Earlier the outbreak of World War I 1914-1918, the Middle East was divided by all the conquering powers, especially Britain, France, Germany and Russia. Kurdistan as a rich part of the region had a special place among the leaders. Before the war, Britain, Russia, France and Germany tried to establish their foothold in the region and take over its wealth and make it a market and connect it to their own markets due to the presence of a lot of oil in this area.
Importance of the research: – The importance of this research is that it highlights the motives that made the British derive to Kurdistan in order to search for oil and find a great source of energy and economy and seize it for many years and use it in their own interests.
“The first theme; Kurdistan’s economic importance from the British perspective”
The British had long made great efforts to gather information in Ottoman territory through their missionaries and explorers such as Mark Sykes, Major Son and Rich. The British, above all, wanted to secure the whole of Mesopotamia as part of their vast empire in India, near the Ahvaz oil wells in south of Iran.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, East Indian men began to explore Kurdistan. In 1758, a doctor of this company went to Mardin via Kirkuk. And then some authorities of the company such as ((D. Campbell, T. Howell) explored over some Kurdistan areas. In 1820, Claudius James Rich, the company’s representative in Baghdad made a great trip to several parts of Kurdistan and one of the important results of this trip was to write a book about Kurds and Kurdistan. During his trip, Rich made contact with some famous Kurdish leaders. He drew maps of several regions of Kurdistan for the first time, especially in Sulaimani and Sanaa. He also described the social and economic life of Kurdistan at length in the book.
One of the steps that the British followed to enter Kurdistan and achieve its main goal was to obtain great economic benefits through oil extraction. They tried to take advantage of the ethnic and religious minorities and establish their foothold among them. The Christian religious school they opened in the village of Qojans, located in Hakkari, was supervised by the British consul.
“The second theme; Strategic Importance of Kurdistan from the British Perspective”
Kurdistan had a strategic and central location between Anadolia and the Caucasus, as well as between Iran and the Arab East, which had become the target of imperialist expansionism was in the creation of an independent Kurdistan. These countries helped the Kurdish movement only for their own interests, which did not benefit the Kurds. Sometimes they complicated the situation in Kurdistan and caused many disasters for the people. The British policy on the Kurdish issue before the war included a hostile policy. In the face of other occupying powers and each of these major states, he tried to gain support for the Kurds for his own purposes.
Result
- Kurdistan is an actual significant geographical and economic region, which has always made the neighboring occupying forces and imperialists try to reach this region and make it their headquarters to achieve their political and economic goals.
- Above all the occupying forces, the British have studied Kurdistan since ancient times through the arrival of their own people such as Rich, Rawlson and Dr. Campbell. They were able to obtain information so that they could reach the area and stay in Kurdistan for a long time to achieve their goals.
- The reason that prompted the British to come to Kurdistan was the abundance of oil in Kurdistan in many areas such as Kirkuk, Mosul, etc., which made the presence of oil and rich economic revenues of Kurdistan was the main reason for the British to come to Kurdistan.
- Apart from the economic aspect, the strategic aspect was another reason for the British to come to Kurdistan, because Kurdistan was a region that was like a center for other surrounding regions both in terms of trade and power could be used to control all surrounding areas.
