Slanders On Muslims In History

1924 Riot

Three years later, Nestorians rioted one more time and again, their supporters were the British deep state. The British deep state continued to use Nestorians as mercenaries against Turkey until the Mosul issue was resolved in its favor.⁴⁰⁷

Hakkari governor Halil Rıfat Bey, who was taken a prisoner in the beginning of the 1924 Nestorian riot and later released, said that he saw uniformed and armed British soldiers among Nestorians, and British planes flying over Hakkari (Çukurca) hills. Based on his observations, he said: 'There is no doubt that the British have been recently provoking these people against our government'.⁴⁰⁸

Halil Rıfat Bey was spot on with his analysis that the riot was backed by the British deep state. This fact is further verified in an article published by The Times during the same time. This article depicted the Turkish lands, planned to be taken for Nestorians, as the Assyrian State, and referring to the incident in Hakkari, used a threatening tone and said if the region were left to Turkey, more incidents would follow. In the same article, the Turkish land of Çölemerik (Hakkari) was called 'lands that belonged to no one yet'. Governor Halil Rıfat Bey, who went to investigate the area, was portrayed as a person that violated the region.⁴⁰⁹

Indeed, Turkey has declared on several occasions that the British had armed Nestorian tribes that staged attacks against Turkey.⁴¹⁰

In truth, the British deep state was planning to build autonomous Kurdish and Nestorian regions within Mosul vilayet, which according to its plan would later join the Arabic state that would be founded under the British mandate. This would give Britain the buffer zone that would protect its oil reserves in the Middle East and enable it to push the Kurdish and Nestorian regions northwards to expand its sphere of influence.⁴¹¹

Cafer Tayyar (Eğilmez) Pasha, the 7^th Corps Commander, was given the task of leading the military operation to suppress the Nestorian riot⁴¹² and the campaign started on September 11, 1924.⁴¹³ Kurdish tribes also supported the military campaign against Nestorians.⁴¹⁴

On the morning of September 14, a Turkish cavalry unit that passed the border between Hakkari and Mosul was bombed for three straight hours by three British planes that took off from Zakho. Forced to retreat, the Turkish units moved northwards.⁴¹⁵ However, when the British began to violate the Turkish land using Nestorians, Turkey sent a diplomatic note to the League of Nations on September 17, 1924, informing it of the violation of the Treaty of Lausanne.⁴¹⁶

The campaign reached a conclusion when the Turkish units reached the Hezil Suyu river line on October 11, 1924 and drove the rebels to the north of Iraq.