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

Thus the Assyrian tragedy fell in the middle of a critical situation, which was marked by sharp changes in the political and ethnic map. This explains the ineffective mission of Kemali Effendi, the sultan’s envoy, due to the two-pronged approach to the issue by which the sultan’s government sought to undermine Bedr Khan Beg but was equally anxious to deprive the Assyrian tribes of their independence.

Mar Shimun pinned too many hopes on British intervention, and they gradually faded as no improvement came, but, on the contrary, the conditions of his nation only grew worse. He vented his frustration in a message to the ambassador dated 17 March 1845, when he bitterly complained about the fruitless efforts of Kemali and Stevens, which had been supposed to save his people from the crisis. He extended his frustration to the second tier of the Assyrian leadership: many maliks and bishops had applied for passports to emigrate to Georgia, to escape the persecution that they were living under.³⁰

9. Mar Shimun’s First Attempt to Escape From Mosul

The patriarch was frustrated by the fruitless intervention of Great Britain in the affairs of his nation and gradually became convinced that he himself was also a target for elimination like other ethnic leaders. But his determination to rejoin his people and hold them together was an inspiration to them, and his plight was the subject of intensive correspondence by British diplomats. Consequently he laid plans to escape from his detention and seek freedom wherever he could. He first applied to the pasha of Mosul to let him go to the district of Berwar for a change of scene and to recuperate; the pasha first approved his request but later refused to let him leave.³¹Then he tried to go to Tekhoma, but the presence of Bedr Khan’s forces there prevented him from doing so, and he was obliged to head for Amadia instead. However, his first attempt to escape from his detention led the pasha of Mosul to order his mutasalim to capture him and sent him back to Mosul; as Rassam reported, Mar Shimun was captured near Amadia and brought back to Mosul under heavy military escort.