THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE MOSUL BOUNDARY Major H. I. Lloyd

Read at the Meeting of the Society, 8 March 1926. Folding map follows

p. 192.

「NTRODUCTION.-In the course of official duties I have visited most

parts of the Mosul area, and if geography includes general political, ethnical, and economic considerations, I may be able to justify the title of this paper.

The preliminary difficulty in its consideration is the definition of the term "Mosul." At the armistice in 1918 the British forces had advanced to a point north of Sharqat, which lies 60 miles south of Mosul; but a condition of the Armistice was that the Turks should evacuate all Mesopotamia, defined as the area contained in the three Turkish vilayats of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul. From this time onwards the British Government regarded as settled the future of these three Turkish provinces, and when it set up the new Kingdom of 'Iraq in 1921, no doubt ever occurred that the whole of the area comprised in these three Turkish provinces would form part of the 'Iraq State, but as no final treaty had been concluded with Turkey the frontier remained undefined. Administrative considerations had, as a matter of fact, made it desirable to enlarge the frontiers of 'Iraq so as to take in the Hakkiari country, then deserted, but which had formerly been the home of those Nestorian Christians who form the most reliable of the native levies of the country. In fact, a number of these Assyrians had been settled unofficially in some of their old homes on both banks of the Zab River between Amadia and Julamerk, where they remained until expelled by the Turks in September 1924.

At the Lausanne Conference a new and vigorous Turkey endeavoured, with success, to raise the whole question of the armistice settlement, and claimed that the whole province of Mosul should be restored to her. As will be seen from the map, and as is in fact well known to all who have travelled in that area, the province of Mosul is an integral part of 'Iraq, and its southern boundaries come very close to Baghdad itself. The problem of the 'Iraq boundary was regarded from different points of view by the British and Turkish Governments. The Turkish Government declared that the whole of the Mosul province was Turkish in blood and sentiment, and if not Turkish was at any rate not Arab. They declared that they would be satisfied with nothing less than the retrocession of the whole of the Mosul vilayat. The British Government regarded the function of the treaty to be the finding of a frontier between 'Iraq and Turkey. The Mosul vilayat, they claimed, was naturally, economically, and ethnographically part of 'Iraq. The question, as they visualized it, was, along what mountain range or river valleys can the most suitable defensive frontier be drawn; and how can the Nestorian Assyrians be enabled to reoccupy the homes which they had held for 2000 years until driven out in the course of the Great War? This problem the Conference at Lausanne decided to refer to the Council of the League of Nations for decision, should Great Britain and Turkey fail to have arrived at a decision within nine months of the ratification of the treaty at Lausanne. When Sir Percy Cox at Constantinople explained the British claim, the Turkish Government reiterated its demand for the whole of the Mosul province, and the conference broke down. Within a month the Turks invaded 'Iraq territory and expelled the remnant of the Nestorians who were occupying the Upper and Lower Tiari country. The dispute was referred to the Council of the League, who appointed a sub-Commission under the late Mr. Branting, who at Brussels in October 1924 laid down the status quo line. This line has been called the Brussels or Branting line. It followed with minor modifications the old boundary of the Mosul vilayat. In the latest Award of the Council of the League this Brussels line has been declared to be the northern frontier of 'Iraq.* It is not the best frontier; the line claimed by H.M. Government at Constantinople in 1924 and at Geneva in September 1925 is undoubtedly an ideal frontier consisting of ranges of high, almost impassable mountains. It would serve as a good defensive frontier for the weak Kingdom of 'Iraq, and would make for ease in administration, as the barrenness and difficulty of these mountain masses would effectually deter tribes on either side of the frontier from raiding across the line.

This area between the Khabur River and the Persian frontier is a mountain mass with summits over 10,000 feet high. The Great Zab cuts its path through it forming gorges with perpendicular sides, sometimes 5000 feet deep. Between the Khabur and the Zab the mountain chains run generally from west to east; beyond the Zab the direction of the mountain chain is no longer clear until the summit of Jelu is reached, whence the mountains definitely run from north-west to southeast. This mountain system is crossed by very few passes. Between Geramus and Deria-i-Zir Pass there is only one path, which the nomad Artoshis use when going up with their sheep to the summer pastures in the northern mountains; another road leads from Ashuta along the Lizan valley to the gorge of the Zab, and thence northwards to Lewin and Julamerk. This road is not much followed even by the nomads. The communication is only used between local villages; it is not a main highway. Another similar track followed by a section of the Artoshi nomads runs through the mountains of the Lower Tiari and Tkhuma to the east of the Zab and the district south of Julamerk. All the other roads are nothing more than mountain tracks used for local communication. To the east of the rivers Oramar, Rudbar-i-Shin, and Shemsdinan are confused mountain chains running back to the great wall formed by the summits of Jelu, Ser-i-Sati (Sat Dagh), and Chahr Chelli. No nomad route traverses this sector, and the few existing tracks pass through so wild and steep a country that they could not be used for the passage of flocks of sheep. From the Shemsdinan river to the Persian frontier is a mountainous region practically deserted, crossed by two roads onlyone leading from Kani Rash through the Zini-a-Berdi pass to Neri; and the other from Ruwandiz into Persia through the Gadir Pass, which touches the extreme eastern portion of the section. This is the frontier proposed by the British Government in the north-east of the disputed area; the frontier westward has never been in dispute.

The Western Boundary.-Between the Khabur and the Hazil, a small stream which could only serve as a conventional frontier, the country is mountainous and broken, but not impenetrable. West of the Hazil lie the low foothills of Faishkhabur, and beyond stretch the plains of the Northern Jazira. From Faishkhabur westward 'Iraq in theory is bounded by French Syria. The frontier follows the Tigris from its junction with the Khabur along the left bank until it reaches the Wadi Suwaidiya. The frontier follows this wadi until it reaches Tel Rumailan. The maps in this region were extremely inaccurate. The territory to the north of this line is part of Syria; therefore it is technically not Turkish; as a matter of fact, latterly it has been occupied by the Turks, but it is entirely deserted except for the nomad Shammar and other 'Iraqi tribes in spring and summer. South-west of Tel Rumailan is the Jabal Sinjar, where the Yezidi (Devil Worshippers) live. This area has belonged to either Baghdad or Mosul vilayat since the Turkish conquest, and as such was occupied by British forces after the armistice. In fixing a provisional boundary-line with the French it was decided to accept a line from Abu Kamal to Tel Rumailan. On the maps in use at the time such a line gave the whole of the Jabal Sinjar as far as Al Bidi and Khatuniya to 'Iraq. It is doubtful whether the new maps are very much more accurate than the old, but a line from Abu Kamal to Tel Rumailan would now cut Jabal Sinjar in two. It is unfortunate that the boundary question with Syria has not been settled, although the French have been very accommodating and have not pressed their full claim in practice. This area, apart from Jabal Sinjar itself, is typical North Mesopotamian steppe country. On both north and south of Jabal Sinjar stretch the plains which, apart from patches of winter cultivation, are desert, habited by nomad Arabs and across which are marched every year in the spring four or five hundred thousand sheep from Mosul to Syria. Along the Tigris, at its junction with the Wadi Suwaidiya, are a number of Kurdish nomad tribes who come down every winter from the high mountains north of the Brussels line.

Mosul. The League of Nations Frontier Commission describe the area as follows: Geologically the whole vilayat of Mosul belongs to

the mountain system which borders Iran on the south-west-a mountain system which is generally called by the collective name Zagros. It occupies a part of the south-western slopes of this chain, composed of Cretaceous rocks and particularly nummulitic calcareous formations and a part of their foothills, that characteristic gypsum formation which begins at Jazirat-ibn-Omar and extends probably as far as Baluchistan or even farther. This formation extends towards the west and the south-west, at any rate as far as the Euphrates, but here it is mostly covered by alluvia. The tectonic of the high mountains to the north of Mosul is very complicated: igneous rocks, serpentine, crystalline schists, up to the Eocene of the chains coming from the south-west. None of this has anything to do with the neogen plain of Mesopotamia formed by slightly undulating strata.

"The winter cold is intense, and throughout the mountainous parts of the country fairly abundant rains fall. It has also the common characteristics of 'Iraq, the great heat in summer, increased as is the case of the surrounding desert by the highly continental character of the country. The annual thermic range is Baghdad 24.3° C., Mosul 27-1° C., Diarbekir 31.8° C. The great extremes often produce a sudden and disastrous effect on vegetation. North of Kirkuk and Tekrit the date palm does not grow. The Mosul country with its semi-desert pastures on the west of the Tigris, with its better-watered and consequently more fertile clayey plains on the east, and the circle of hills and mountains surrounding it, is an area of transition, or combination of the climatic areas of the Zagros mountains, lower Mesopotamia, the SyroArabian desert, and the southern slopes of the Armenian Taurus-a district which even possesses certain of the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate. Its principal feature is the contrast between great aridity in summer and a clearly defined rain season in the late winter and spring."

The Mosul Province, particularly the town of Mosul, has been frequently visited and described by European travellers. The actual Brussels line has not been mapped properly, though it has been crossed at a number of points by British travellers, and a map, in view of all the circumstances reasonably accurate, has been compiled as a result of their information. As far as I am aware, no maps of this region have been prepared by the Turkish Government-in fact, they have always relied on British maps. The Branting, or Brussels, line was laid down according to the natural features as they appear on the Maunsell sheets as modified by the War Office.

The Boundary from the Tigris to the Upper Khabur. -The boundary is defined as follows: "From the junction of the River Tigris and the River Khabur, along the River Khabur in mid-stream, up to its junction with the river Hazil; in mid-stream, along the river Hazil to a point 3 kilometres upstream of the junction of that river with the side stream which passes by Sirmez. From this point in a direct line eastwards to the northern crest of the valley of the side stream which passes by Sirmez. The northern crest bordering this valley up to Mount Bilakish, and in a straight line from this point to the source of the tributary of the Baijo at Robozak. Along this tributary to its junction south of Robozak with a river coming down from point 6834 east-south-east of Robozak, then following a straight line to the hill north-north-east of point 6834. Along the small river in mid-stream which comes down in an easterly direction from this hill to its junction with the river Khabur. The river Khabur downstream for about a kilometre and a half to its junction with the river coming from the Arush and Geramus district."

This leaves to 'Iraq the range of hills south of Zakho, but cuts off from communication with Zakho the Slopi plain which belongs economically to it. Zakho lies at the foot of the famous pass and astride the Khabur. It is in the Gorge of Zakho that the Kurds, called in those days Karduchis, attacked Xenophon's Ten Thousand. A good motor road crosses the Zakho Pass, and it is possible for motors to go 2 or 3 miles towards Faishkhabur. Just above Zakho is the very old arched bridge, over which Fords can with difficulty cross and proceed as far as Bersivi; apart from that road all travelling on the frontier east of the Tigris has to be done on horse or mule. A road goes from Bersivi to Shiranis, where there is a coal-mine which was worked by the Germans. The coal is of very inferior quality, resembling an oil shale. From Shiranis the track follows the valley to Pirak, which is practically the last northern village on the frontier. From Pirak there are two routes eastward, either by Patruma, Demka, and Chalak, where the Turks crossed in 1924, or by Pirak to Shiranis, Bersivi, Banike, Demka. The weakness of the Brussels line as compared with the line claimed by Great Britain is that even in winter it is possible to move along all the better-known tracks, whereas the heights 10 to 15 miles north of the Brussels line are impenetrable during the winter and extremely difficult in summer.

This area is on the borders of the Goyan country and the Sindi Guli country. These tribes have sheltered from time immemorial large numbers of Christians. The Christians have been the serfs of their Kurdish leaders, who assigned to them the best villages and best-watered land, knowing that by their industry they would develop them to the full to the eventual benefit of their masters. Some of these villages have populations of over 1500, but the majority are small and mean. The main wealth of the peasantry lies in their flocks of sheep, but a certain amount of wheat and barley is grown and harvested in early summer, and where the water supply permits rice is grown in the summer. The hills are well wooded with stunted oak, and in every village walnut trees and mulberry trees are common, as well as the poplar, which is extensively grown for timber, Mosul and Baghdad drawing the bulk of their supplies of building timber from this area. The logs are either floated down the Khabur and Hazil to the Tigris at Faishkhabur, thence