Bakr Sidqi
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2011) |
Bakr Sidqi | |
---|---|
Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq | |
Buried | |
Allegiance |
|
Service/ | General |
Battles/wars |
|
Bakr Sidqi al-Askari (
.Early life
Bakr Sidqi was born to Kurdish family either in ‘Askar,[4] a Kurdish village, or in Kirkuk.[5]
Military career
Having studied at the Military College in Istanbul and graduated as a second lieutenant, he fought in the
In August 1933, Sidqi ordered the
The British praised him in 1934 as "the best commander in the Iraqi army and the most efficient one". In 1935, he cracked down on the Shia Arab
According to Malik Mufti, he systematically promoted Kurds and
Simele massacre
In 1933, the
In June 1933, the young
In early August 1933, more than 1,000 unarmed Assyrians who had been refused asylum in Syria crossed the border to return to their villages in Northern Iraq. The French, who controlled Syria, notified the Iraqis that the Assyrians were not armed. However, while the Iraqi soldiers were disarming those whose arms had been returned by the French, shots were fired. It is unclear who fired first. The Royal Iraqi Army was defeated, and 30 Iraqi soldiers were killed. Anti-Assyrian xenophobia, apparent throughout the crisis, increased.
When news of the confrontation reached Baghdad, the government feared disaster in the unity of their armed forces. The government used irregular Kurds, who killed more than 1,280 unarmed Assyrians in two Assyrian villages in the week of 2 August, with most of the massacre occurring on 7 August). Then, on 11 August, Sidqi led a heavily armed force to what was then one of the most heavily inhabited Assyrian district in Iraq, the Simele District.
The Assyrian population of the district of Simele was indiscriminately massacred. In one room alone, 81 Assyrians of the Baz tribe were massacred. Religious leaders were prime targets; eight Assyrian priests were killed during the massacre, including one beheaded and another burned alive. Girls and women were raped and made to march naked before the Iraqi army commanders while the British IRF airplane took pictures that would be used later against the Iraqi government.
Back in Dohuk, 880 unarmed Assyrian civilians were murdered by Sidqi's men. In the end, around 71 Assyrian villages were targeted in the
The Simele massacre inspired Raphael Lemkin to create the concept of Genocide. In 1933, Lemkin made a presentation to the Legal Council of the League of Nations conference on international criminal law in Madrid, for which he prepared an essay on the Crime of Barbarity as a crime against international law. The concept of the crime, which later evolved into the idea of genocide, was based mostly on the Simele massacre.[14] The Assyrians were living among their "hereditary enemies" the Kurds in Iraq, and it was "at the hand of the Kurds that they suffered most of the loss of life which Raphael Lemkin was to assess as genocide".[15][16][17]
1935 Rumaytha and Diwaniyya revolts
Coup d'état
In 1936, during the reign of Faisal's ineffectual son,
The leaflets were signed by Sidqi himself, as the "Commander of the National Forces of Reform".
Immediately, the King discounted any notion of a revolutionary movement, but there were reports of some bombing in Serai and the advance of troops towards Baghdad. With the exception of Nuri al-Said, all those present in the palace agreed to comply with the demands of General Bakr Sidqi and allow Hikmat Sulayman to step into power. As a result, Yasin al-Hashimi resigned.[20]
According to Khodduri, Ambassador Kerr suggested for Hikmat to be invited to the meeting. Coincidentally, Sulayman arrived at the palace to deliver the letter, written by Sidqi and Latif Nuri, to the King explaining the implications of the coup.
Jafar al-Askari, who was Minister of Defence during the coup and had served twice as the Prime Minister of Iraq prior to Yasin al-Hashimi, sought out to deter Sidqi from his plans by attempting to distract the two battalions from advancing towards Baghdad. In addition, he tried to appeal to those officers who still regarded him as instrumental in the formation of the Royal Iraqi Army. Cautious of any dissention as a result of al-Askari's actions, Sidqi sent two of his men, Akram Mustapha, member of the air force, and Ismail Tohalla, who had participated in the Simele massacre, to assassinate him.
The death of al-Askari was widely viewed as challenge to the old government and highlighted Sidqi's quest in ultimately gaining control of the country by first taking over the army. As a result, Nuri al Sa'id was exiled to Cairo, and Yasin al-Hashimi was exiled to Istanbul. However, the coup provoked "anti-Kurdish feelings among Arab nationalists".[21]
Despite the obvious overthrow, Sidqi found it necessary to enter Baghdad with the army and parade with the citizens. According to Khodduri, some felt that it was a move to dissuade any last-minute resistance, and others felt that Sidqi wanted to prove himself with the parade and be applauded for bringing in a new regime for Iraq.
As a result of the coup, Yasin stepped down, insisting that the King write a formal letter accepting his resignation. Sulayman became Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, but, after overthrowing the government, it was Sidqi, who as commander of the armed forces, essentially ruled Iraq. Some other members of the new cabinet included Abu al-Timman, Minister of Finance, Kamil al-Chadirchi, Minister of Economics and Public Works, Abd al-Latif, Minister of Defence, and Yusuf Izz ad-Din Ibrahim as Minister of Education. It is important to note that although General Sidqi was instrumental in the formation of the coup, he did not want a cabinet position and remained Chief of the General Staff.
However, the murder of al-Askari created strong feelings, especially among Iraqi forces, against the new government, and Sulayman's cabinet lasted under ten months until Sidqi was assassinated. As a result, Sulayman resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Jamil al-Midfai.
Sidqi was recognised as one of the most brilliant officers in the Royal Iraqi Army, known for his intelligence, ambition, and self-confidence. He also believed the army was needed to bring about reform and achieve order, a stance he shared with Atatürk and
See also
Notes
- ^ "The National Archives of the UK, FO 406/76, p. 87" (PDF). 1938. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0, p. 289.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-3084-5, p. 35.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-4330-1, p. 224.
- ISBN 978-0-7146-4550-6, p. 86.
- ^ Sovereign Creations: Pan-Arabism and Political Order in Syria and Iraq By Malik Mufti. 33–34
- ISBN 978-0-9513174-0-2.
- ^ "THE SIMELE MASSACRE AS A CAUSE OF IRAQI NATIONALISM: HOW AN ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE CREATED IRAQI MARTIAL NATIONALISM". Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ISBN 9781134430192.
- ISBN 9781845111151.
- ^ Stafford (2006), p. a62.
- ^ Stafford (2006), p. 162.
- ^ "There was reported a renewed assault upon Assyrian villages by the Kurds, and in mid-August British sources claimed some 500 Assyrians had been killed, 200 of whom were claimed to be women and children not involved in the fighting. The British government of Ramsay MacDonald was reported to be 'profoundly disturbed,'... the British were once more reported to be in a state of great agitation over a homeland for their 'ex-allies,' and unhappy at what was happening to them at the hands of both the Iraqi armed forces, and the Kurds, who were now assessed to have 'butchered them by the hundreds.'" The Man Who Invented Genocide: The Public Career and Consequences of Raphael Lemkin, James Martin, Institute for Historical Review, 1984 p.252-3
- ^ The Man Who Invented Genocide: The Public Career and Consequences of Raphael Lemkin, by James Joseph Martin. Page 166. 1984.
- ^ The Man Who Invented Genocide: The Public Career and Consequences of Raphael Lemkin, James Martin, Institute for Historical Review, 1984 p.252.
- ^ Lemkin's' work on defining genocide as a crime dates to 1933, and it was prompted by the Simele massacre in Iraq. William Korey, ""Raphael Lemkin: 'The Unofficial Man',"" Midstream, June–July 1989, p. 45–48
- ^ However, the work of defining genocide was also inspired by the Armenian genocide. "In a lengthy manuscript treatment of the massacre of a million or more Armenians Lemkin described these crimes in graphic detail....There are many parallels in his text with the horrors of the Holocaust: the herding of peaceful citizens into churches or other buildings which were then set alight; the deliberate killing of women and children; the Kurds arriving with sieves and sifting through the ashes of victims, searching for gold which they might have swallowed." John Cooper, Raphael Lemkin and the Struggle for the Genocide Convention p. 250
- ^ Al-Hassani, Abdul Razzaq (1952). History of Iraq Governments تاريخ الوزارات العراقية في العهد الملكي.
- ^ Al-Hassani, Abdul Razzaq (2008). Modern Political History of Iraq (Vol 3) تاريخ العراق السياسي الحديث. Beirut: Al-Rafidain.
- OCLC 49671283.
- ^ David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, p. 288
References
- Khadduri, Majid. Independent Iraq 1932–1958, A Study in Iraqi Politics. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.
- Stafford, R (2006) [1935]. The Tragedy of the Assyrians. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-413-0.
Further reading
- Yildiz, Kerim. The Kurds in Iraq, The Past, Present and Future. London: Pluto Press, 2004.