I came across these excerpts from someone who posted them online and I thought they were interesting enough to share. These historical documents from 1933, sourced from the Qatar National Library, provide a chillingly clinical look at the "Assyrian Crisis" during the early years of the Kingdom of Iraq. They detail the diplomatic maneuvering surrounding the deportation of the Assyrian leadership and the aftermath of violent clashes.
Summary of Key Findings Regarding Assyrians
- Political De-nationalization: The Iraqi government formally deprived the Assyrian Patriarch, Mar Shimun, of his Iraqi nationality, effectively making him stateless before his forced exile.
- Leadership in Exile: The British and Iraqi governments coordinated the removal of the Assyrian leadership; Mar Shimun was sent to Cyprus, while Lady Surma and her party were moved to Cyprus via Palestine to prevent further "agitation" in Iraq.
- The "Assyrian Question": British officials explicitly discussed the "liquidation of the Assyrian question" and the "suppression of Assyrian disorders," treating the ethnic group as a problem to be solved or managed rather than a population with rights.
- Allegations of War Crimes: The documents acknowledge the "shooting of the Assyrian prisoners" and emphasize that the British must insist on a full examination and punishment of the offenders to maintain moral standing, though they doubted the Iraqi government’s willingness to cooperate.
- Financial Coercion: King Feisal offered an annual allowance of £600 for the maintenance of the Patriarchal family, strictly on the condition that the money not be used for "anti-Iraq propaganda" or international lobbying in Geneva.
- Assyrian Resistance and Fears: Internal reports describe the Iraqi government as "thoroughly frightened" by Assyrian figures like Yaku, while the Assyrians themselves felt "nervous and cowed" following attempts to disarm them.
- British Strategic Interests: The British priority was maintaining the stability of the Iraqi monarchy and the security of the Royal Air Force (RAF). They feared that mistreating the Assyrians too overtly might break the loyalty of the Assyrians serving in the "Air Defence Force" (the Assyrian Levies).
- Parliamentary Hostility: In the Iraqi Parliament, deputies questioned how the Assyrians obtained arms and viewed their presence—and British interest in them—with deep suspicion.
Reading these documents honestly left a heavy feeling in my chest. It’s sobering. You see, in plain language, how the fate of an entire ethnic and religious minority was reduced to a “problem” to be managed, “liquidated,” or conveniently “catered for.” It feels less like diplomacy and more like cold calculation. Purely transactional, with no regards for human rights, social cohesion, global relationships etc.
What really struck me is the imbalance of power. The same British government that once relied on Assyrian soldiers-the Levies-was now debating whether it would look “embarrassing” to detain a religious leader outright, or if it was cleaner to keep him in so-called “voluntary asylum,” essentially sidelined without a passport. Stripping Mar Shimun of his nationality wasn’t just administrative-it was strategic. It removed his voice and his standing on the international stage.
And the language… that’s what lingers. Phrases like “the teeth of the Assyrians had been drawn” don’t sound like the pursuit of peace. They sound like neutralization—like the goal was to blunt a people’s ability to advocate for themselves. You see a newly independent Iraqi state trying to assert authority through punishment, and a British Empire looking for a tidy exit, even if that meant abandoning former allies.
When you step back, it reads less like history on paper and more like a story of power, convenience, and a community caught in between.
