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

The pasha received and treated him civilly, but only to comply with the wishes of the British ambassador, which he had conveyed to Aali Pasha, the Turkish minister of foreign affairs. Thus the patriarch’s attempt to regain his freedom was foiled, and he was back to square one.³²

The patriarch’s attempted escape alarmed all British diplomats and Turkish officials in the region, especially in Mosul. The pasha was informed immediately and so had ample time to send his orders to the officials in distant districts to chase the fugitive patriarch and capture him.³³ The escape was the subject of a report by the ambassador to the Foreign Office, where he stated that Mar Shimun’s attempt had been frustrating for the Turks, but the ambassador did not mention whether the patriarch had any serious differences with the sultan and his government. Badger justified the patriarch’s attempt to escape from Mosul to any place that could offer him an opportunity to serve his people.³⁴ Many other British diplomats shared the patriarch’s belief that Great Britain could solve the crisis if it really wished to do so. Palmerston drew the ambassador’s attention to the reports of the consul at Tabreez, who expressed his opinion that the unfortunate Nestorians were frustrated, angry, and outraged at the continuing detention that the patriarch was suffering as a prisoner in Mosul.³⁵

Ambassador Wellesley wrote to Palmerston, informing him that the expedition against Bedr Khan Beg has been postponed because the Porte had too few troops at its disposal to insure the success of the campaign, while the rebel chieftain was said to have sixty thousand men ready for action. Wellesley drew attention to Bedr Khan’s hostile intentions against the Assyrians and noted again that Mar Shimun’s escape had caused much embarrassment and frustration to the Ottoman government. This was why he had asked Aali Pasha to treat him kindly if he was captured.³⁶

10. The British Intervention to Restore the Patriarch

Mar Shimun was convinced of the mounting threat to his life as long as he remained in Mosul, and his failed attempt to escape in October 1846 only made him more determined to seize any opportune moment.