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

Wellesley informed Palmerston about the massacre, which he described as even more horrible than the one the Nestorians had suffered three years before. He also noted that he had brought it to the attention of Aali Pasha, the Turkish foreign minister. Aali Pasha had assured him that he had sent instructions to the pasha of Mosul to protect the Nestorians and that a new plan had been drawn up to crush Bedr Khan Beg, taking into consideration all related issues.¹⁵ These, however, were merely phrases that the Turkish official used to evade his government’s responsibility to protect its citizens.

The number of the victims could not be accurately estimated, especially since, when the people came under attack, they fell victim to the hysteria of the fanatics and were slaughtered in all directions. People were caught on the fighting grounds, in their villages, along the escape routes to Chal, and in other places. However, it is safe to say that huge numbers were killed as a direct result of the orders that the fighters received before beginning their attacks, and consequently the figures that were provided for some locations must be considered a moderate estimate:

Conduct towards the Assyrian tribes stemmed from their desire to occupy their land and to consolidate their own presence in the regions surrounding the homeland of the tribes. As Edward Robinson remarked, the Nestorians lived in the midst of the Kurds ‘in their festinated mountains’; thus their homeland represented the heart of Kurdistan.¹⁶