The Nestorians and their Rituals/Volume 1/Chapter 23

by George Percy Badger

 

 

CHAPTER XXIII.

 

Narrative of Nestorian affairs continued.—-Amount of property plundered by the Coords from the Tyari Christians.—Results of Commission appointed to inquire into the massacre of the Nestorians.—Mar Shimoon escapes from Mosul and is recaptured.—Massacre of Nestorians in Tehoma.—Turkish policy.—Bedr Khan Beg murders another Jacobite Bishop.—Warlike preparations against the confederate Coordish chiefs.—Engagements between the Turks and Coords, and the subjection of the latter.—Mar Shimoon flees into Persia.—Exile of Coordish Emeers.—Establishment of Ottoman rule over central Coordistan.

 

I shall now continue my narrative of the Nestorian affairs from Chapter XVIII., where it was broken off. Kemal Effendi, the Turkish Commissioner, and his colleague, Mr. R. Stevens, had been at Mosul for nearly three months previous to our departure, and nothing further had been done in behalf of the Nestorians, than the redemption of a few captives. The Coords still garrisoned Tyari and Dez, and continued to harass and persecute the Nestorians with as much severity as ever. The feeble expostulations of the Porte, if even these were sincerely offered, had no effect whatever in curbing the tyranny of the Emeers, who kept possession of their ill-gotten booty, and dared to proceed to yet greater lengths in their oppression of the mountain Christians. There were now several hundreds of these unfortunate people in Mosul and the surrounding villages, who could not return to their homes for fear of the Coords, and who were dependent upon the charity of strangers for the supply of their daily wants. The Commission wishing to have some estimate of the property plundered from the Nestorians, I was requested by Mar Shimoon to assist in drawing up the following schedule, to be presented to the Turkish government.

Places.		Sheep.	Oxen.	Muskets.	Church and house property in Tcerkhies.[1]	Remarks.
Four villages of Walto	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	9000	1000	400	15000	a Besides the property of Sheeno the head of this village, valued at 5000 Tcerkhies. b Besides 16 mules belonging to this village, as also the property of Melek Ismaeel, valued at 100,000 Tc.; and that of the chief Auraham at 7,000; and that of Samano at 4,000. c Besides the property of Khiyyo, valued at 50,000 Tc.; also the property of Audishu, valued at 5,000 Tc. d Also the property of Melek Deelo, and of the chief Zarwanda, valued severally at 4,000 and 2,000 Tc. e Also the property of Sulmo and Shimmon valued at 7000 Tc. f Besides the property of Meleks Barkho, Chicco, Hasaddo, and of the priest Jindo, valued at 8,500 Tcerkhies.
Ishté d'Nahra		5000	100	150	8000
Beth Mariggoa		1800	50	60	9500
Mabbuaa		1500	35	64	4000
Dâdosh		4500	120	150	14000
Ko		3500	90	70	5500
Chambab		8000	100	200	30600
Kalayâtha		3000	80	160	16100
Athra d'Roomtac		8000	180	400	22000
Siadhòr		1000	30	53	3500
Serspeedho		3000	150	160	8000
Asheetha		20000	1500	500	31500
Zaweetha		3000	500	160	13500
Minyânish		2500	400	140	15500
Five villages of Lagippad	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	18000	200	550	27000
Mâtha d'Kasra	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	16000	220	560	30000
Leezane
Zerni
Beth Rawolé		120	100	200	10000
Salabeken and	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	330	260	600	31500
Be-Alâthaf

Besides the property of Mar Shimoon, valued at 50,000 Tcerkhies.

Not one church has been left standing in either of these two districts, and scarcely a house in the above mentioned villages. All the chiefs of Tyari were killed in the massacre, besides 3,000 laymen, thirty priests, and sixty deacons. Mar Shimoon's brother Kâsha Sadok, his nephew Jesse, his mother, and many of his retainers.

After the attack upon Tyari, Noorallah Beg exacted from the mountain Nestorians the following sums:

From the province of Jelu	30,000	Tcerkhies
From the„ province of„ Bâz	15,000	do.
From the„ province of„ Tehoma	10,000	do.

After our departure, Mar Shimoon continued to correspond with me on the state of his affairs. A fresh trouble vexed him about this time, occasioned by the proceedings of the American Independent Missionaries at Ooroomiah, who had printed a number of tracts contrary to the doctrines of the Nestorians, one of which against Baptismal regeneration, was put into his hands before we left Mosul. The Patriarch thus expressed his sentiments on this subject in a letter which I received before leaving Constantinople: "We would further make you acquainted with what has just happened at Ooroomiah among the Americans who are residing there. A serious quarrel has taken place between the Bishops and the citizens on the one side, and the Americans on the other, on account of the improper conduct of the latter in the said town. This led to a council of the zealous and true shepherds with their rational sheep, and they closed up and disbanded the vain schools which the Americans had established at Ooroomiah. We have moreover written to them a letter under our seal, that the schools remain closed, and that the Americans be sent from thence." He then goes on to beg, that the Church of England should send missionaries to undertake the education of his people in Ooroomiah, expressing his anxiety lest the Romanists should enter into his flock and lead many over to the errors of the Papacy. Nearly about the same time, the two American missionaries at Mosul requested permission of Mar Shimoon to open schools in the mountains, which he refused. The Americans abandoned Mosul shortly after.

With regard to the Commissioners appointed to examine into the sufferings of the Nestorians, Mar Shimoon complained bitterly of their inattention to the interests of his people. Nothing further had been effected in their behalf up to the month of July, 1844, when Kemal Effendi proceeded to Baghdad, where he was joined shortly after by Mr. R. Stevens, who remained there for six months, acting as British Consul during the temporary absence of Major Rawlinson. His letter on this subject contains some startling disclosures, which I shall suppress for the present, and merely give the following quotation: "There are still forty captives in the possession of Bedr Khan Beg, which the Commissioners have knowingly left there. … Neither has Bedr Khan Beg, up to the present time removed his Mutsellim from Asheetha, and the people of Tyari are scattered about here and there, for the Coords will not allow them to live in their homes in peace. A young child also was brought hither among the captives from Diarbekir, the only child of his mother, and she is a widow; this child has been taken by Kemal Effendi, who has made him a Mussulman, instead of returning him to his afflicted parents, who vainly wept for many nights and days by the shade of … and Kemal Effendi, that she might regain her son. This child is not more than three years old, and can know neither the Saviour nor Mohammed." In March, 1845, the Commission was recalled, not one whit of the plundered property had been restored, the Coords still kept possession of the Tyari, the Nestorians continued to be wanderers, and the Patriarch, though anxious to leave, and most unjustly blamed for his desire to join his people in Persia, was detained in virtual imprisonment at Mosul. For my own part, I am fully convinced that the Turks, sensible of their own weakness, had all along abstained from seriously remonstrating against the proceedings of Bedr Khan Beg, and that being anxious to extend their rule throughout central Coordistan, they regarded with secret complacency, the late dissensions among the Coords and Nestorians,—dissensions which their own policy had fomented,—foreseeing that these would lead eventually to the weakening of the mountain tribes, and pave the way to the establishment of the Sultan's authority where as yet it was recognised only in name. In order to give a colouring of sincerity to their professions of sympathy for the Nestorians, as well as to get rid of the importunity of the foreign ambassadors, who had espoused their cause, a Commissioner was sent out to inquire into the origin and consequences of the late disasters; but it is clear from the after proceedings of this functionary, that he was instructed what line of policy to pursue. The reports of the Commission, so far as they are known, imputed to the Nestorians the blame of having instigated the massacre, and in proportion as this decision tended to exculpate the Coordish Emeers, in that degree did it seem to warrant the cowardly leniency of the Turks towards them. The whole history of this affair is a sad specimen of the shameful intrigue, and base expediency of the Ottoman government.

Matters remained in this state till the month of September, 1846, when Bedr Khan Beg threatened the district of Tehoma, to the east of the Tyari, with a new massacre, declaring that in this attack he would spare neither men, women, nor children. In the mean time every species of exaction was practised upon the vanquished Nestorians, and no effect whatever was made on the part of the government to restrain the tyranny of the barbarous Coords. The Porte has promised that in compensation for their losses, the Nestorians should be exempted from taxation for a certain length of time; notwithstanding this assurance Bedr Khan Beg had levied the annual capitation tax from them twice, and Noorallah Beg once during the current year. Tired and wearied out with the fruitless negotiations made in behalf of his people, Mar Shimoon requested permission of Tayar Pasha of Mosul to proceed to the Berwari, but was refused on the ground that the country was not yet sufficiently settled to allow him to reside there in safety. He had now been a refugee for upwards of three years, and his diocese, as may be imagined, was in the greatest confusion: many of the villages were destitute of clergy, the churches had been defiled and could not be used for Divine Service until they had been re-consecrated by the Patriarch, and his flock were importuning him to return to put in order the things that remained. Added to this nothing had been effected towards his restoration, nothing in behalf of the Nestcrians beyond the release of a great part of the captives, and he saw no prospect that any good could be effected by his continuing any longer separated from his people. Writing to me of his affairs, he said: "It is our intention to leave and seek an asylum wherever peace is to be found; for it is far better for us to be there and take charge of our Church in a cave of the earth, or even in a cell, until the time of our death." His forcible detention at Mosul appears to have affected his mind as well as his body, and he gave himself up to the deepest melancholy. In the month of October, however, he secretly effected his escape, with the intention of proceeding immediately to Tehoma; but on hearing that the Coordish forces had already invaded that district, he retired to Amedia, where he was recaptured and brought back to Mosul under a military escort. The Pasha, who is still spoken of by the natives as a benevolent man, and who seemed to sympathize with the venerable Christian Bishop in his troubles, received him kindly, and readily overlooked this act of disobedience.

The intelligence that the Coords had actually invaded Tehoma was too true. In the month of October the united forces of Bedr Khan Beg and Noorallah Beg entered that district, and committed ravages too horrible to be related. On my visit to Mar Shimoon in 1850, he gave me the following details of this fresh massacre. It appears that when they were apprised of the meditated attack, the people of Tehoma applied to the Pasha of Mosul for protection; but all that he attempted was to send an expostulatory message to Bedr Khan Beg: that proud chief treated it with the greatest indifference, telling him at the same time that he had no right to meddle in his affairs. The Nestorians then accepted the offer of the Agha of Tcal to protect their women and children pending the expected affray, which being accepted, they were all sent to him under an escort; but the traitor having apprised Ziner Beg of their coming, the latter waylaid the party, and three hundred women and as many children were brutally put to the sword in one indiscriminate slaughter; only two girls who were left for dead on the field escaped to relate the sad tale of this horrible tragedy.

The Coords then attacked the men, who had taken up a most disadvantageous position in a valley, where they were soon surrounded by their enemies, and after fighting bravely for two hours gave up the contest. Numbers were killed in attempting to escape, and as many as one hundred prisoners, mostly women and children, were afterwards taken from the houses, which were then fired by the Coords, as were the trees and other cultivation in the neighbourhood. These unfortunate victims were then brought before Noorallah Beg and the lieutenant governor of Jezeerah, as they sat near one of the churches, and heard their doom pronounced by those blood-thirsty barbarians: "Make an end of them," said they; "the English Consul at Mosul cannot release them from the grave." A few of the girls, remarkable for their beauty, were spared, the rest were immediately seized and put to death. During this invasion about five hundred Nestorians were murdered, all the villages of Tehoma were destroyed, the churches were razed, the rituals were burned, and the few remaining villagers crossed the frontier and sought safety and support among their brethren in Persia.

After this new outrage the Porte was strongly sued by the foreign representatives, and especially by the Hon. H. Wellesley, the then British Chargé d'Affaires, to put an end to the power of the Coordish Emeers, and Nazim Effendi was sent out as special commissioner to propose that Bedr Khan Beg should go to the capital. There is ground for believing that the expostulations of the Allied Powers were on this occasion backed with something resembling a threat, otherwise I doubt whether the Turks would even then have proceeded to take the steps they did. Had a similar tone been assumed when the first massacre occurred, the annals of humanity would not have been disgraced with such outrages as were suffered to be perpetrated with impunity upon the Nestorian Christians for four successive years; the courts of Europe have bearded the Turks for acts of infinitely less importance, ay, and that too when, diplomatically speaking, the matter in question involved as great an interference with the internal administration of this infidel semi-barbarous government as a zealous protection of the lives and property of the mountain Christians would have been. But even up to this point the Turks seem to have been desirous of avoiding any coercive measures, and would gladly have found an excuse for not employing them. Nazim Effendi espoused the cause of Bedr Khan Beg, and publicly defended the aggressions of the Coords as a just punishment of the Nestorians for having murdered a whole village of Mohammedans,—a base fabrication similar to that which was got up to vindicate the massacre of 1843. But if the Porte hoped to effect by treachery (such as they had practised towards the Coordish Pasha of Rawandooz, whom they directed to be poisoned after they had invested him with authority over his native province,) what they feared to attempt by force, the refusal of Bedr Khan Beg to go to the capital unless the Turkish government acceded to certain conditions of his own propounding balked their pusillanimous policy. In the meantime this indomitable chieftain continued his persecution of the Christians with unabated vigour, and about this junction ordered Mutran Gheorghees, one of the Jacobite Bishops of Jebel Toor, and two priests who had accompanied him to Jezeerah to complain of the exactions of their Coordish neighbours, to be severely beaten and cast into prison. The aged Bishop, who is still remembered with affection by his mountain flock, died in the dungeon from the effects of the brutal treatment which he had received, and his body was thrown out to the Christians with this inhuman speech: "Give it the burial of a dog."

The Turks being now deprived of their last subterfuge were finally driven to meditate an attack upon the confederate Coordish Emeers, who on their part prepared to offer an obstinate resistance. Detachments of troops were ordered from Kharpoot and Urfah, the Pasha of Diarbekir garrisoned Radhwân, one of his frontier towns bordering on Buhtân, the Pasha of Erzeroom took similar precautions on the north, and the Pasha of Mosul collected a strong force to co-operate, if necessary, with the military tactics of the commander-in-chief. Other proposals were now made to Bedr Khan Beg to go to the capital, and at one time it was thought that he would have consented; but the Coords stoutly opposed the measure, and declared that they would die rather than lose their chief. The warlike preparations of the Turks, however, had a powerful effect upon some of the Emeers, and one named Ardesheer Beg made his escape to Mosul, leaving his brothers in command of two strong fortresses, which formed a part of his hereditary possessions in Bubtân. The numerous retainers of these chiefs sided with them in their defection, and thus considerably weakened Bedr Khan Beg's confederates, who nevertheless were still determined to test the strength of their antagonists. The first skirmish between the two opposing parties took place near Jezeerah, and a few of the combatants were killed on both sides. The Coords then attacked the enemy's camp by night, and committed great havoc among the Turks, but the latter rallying in time charged the assailants, entirely routed them, and forthwith proceeded to invest Deir Gooli, Bedr Khan Beg's stronghold, which surrendered at discretion. The Emeer himself was engaged in the attack upon the Turkish camp, and fled from the field accompanied by a troop of his irregular horse. The next engagement took place a little below Sert, where Ziner Beg and Khan Mahmood of Van fell upon the Erzeroom division, but were repulsed with great loss, and many were driven into the river and either shot or drowned in attempting to escape. The Coords are said to have fought bravely, but the advantage of numbers, arms, and ammunition, was on the side of their antagonists. When they had no other resource they rushed upon the Turks with their short daggers, and seldom or never asked for quarter.

These defeats were soon followed by the submission of several Coordish tribes, and Noorallah Beg, on receiving a promise that his life should be spared, surrendered himself to the Turkish general. Bedr Khan Beg shortly followed his example, and the war was at an end. It is stated that while a prisoner in the enemy's camp the Emeer dressed himself in the Nizam costume, and wore on his breast the decoration which he had formerly received from the Sultan. Osman Pasha on perceiving this ordered him immediately to put on his Coordish clothes, and not to disgrace the sovereign's uniform. Some time after this occurrence all the rebel chiefs were led through the streets of Jezeerah, chained and mounted on horses, previous to their being taken to Constantinople; and it is some little consolation to know, that little fear need be entertained of their being let loose from their ignominious exile,—Bedr Khan Beg in Candia, and the other notorious abettors of his tyranny in other parts of western Turkey,—again to persecute and destroy the Christians of central Coordistan.

Just after the defeat of the Coords Mar Shimoon effected his escape a second time from the Nestorian village of Shermen, whither he had gone for a change of air. The death of his favourite sister at Mosul, and the intelligence which had reached him of the decease of another of his brothers, together with the long train of misfortunes and disappointments which had fallen to his lot during his exile from home, preyed upon his mind, and almost drove him to madness. Added to all this he had nothing to hope for from the Turks, nor could he tell when they would choose to set him free, so he took advantage of the opportunity which the permission to visit the villages near Mosul afforded him, and fled into Persia to his Church and people. The Coordish power being effectually broken, the Porte annexed the Tyari and Hakkari country to the pashalic of Diarbekir, and committed it to the jurisdiction of Asaad Pasha, its present governor. Bash Kala, Julamerk, and a few other places were garrisoned by the Sultan's troops, and Turkish Mutsellims were appointed to administer justice in other parts of the mountains. As soon as tranquillity was restored Mar Shimoon returned to his home at Kochânes, after an absence of five years; no compensation had been made to the Nestorians for their losses, the Patriarch was not officially recognised by the Porte, and he continues to exercise his spiritual jurisdiction with no other sanction than the love and ready obedience of his impoverished adherents.

 

1. A Tcherkhi is about ten pence sterling.