns outside the
windows of the houses in which
the Assyrians had taken refuge,
and having trained them on the
terror-stricken wretches in the
crowded rooms, fired among them
until not a man was left
standing in the shambles. In
some other instances the blood
lust of the troops took a
slightly more active form and
men were dragged out and shot or
bludgeoned to death and their
bodies thrown on a pile of dead.
(The Tragedy of the
Assyrians, p. 172)
It is estimated that 3000
Assyrians were massacred during
the August of 1933.
(British Betrayal of the
Assyrians.) |
October
1933
Mar Eshai Shimun in Geneva with
Yousuf Malik
After
the Simele massacre the Council of the
League of Nations was absolutely sure that
the Assyrian issue was still an unsolved
problem.
The
Assyrian Patriarch requested the League to
form an Assyrian and Kurdish enclave in the
north of the province of Mosul (Nineveh)
under a special administration. The
Patriarch reminded the Council about such
plan which was originally suggested by Lord
Curzon, the British Foreign Minister, on
Dec. 17, 1919.
In Iraq Rashid Ali Al-Gailani, the Iraqi
Prime Minister, announced that the Assyrians
should find a new home outside Iraq and
promised that the Iraqi government is
willing to make very generous contributions
to cover any expenses of such settlement.
On Oct. 13, 1933, the League of Nations
appointed a committee of six of its members
to look into this possibility. On Oct. 24,
the Assyrians submitted another petition by
Yousuf Malik, an Assyrian Nationalist from
Iraq who was exiled to Lebanon and who moved
between Cypress, Beirut and Damascus
exposing what was going on inside Iraq and
the British games. This petition gives
details to a lot of cases of oppression
against the Assyrians in Iraq and details on
hardships from government officials and the
facts about the Semele massacre.
From
October 1933 to June of 1935 the committee
of six looked into many options, they
covered Brazil, British Guiana, Niger (in
Africa) and they all failed. A further
suggestion that the British Red Cross might
send a relief party to Mosul (Nineveh) was
also objected to, apparently on the grounds
that this would discourage the activities of
the Iraqi Crescent, which has not carried
out any relief work among the Assyrians. In
Sept. 1935, the plan of settling of some of
the Assyrians in the Khabour / Ghab areas in
Syria was approved. History shows that the
plan was never followed up with and it has
failed.
Things did not change for the Assyrians in
Iraq until the outbreak of World War II,
when the Iraqis revolted under Rashid Ali
Al-Gailani who sided himself with Germany
and wanted to force the British out of Iraq
completely. The faith of the British
existence in Iraq hanged in the hands of the
1500 Assyrian Levis ability to hold the
British Air Force Base in Habbaniya against
the Rebels of over 60,000 Arab tribesmen and
regular troops who surrounded the base.
The Battle of Habbaniya is well
described in the book, "The Golden Carpet"
by Somerset De Chair, a British intelligence
officer served in Iraq during W.W.II.
The Assyrians have saved Iraq from falling
in Germany’s hands.
May
7, 1945 - United Nations
Mar Eshai Shimun in San
Francisco
The
United Nations was born in San Francisco
(replacing the League of Nations).
The Assyrian Patriarch, Mar Eshai
Shimun XXIII, was there to present the
Assyrian petition ( Assyrian
National Petition)
to the new world body of peace and was
accompanied by two members of the Assyrian
National Federation. In this petition the
Assyrian tragedy was explained from
World War I until the end of World War II.
Several petitions from the Patriarch
in 1945 and 1946 were sent to the Secretary
General of the United Nations to look into
the Assyrian National Question. A letter
from the UN General Secretary # 1100-1-4/MEJ
dated Oct. 7, 1946 was received by Mar
Shimun stating that he has referred the
Patriarch’s petition to the Commission on
Human Rights.
March
13, 1947 - Petition to the UN
General Secretary about the
Assyrian Massacres in Iran.
A
petition concerning the Assyrian Massacres
in Iran was filed again by Mar Eshai Shimun
XXIII, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of
the East. He struggled for over a half
century at the League of Nations, then the
United Nations, all in vain. The ‘new
order’ would not hear of it, this was a new
world, the nations of the Axis Powers had to
be forgiven and appeased, the Arabs had to
be rewarded so that they could suppress
their people and allow cheap oil to flow to
the West. This was no time to talk about
the sacrifices of the Assyrian people. As
for human rights, the Allies were
embarrassed to consider that such a small
nation-church had been their
"Smallest Ally".
References:
The Assyrian Question (Dadisho)
The Assyrians and the Assyrian
Question (Matfiev)
The Death of a Nation (Yohannan)
The First Civilization (Alexander)
The Flickering Light of Asia (Werda)
The Tragedy of the Assyrians
(Stafford)
Yousif Malik (Nathir)
Related Information
 Assyrian
Awareness Campaign
(sign petition)
Assyrians
after Assyria
|
Assyrian
Identity in Ancient Times and Today
The
Assyrian Statehood: Yesterday’s Denial and
Today’s Moral Obligation
The
Assyrian Christians' Dilemma in Iraq:
Outlook and Solution
1937:
The Assyrians: A Debt of Honour
1935:
League of Nations — The Settlement of the
Assyrians, a Work of Humanity and
Appeasement
1934:
ANNEMASSE: The Assyrian Tragedy |
Assyrian National Petition
1923:
Agha Petros and the Lausanne Telegraphs
1915:
The Deportation of the Assyrians in Ottoman
Documents
†
1831-1937 — Sayfo
(Assyrian Genocide, in Arabic)
Assyrian
Villages and Monasteries |
