| Chapter 11: | Great Britain, the Ottomans, and the Assyrian Tragedy |
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Although there were other outstanding issues related to the Assyrian crisis, the issues of the captives and liberating their homeland were to remain pressing ones occupying much British diplomatic activity. Thus the events after July 1843 produced many issues, which badly required British assistance and support. Among the most pressing were the evacuation of the invading forces from Tiyari and Hakkari; the release of the captives, who were considered as slaves and were sold in large numbers throughout the Middle East; and, last but not least, the return of the loot, which represented all the people’s possessions.
Rassam was the first to initiate the process of demanding the release of the captives. He informed Canning that Bedr Khan and his supporters were still holding many of the victims. The British resident at Baghdad was also acquainted with the subject and had asked him to use his good offices with Najib Pasha of Baghdad to secure freedom for the largest group of the captives, which included the immediate relatives of the patriarch. In his request, Rassam hoped that Najib Pasha would ask Beirakdar to send an envoy to Bedr Khan Beg asking him to release the captives immediately and send them to Mosul.7
Najib Pasha responded positively to the request, and Colonel Taylor then wrote to Beirakdar, asking him to intervene. Beirakdar’s reply was astonishing: on the one hand, he politely informed Rassam that Najib Pasha ought to ask Bedr Khan Beg himself to release the captives, because he had a great influence on him; on the other, he declared that Najib Pasha had been deeply involved in the massacre of the tribes and that he himself could not act unless he was authorised by Najib. Nevertheless Beirakdar made it clear that if any one wanted to facilitate this matter, then the pashas of Baghdad and Erzeroom were the Turkish officials most directly concerned.
Canning wrote to Rassam, expressing to him the opinion of Her Majesty’s Government regarding the whole issue of the Assyrian tribes. He also acquainted him with the contacts that he had made with the Turkish foreign minister to relieve the victims, stating that