PLOT DISCOVERED IN IRAQ

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 15 September 1937, Page 9

PLOT DISCOVERED IN IRAQ

* Scheme to Depose King Ghazi ALLEGED ASSISTANCE BY GERMANS (CMTED L'KLSS ASSOCIATION —COrVUIGIIT.) (Received September 14, 10.30 a.m.) BAGDAD, September 13. A plot to drive out King Ghazi of Iraq and establish a republic under a Kurdish dictatorship with German aid has been discovered. Incriminating documents are alleged to have been found at the home of General Bekir Sidky, Chief of the Iraq General Staff, who was assassinated on September 12. A former Cabinet chief is alleged to be among those arrested. General Sidky. and Ali Jowad, head of the Iraq Air Force, were assassinated at Mosul on August 12 when on their way to attend Turkish military manoeuvres. Sidky was shot down by a soldier, and Jowad was killed when trying to save Sidky. The assailant was arrested. Sidky, who carried out a military revolution, was a Kurd. When in 1932 Britain made Iraq an independent State by giving up her League mandate, he became one of the most active and ambitious officers in the army. He belonged to the Shia sect of Moslems, and h°ld that the Government of Iraq showed too much favour to the Sunnites. the r.val sect. On the night of October 29, 1936. military aeroplanes flew over Bagdad, the capital, dropping leaflet? signed by Sidky wnich declared that, if the Government did not instantly resign, they would return and bomb the city. Within two hours the machines reappeared and dropped bombs, causing 40 casualties. The Premier, Yasin Pasha, and his Cabinet, at once presented their resignations to King Ghazi and sent out Jaafar Pasha, the Defence Minister. who had b°sn Minister in London, to I parley with the general. On the way Jaafar was shot dead. Mcanwhi'c, Sidky's troops were marching into the city ( and taking possession of all Government buildings. King Ghazi shortly afterwards apDointed a new Cabinet under Seyyid Hikmat Sulaiman, since resigned.