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

The Assyrian question was still in flux and occupying the attention of many concerned parties. The Turkish government was keen to show its concern for the interventions of Great Britain. Nevertheless the ill intention of the Turkish officials further complicated the situation and the issue of the captives. Taylor, the British resident at Baghdad, summarised the whole issue as follows:

Meanwhile the real captives were kept in well-known places, which constantly were referred to by the British representatives in the region.³⁹

Stevens, however, reported that he had asked Kemal Effendi to send an urgent message to Bedr Khan Beg informing him that the Sublime Porte had sent another order demanding the release of all Christian captives who were still in captivity.⁴⁰ He once again confirmed his intelligence that some captives were still in the territories under Bedr Khan’s direct control and insisted that they must be collected and sent to Mosul. On the other hand, he mentioned his personal efforts with the pasha of Diarbekir, explaining that the pasha had not yet responded to his appeal to collect the Assyrian captives in that city and send them to Mosul, except for fifteen women and young children. Those captives Stevens had been able to redeem from a dealer who had bought them from an agent of Bedr Khan Beg.⁴¹

Britain’s Direct Involvement in the Crisis of the Assyrian Tribes

Canning’s instructions to Stevens reveal the official policy of Great Britain on the Assyrian issue. As for the return of the patriarch Mar Shimun to his people after he took refuge in Mosul, it was clear that he would not be allowed to do so. On the subject of the Assyrian tribes, Canning informed Rassam that he had not received any new information, even regarding the Turkish attitude towards the Nestorians.