| Chapter 13: | The End of the Kurdish Wars |
|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
Meanwhile Bedr Khan dispatched his secretary Osman Pasha and Shaikh Yousif to Mosul to offer the pasha conditions for solving the crisis that practically amounted to surrender. The envoys were also anxious to know the real intentions of the Porte towards their master. Rassam communicated to Asaad Pasha and both Kurdish envoys the ambassador’s wish to settle the issue peacefully, which required Bedr Khan to surrender himself to the Turkish army with guarantees to save his life and property. Rassam, however, believed that neither side would meet the ambassador’s request. The two Kurdish envoys were unwilling to convey the message to their master, and after discharging them, the pasha informed Rassam that he had no instructions from the Porte on the subject; all that he had received were orders to prepare a certain number of men and provisions to be ready at short notice.
Consequently Rassam wrote to Bedr Khan, informing him that the Porte intended to subdue him by force if he did not surrender. He urged him to listen carefully to the ambassador’s advice and not refuse the Porte’s offer of clemency. Furthermore, he advised him that he had no hope of any resistance and would not be able to counter the huge army that would shortly advance against him. In conclusion, he warned him once again that if he lost this opportunity, he would not get the same favourable conditions later.29
19 May 1847
Rassam’s envoy reported from al Jazirah that Bedr Khan was anxious to know the intentions of the Turkish government. If he went to Constantinople, he feared the British ambassador, who might raise the issue of the Nestorians with the sultan’s government. Another deterrent was the continual arrival of messages from his supporters in Mosul and Diarbekir advising him not to listen to the British ambassador or his consul at Mosul. He thought that if he surrendered himself, he would meet his end, and if he were captured in the fight, he would have the same fate.
While the envoy was in Bedr Khan’s quarters, information arrived that the Turkish commander-in-chief with several of his military commanders had arrived in Diarbekir.