FOR INDEPENDENCE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12074, 27 February 1925, Page 8

FOR INDEPENDENCE

KURDISH TRIBESMEN REVOLT. TURKEY 'PERPLEXED. (Sydney “Sun” Cable.) CONSTANTINOPLE, February 25. Owing to the rapid extension of the Kurdistan revolt, the Government has proclaimed martial iaw in 13 Eastern provinces. Sheik Said’s rebels, mimbeing seven thousand, aim at the forming .of a Kurdish State and restoring the Khafifate. Government troops surrounded the rebels north-east of Diakbekir. The suddenness of the rising in difficult regions is perplexing the Government. A Turkish flotilla is bombarding the village of Haten, the home of Sheik Said, and causing indescribable panic and considerable damage. The Government accuses the Greeks of inciting the Kurdistan revolt. Sheik .Said declares his intention of proclaiming the ' son of the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid as King. The gendarmerie have joined the rebels, who now number 20,000.

Kurdistan is situated to the north of the Kingdom of Irak, in the upper waters of the Tyres' and Euphrates and their tributaries, in the eastern section of Turkey in Asia. The total population is estimated at about 2,500,000, including about 800,000 in Northern Persia. They are'excellent guerrilla fighters, and have fought against the Turks many times before for their independence. During the Great War the Kurds were on the whole friendly to Britain, and the expedition of Major Noel in 1919 revealed a general and genuine desire for separation from Turkey and independence.’ The Treaty of Sevres left the future status of Kurdistan to be determined by an Allied Commission, but the Treaty of Lausanne left the matter unsettled.