| Chapter 13: | The End of the Kurdish Wars |
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He would in the future rule with justice without discrimination between Muslims and Christians, abolish capital punishment, and hand over to Mosul for punishment all those who were requested. In short, he was ready to do whatever the sultan wanted him to do.
Bedr Khan’s proposal represented a complete surrender to the Ottoman authority and an abandonment of his iron hold over Tur Abdin and the upper regions of Mesopotamia. His concessions would have reduced him to an ordinary official of the sultan. But when Shaikh Yousif finished the long list of Bedr Khan’s undertakings, Rassam informed him that he could not give him any firm promise.17
The succeeding days showed the real intention of the Ottomans, which fell in line with the policy they had pursued since 1831. After two weeks, Rassam reported to Wellesley, informing him that military preparations in Mosul were going vigorously forward and seemed to be related to the rumours of a campaign against Bedr Khan Beg. Despite the financial crisis that Mosul was going through, provisions were being collected for a large military force, and all indications pointed towards Zakho, located a short distance from al Jazirah, Bedr Khan’s headquarters, as its destination.
Ross, the British former diplomat who still resided at Mosul, wrote to Layard about the pressing issue of Bedr Khan, stating that
Ross believed that a force of forty thousand regular troops would be able to subdue him.18
The Cracks in the Kurdish Front
Bedr Khan had succeeded in forming an unprecedented alliance among the Kurdish tribes of Diarbekir, Sevaik, Viranshahr, Sulaimaniyah, and Suj Bolaq (Mahabad) in July of 1843.