To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in disguise

by Ely Banister Soane

The pasha always kept on good terms with the chiefs of the great Jaf tribe, and kept a sufficient number of armed and able horsemen to secure peace within his own borders; and accordingly Sulaimania became one of the most important of all the border towns.

During the wars of the early part of this century, the place with Shahr-i-Zur, its adjoining district, became Persian, as it had anciently been; but it was recovered by the Turks, and by the treaty of 1847 remained in their possession.

About this time a great massacre of Christians all over southern Turkish Kurdistan had occurred, in this part originated by a member of the shaikh family. Following this, the power of the independent Kurdish chieftains became very much decreased, and the Turks succeeded in preventing the continuance of their sway, as we have seen.

SHAIKH SA’ID

From this point, where the healthy restraining influence of the Kurdish pashas over the priests ceased, the members of the family of Sulaimania shaikhs began to make for themselves a position so strong that governor and governed alike lived in awe of them.

So long as Sultan Abdul Aziz lived—till 1876—the comparatively good order of his rule kept the Shaikhs in subjection, and they contented themselves with gaining a reputation for sanctity, and acquiring lands and villages by purchase. Shaikh Sa’id, the leader of the family, succeeded in these aims so well that he gained possession of lands all round Sulaimania, and spread abroad the assertion that he possessed the power of divining, and the knowledge of the invisible and the future.[51] The former he possessed, certainly, by one of the most perfect systems of spies and communications. His prophecies were usually such as could be fulfilled by his secret agents with dagger and bullet. Not unnaturally his name became feared; such an exaggerated reverence being paid to him, that men would salute his horses.

Upon the death of Sultan Abdul Aziz, and after the accession of Sultan Abdul Hamid, this astute priest began the system of self-aggrandisement and enrichment that finally became the cause of his murder in 1909.

Seeing the Sultan corrupt and avaricious, and his entourage unusually sycophantic and treacherous, he made a journey—together with another famous priest, Shaikh Qadir—to Constantinople, and by a large present secured for himself and his family the Imperial favour. Also by his remarkable gift of plausibility, and by the aid of the religious obligation and law that he brought to support all his arguments, he became practically the religious adviser of Sultan Abdul Hamid. The final and triumphal stroke of genius was when Shaikh Sa’id, the Sultan, and Izzat Pasha—of evil memory—actually formed a ring for the exploitation of Sulaimania district, a combination whereby the trio became enriched. Izzat Pasha guaranteed to supply inefficient and corrupted officers for the local government, the Sultan would reap a yearly income besides taxes, and Shaikh Sa’id, without being in any way responsible officially for the situation in Sulaimania, was free to crush the people and squeeze the province till there remained but himself and his family, enormously enriched, contemplating the exhausted and ruined town and country.

At the moment of Sultan Abdul Hamid’s accession, Sulaimania was probably more important than it has ever been, before or since. It had become a market for the produce of all southern Kurdistan. The carpets of the country came here for sale, to be taken to Mosul and Bagdad. Gum tragacanth from Bana began to be sold here in preference to Sina, and a large number of Chaldeans of Mosul carried on an extensive and profitable business in the cotton cloths of Aleppo and the fabrics of Europe, which they sold in Sulaimania and exported even as far as Hamadan of western Persia; certain crafts found a place in the extensive bazaars, notably shoe- and saddle-making, and the manufacture of daggers and rifles. The begs and pashas of the Jaf tribe built caravanserais and bazaars, and entered into relations with Sulaimania merchants whereby all the produce of their large tribe—skins, wool, tobacco, and butter—passed through this market. The Bagdad caravan left and arrived every fortnight, and to and from Mosul at the same intervals. Frequent caravans, too, served Bana, Merivan, Sina, and Sauj Bulaq. The governorship was raised to that of Mutasarrif, and nominally a larger garrison was stationed at the place.

I was told that in 1880 there were fifty Mosul Chaldeans and twenty Hamadan Persian merchants established there. These last were so important a part of the commercial population as to occupy a special caravanserai, to which the name of Khan-i-Ajam (“The Persians’ Caravanserai,”) was given, a name it has retained to-day though not a single Persian remains in Sulaimania. The trade—exclusive of local supply business—was estimated at over half a million liras annually; a total it never reaches now, when the highest figure is supposed to be four hundred thousand liras on a good year, and that decreasing.