Assyrians, Kurds, and Ottomans: Intercommunal Relations on the Pe ...

12 April 1847

As the affair of Bedr Khan Beg came to dominate the region, the British became actively involved. Great Britain’s policy reflected a desire to give the Ottomans all needed support to impose their central authority, on the one hand, while maintaining friendly relations with the Kurds, on the other. However, as has been mentioned, while Great Britain was eager to fulfil its own desires, the Ottomans were pursuing their own scheme to achieve their goal on their own terms by using force, not negotiation.

In the midst of all this, the British efforts to solve the crisis continued. Khawaja Anton (), the brother of the British consulate’s dragoman, was Bedr Khan’s accountant, which made him a suitable intermediary between the British consulate at Mosul and the Kurdish leader at Dair Quli. To encourage Bedr Khan to surrender peacefully, Rassam warned him that the Ottomans were determined to destroy his power and eliminate his independence. On these lines, he wrote informing him that ‘the commander-in-chief of the Imperial camp, with numerous Nizam [regular] troops, had entered Diarbekir’. He also warned him that if he lost the present opportunity, he could not get the same favourable conditions later.²⁰

On 27 April, Bedr Khan wrote back to Rassam, asking him to look after his affairs with the pasha of Mosul and to send his secretary Osman Beg for that purpose. The vice-consul answered on 1 May 1847, urging him to go to Constantinople as the Porte required and telling him that he had no alternative.²¹ However, the following exchange of messages shows Bedr Khan’s tenacity and the British attitude towards both the Turks and the Kurds: