The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1925-11-04

OSUL lraq Tor MeS0pOtamis
'p MI near which thousands
10 Nv Il Turkish troops have be-
ID massed-supposedly to ma
ID more potent Turkeys objection
Sc any decision by the League Of N
J. tons against her claim to the region
has been a storm center ever since IL
close of the World war. The vilayet
province Of Mosul was part of Tu
, key, as were the vilayets Of Bagda
and Basra. which without question al
now included in the new state of Irat
I But the Turks have been unwilling t
have all Of the province of Mosu
: carved from their old territory, an
they have been particularly insisten
that no land north Of the old Mosu
line be included.
The dispute as to the sovereignty O.
territory near Mosul has been sup
posedly between Turkey and Iraq, but
in reality it has been between Turkey
and Great Britain, which holds man.
date over Iraq from the League OF
Nations. The British have taken little
part in the government of the new
state, but they consider the latter un-
der their protection and have pushed
Its claims as well as their own In the
transactions before the league looking
to decision on permanent boundary.
In December, 1924, the council of the
league established provisional bound
airy which both claimants were to re-
spect. Later the leagues commission
ers went personally to the disputed
territory to gather information on
which to base permanent decision.
1t was the recent charge by Great
Britain that the temporary boundary
had been violated by the Turks that
brought matters to head.
The presence of petroleum in the
Mosul region has always been factor
In the diplomatic moves, but it has
been religious questions that have
often caused actual conflicts In the
neighborhood. The unruly Kurds have
been third factor In the complex stu
alton.
photographic maps show that the re-
gion OF the oil fields, except for
scattering Of Chaldeans around Mosul
city, is solidly settled by Kurds 1t is
their country, and though the Kurds
10 not appear at the conferences In
european health resorts, where the
maps are made, they are always on
he spot and ready to fight for their
country when an invasion starts.
In the past the Turks held only the
oosest control over these fierce fight ,
rs. When the new rulers came TO :
AXE possession of what was their on
he map, the Kurds fought back. r
Desultory fighting has been going on o
nee 1870. Nominally, the fields are :
Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians T
re not much interested In oil and less :,
lterested in fighting with the Kurds :,
II OF the fighting on their side. osten- :,
bly, for the integrity of this new q,
esopotamia. has been by the British -
r force. IL
HISTORIANS the Sufferers. -
But whether the surface fighting or NJ
arauding has been by Turks or W
lrds the now wholly innocuous Mes is
Ran Christians have been the chief of
Herers. The boundary decision. in fin
lentally. may mean life or death to
sse people, who until the World war
q held on to their mountain fast- =,
sses north of Mosul-and to their lio
nineteen centuries. To,
n the days Of Marco Polo and for is
ne centuries previous, the Assyrian lip
HISTORIAN Christians represented bal
'hty church spread throughout As,a tbe
mother church was very strong in an,
sopotamta and Persia, and thriving frs
slons and communities of converts ron
sled In Tartary, Siberia, Mongolia. fro
ma and India. Twenty-Five or moro tbo
loprics are listed in the church rec nat
OF that age. Over this strong Tn,
istian church ruled the Patriarch STR,
the East" with his see In Meso. ASS
mia. s
lille most other divisions of Chris. duc
lty have grown stronger and strony. IT
mere is the unusual situation NJ n,,,s
81, H. ii''laii cnurch which fror
all but disappeared. The Western non
a mas decided to call these Chris suc1
HISTORIANS" They prefer 70 ha aho,
Vn as "Assyrian Christians" There CHI,
Ill further confusion of names nsns
group Of the Assyrians who have Of
pted the tenets and government Of wa y
toman Catholic church are termed Sim,
idean Christians" In support of A,
objection to HISTORIAN" the A. ,h'
ms explain that the famous Noe Coo,
:, patriarch of Constantinople in Isra.
who was accommodated on De-
e OF heresy, followed them rather that
they Nestorius. H.. :.
A cnorcn 10 and