Assyrian-Kurdish clashes (1900–1910)

Assyrian–Kurdish Clashes (1900–1910)
Part of Assyrian–Kurdish conflict
Date 1900–1910 Location Hakkari, Ottoman Empire Result Assyrian victory Malik Khoshaba took his revenge
Belligerents
Assyrian Tribes Tyari tribe Tkhuma tribe Other Assyrian Hakkari tribes	Kurdish tribes Barzani tribe Surchi tribe Berwari tribe Other tribal confederations
Commanders and leaders
Malik Yosip † Malik Ismail II Malik Khoshaba	Rashid Beg Said Beg † Various Kurdish tribal leaders
Strength
Multiple tribes	Multiple tribes
Casualties and losses
Large	Large
In 1900, Malik Yosip of Tyari was assassinated by Rashid Beg, the Kurdish prince of the Barwari region, prompting his son, Malik Khoshaba, to seek vengeance. In 1907 the Ottomans sent troops to Hakkari to stop fighting between the Assyrians of Tyari and Kurds. The Ottoman troops were successful in subduing the Kurds. The Assyrians of Tyari, however, defeated them and the Ottomans were routed and had their weapons seized. In 1908, Malik Khoshaba led a retaliatory attack against the Barwari Kurds, resulting in the death of Said Beg, Rashid Beg's brother, and in the same year (before Malik Khoshaba's attack) the Kurdish emir of Barwari expelled over 12,000 Assyrians from the Lizan valley. The clashes were fueled by Ottoman divide-and-rule policies, tribal rivalries, and territorial disputes. These confrontations set the stage for further violence during the Assyrian Genocide of 1915.

The Assyrian-Kurdish Clashes (1900–1910) were a series of clashes between the Assyrians and Kurds of Hakkari that took place before and after Rashid Beg assassinated Malik Khoshaba's father, Malik Yosip, and the retaliation by Malik Khoshaba, which led to the death of Rashid Beg's brother, Said Beg.

Background

Malik Yousif bin Malik Batu was tall, graceful, and handsome. He was known for his noble character, courage, and boldness, which is why the American Dr. McDowell likened him to the German Kaiser. He took over the responsibility of managing the affairs of his people from his father, Malik Batu, who was bedridden by age, and he followed the path of his fathers. He fought several wars at the head of his brave tribe, defending their rights whenever necessary. One of his qualities was that he would not accept aggression against anyone or that anyone would attack him. His honesty in applying this principle was the main reason for his martyrdom. One of the most important battles he fought was the campaign he led against the Kurdish Marunas Artush tribe in 1886, after they attacked the Upper Tyari tribe, usurped their lands, and stole their sheep. When the Upper Tyari clan sought his help, he led his aforementioned campaign in the bitter winter and captured Marunas, forcing them to cease their aggression and resort to peace and calm. He also campaigned against the Banyansh clan, who had killed two people from Selebakan from the Lower Tyari clan, and committed several other aggressions. He overcame them and inflicted a terrible defeat on them, inflicting heavy losses in lives and weapons. The son of their chief (Agha al-Jal) was seriously wounded, and thus he stopped this clan in its tracks, so it resorted to peace. In 1888, a battle took place in Helmun and Garamun between the Turkish army and the Lower Berwar Kurdish clans on one side, and between the Lower and Upper Tyari clans on the other. This battle ended with the defeat of the Turkish army and the lower Barwari tribes who wanted to control Helmun and Garamon and annex them to Barwar to collect taxes from them. While these enemy forces were surrounded by the Tyari forces, they began to plead with Salmu (Shalmon), the brother of Malik Yousif, who was leading the lower Tyari forces, asking him for (Rubakht), meaning that they signed his honor, so Salmu opened the way for them and saved them from certain annihilation. This was one of the good qualities of the tribes, to pardon their enemies in battle when they asked for (Rubakht) in honor of the leader. When Malik Yousif arrived from his summer resort to the battlefield, the Turks and Kurdish Barwaris had withdrawn from the breach that Salmu had opened for them. When Malik Yousif rebuked his brother, he replied that they had asked for a "robakht" from him. When the Tyari forces returned victorious from the battlefield, some Barwaris confronted them. The fighting intensified between the Lower Tyari tribe and the Barwaris in the Ouri Valley. Malik Youssef was fighting in the front lines when his rifle jammed from firing too quickly. He took the rifle of the fighter next to him, which had also jammed. The Kurds approached them and they were exposed to encirclement. Despite the insistence of his fighters to withdraw, he refused due to his extreme stubbornness and courage. He was confronted on the battlefront by Muhammad Beg bin Tatarkhan Beg and Ismail Beg bin Othman Beg, who were among the bravest men of Al-Barwar and their most skilled archers. So Malik Yousif drew his dagger and tried to attack them, but he was stopped by his men. Fortunately, in that critical situation, his brother Salmu arrived with his brave men and launched a counterattack on the Kurds, breaking the siege on his brother. Thus, this battle ended with the killing of two men from Al-Barwar

Clashes

The Musa Beg, Taha Beg and Ali Beg families sought refuge in Lezan in Lower Tyari, The Musa Bey family had seven strong young brothers and their eldest brother Mohammed Beg wanted to become the emir of Barwar. However, Sheikh Bahauddin Al-Bamerni, the leaders of Amadiya and the Tatarkhan Beg (Bey Is the other word for beg) family urged the Barwaris not to accept him as emir of Barwar. Therefore, these families carried out some sabotage acts against the Barwaris after they refused their leadership and sought refuge in Lezan where they remained under the protection of Lower Tyari for two years. It happened that Malik Yousif went with these emirs to the village of Tarvansh in Barwar. When the emir of Barwar, Mohammed Bey, son of Tatarkhan Bey, heard about this, he gathered the Barwaris and besieged the village of Tarvansh from all sides. The fighting continued for several days while Malik Yusuf and these emirs were holding out and fighting from one of the palaces of Tarvansh.The Lower Tyari forces arrived from Lezan and were able to lift the siege on the village of Tarwansh. It was said that Muhammad Bey, the emir of the Barwar, was the one who facilitated the lifting of the siege on Malik Yusuf, in return for what his brother Salmu had done in the battle of Helmun and Garamon when he allowed the Barwaris and the Turkish forces to withdraw from the siege imposed on them by the Tyari forces. Malik Yousif returned with those emirs to the village of Dashtan and remained there with a small number of men after the fighters dispersed to their villages, thinking that the danger was over. However, after only three days, they were surprised by a sudden attack on the village of Dashtani and heavy shelling from Turkish artillery, machine guns and Kurdish tribal rifles, which forced them to leave the village where the Turkish army and the Barwaris entered, but the enemy forces were not able to stay there for more than three hours as the Lower Tyari forces arrived from Lezan and drove them out badly, which led to the joy of the Kurdish people of the village of Dashtani, loyal to the Tiariis, despite the death of the (village mullah) in that battle, as the Barwaris were unable to annex their village to Barwar again. The martyrdom of Malik Yousif bin Malik Batu, father of Malik Khoshaba, treacherously at the hands of Rashid Bey, the emir of Barwar, Malek Youssef bin Malek Batu was martyred by the Emir of Barwar treacherously while inviting him to the Kurdish village of Tarwansh in Barwari Bala on September 15, 1900. It is said that the reason for Malik Yousif's martyrdom was Rashid Bey's belief that Malek Youssef had a role in the murder of his brother Muhammad Bey, who was killed by Tahir Bey, who had sought refuge with Malek Yousif according to tribal custom. But the truth of the matter is that Malik Yousif was far removed from this issue as he did not interfere in the killings that took place between the princes of this family over the leadership and he was always seeking to spread harmony and peace in Al-Barwar and to remove the disputes that occurred between these princes over the leadership knowing that the lower Tyari clan had the right to participate in choosing the Emir of Al-Barwar. When Tahir Bey failed in his attempt with the governor of Mosul to wrest the emirate from Muhammad Bey, the Emir of Al-Barwar, he returned to the village of Bidu Al-Kabira and took with him a number of his followers. He then ambushed Muhammad Bey while he was returning from the village of Darshki to his residence and fired three bullets at him, killing him. Rashid Bey hated Malik Yousif and held ill will towards him because he believed that he was behind the murder of his brother Muhammad Bey. While Malik Yousif was in the Kurdish village of Tarwansh, where he owned property, Rashid Bey asked to meet with him to discuss matters related to the Tyari and Barwari clans. At night, one of the chiefs of the Kurdish village of Bidu, named Rasho, whose family had historical friendships with Malik Yousif's family, came to him. He informed him that Rashid Bey had bad intentions towards him and intended to harm him. He offered to help him get him out of Tarwansh at night and go to one of the lower Tyari villages. Malik Yousif, however, refused, preferring death to the reputation of having fled from Rashid Bey. On the day of the meeting, Rashid Bey ordered his men to arrest Malik Yousif during the meeting and detain him in one of the rooms of his palace, where he remained for three days. When the news reached the lower Tyari clan, the men gathered under the leadership of Malik Barkho to attack Barwar and rescue Malik Yousef from captivity. But Malek Yousef's nephew, Yalda, who was a young man not more than twenty years old, refused for fear that the attack might push Rashid Bey to kill his uncle, believing that Rashid Bey would not dare to kill him unless he was forced to do so. For this reason, Malik Barkho and his fighters did not participate in the battles to avenge his death or in repelling the attack launched on Wadi Lezan. But Rashid Bey believed that if he got rid of Malek Yousef, he would be able to extend his influence over the Tyaris and the Kurds loyal to them. Therefore, he ordered his men to kill him. They tied his hands and feet and carried him on his horse outside the village of Tarwansh and killed him treacherously. Before his martyrdom, Rashid Bey asked him, pointing to the grave of one of the Barwar Beys who had been killed by the Tyaris, "Do you know who is in this grave?" Malek Yousef replied: "He is (His name) like you, but if I were a real man, then untie me and fight me with my bare hands and your weapon so I can show you what a man is like". After his martyrdom, Rashid Bey went to his village, Darshirsh, and Malek Yousif's body was transferred to Lezan, where he was buried next to his father, Malik Batu, in the Marqurkis Church. At that time, Malik Khoshaba was studying at the American College in Urmia, and when he heard the news of his father's death, he left his studies and joined his clan, where battles of revenge began between his clan and the Barwaris until 1915.In 1907, With Malik Ismail II as Chieftain, the Ottomans sent troops to Hakkari to stop fighting between the Assyrians of Tyari and Kurds. The Ottoman troops were successful in subduing the Kurds. The Assyrians of Tyari, however, defeated them and the Ottomans were routed and had their weapons seized.From the martyrdom of Malik Yousef in 1900 until 1908, the battles between the Lower Tyari led by Malik Khoshaba and the Kurdish tribes loyal to him and the Bani Ramta tribe from the Upper Tyari tribe did not stop. None of the other Assyrian tribes participated in these battles, nor did Malik Barkho (from Lower Tyari) participate in them either. In 1908, fighting began between the Barwaris and the Bani Matha, Bani Kaba, Maniansh and Zawita tribes from Lower Tyari, along with some of the Kurdish Beys living there. These tribes, under the leadership of Malik Khoshaba, launched a sweeping attack on the pastures of the Barwaris, killing three of their men in an area called (Darari). The Barwaris pursued the Tayari, but the deacon Korkis (Bajbijo), Malik Khoshaba's cousin, who was one of the bravest fighters, fought them in the rear to delay them and did not leave his position until he was martyred there. Malik Khoshaba was at the head of a force of his men, with the Kurdish beys who were stationed on the top of a mountain behind the village of Zawita (called the summit of Awlia), watching the progress of the battle. A section of the Barwaris had taken up positions in the Anata resort to cut off the Tyaris retreat. When Malik Khoshaba reached an area opposite that resort, he fired a shot from his Sosni rifle at the assembled fighters. They dispersed and hid behind the bushes, asking Saeed Bey, brother of Rashid Bey, who was leading them, to protect himself from the shots of that Tyari who seemed to be a skilled marksman. However, Saeed Bey refused and answered them arrogantly that he was not afraid of that Tyari. After Malik Khoshaba spotted the spot with his binoculars (Darbin - Al-Nazur), he found that one of the enemy fighters was sitting on a rock surrounded by his fighters. He knew that this person was one of the Barwari emirs. From a very long distance called (Sari Darari), he fired his shot, which hit Saeed Bey, brother of the Barwari emir, and killed him instantly. Thus, Malik Khoshaba concluded his goal of taking revenge on the Barwari emirs. History will remember the greatness of the women of that time, who gave great appreciation to courage and heroism in men. Instead of slapping her cheeks and crying over the death of her son, the prince who was known for his bravery, Saeed Bey's mother mourned him with a song describing the battle and praising her enemies, Malik Khoshaba and the Tyari fighters, in an elegy called "Sari Darari," which is still sung by Kurds and Tyaris.

Aftermath

the Kurdish emir of Barwari expelled over 12,000 Assyrians from the Lizan valley. Malik Khoshaba assembled a formidable force of Lower Tyari fighters from the villages of Lizan, Bne Laggipa, Minyanish, Zawitha and Zarne and attacked the Barwari Kurds where a fierce battle ensued that resulted in Malik Khoshaba killing Rashid Beg's brother, Said Beg, thereby avenging his father's murder. Malik Khoshaba launched many attacks on Barwari for eight years From 1900 to 1908.