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

When the Kurdish leader failed to meet the sultan’s demand to surrender his independence, the Turkish army forced him to do so. The majority of the Kurdish leaders deserted him, including Noor Allah Beg, who had been the prime mover of the Assyrian massacre; he had even conspired against Bedr Khan before the Turks determined to attack him. He then joined the Turks in their campaign to destroy Bedr Khan and employed all his power to prevent him from escaping to Persia. Further blows were the desertion of his nephew and the refusal of Persia to offer him asylum.³⁸ Ross wrote to Layard, ‘Thus we may say that the Koordish war has terminated’.³⁹