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

The delegation’s mission was to meet the pasha and to promise the submission of Tekhoma to the sultan and to him. They were also to declare that they were willing to acknowledge their loyalty to the sultan and his government, that they were his sincere subjects who had committed no crime whatsoever, and that they were willing to pay taxes and do whatever else the government deemed necessary. However, the delegation never reached Mosul, and its members were feared to have been killed while crossing the district of Berwar.²

Meanwhile Rassam submitted a report to Ambassador Wellesley, informing him about developments regarding Tekhoma, including Bedr Khan Beg’s intention to attack it. In his report, he expressed his sorrow that the actions of the pasha of Mosul indicated that Bedr Khan either had already entered Tekhoma or was about to do so. If the pasha intervened, he would do so not to secure the safety of the tribe but to ensure that Bedr Khan acted in accordance with Ottoman Turkish plans and interests. The pasha had dispatched a Turkish officer to Bedr Khan, supposedly to persuade him not to attack Tekhoma, but in Rassam’s view, the Porte really intended to put an end to the independent status of these centres. However, he declared with frustration that, as usual, the Kurdish leader had not obeyed the pasha’s orders or even listened to them. Bedr Khan’s reply to the pasha’s appeal had been that ‘he will not allow any interference in the affairs of the mountain region’.³ This, along with the escape of the patriarch Mar Shimun from the British vice-consulate at Mosul, further compounded and complicated the situation and made conditions more even difficult.⁴

On the other hand, the cooperation between the Kurdish leaders was unusually strong. Once again, the close and strong relations between those leaders coincided with their intention of attacking the last independent Christian tribe and carrying out the massacre that Bedr Khan had threatened to commit. Thus their attitude towards the inhabitants of the district of Tekhoma reflected their real objective.