§ MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Government have any recent information regarding the persecution of the Nestorian Christians inhabiting the higher mountain regions of Assyria above the banks of the Zab and Habor; whether they are now surrounded, with the help of the Kurds, and their caravans prevented from leaving the country to procure food; and whether they are in great danger of perishing from famine?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportThe latest reports on the subject of the Nestorians received from Her Majesty's Vice-Consul at Van were dated December 20th and November 15th, and in neither of them did Major Williams seem to anticipate the state of things 1279 suggested in this Question. He spoke of the Kurds as a terror to Christians and Moslems alike, but he took a more hopeful view of the situation as affecting the Nestorians. The latter, although they had suffered from Kurdish raids, had on the whole, in his opinion, come comparatively well through the recent troubles; and their condition was a happy one contrasted with that of the Armenian peasantry. There was no idea of coercing them if they remained quiet, and he did not think there was any cause for alarm on the part of their friends. In October last, on hearing from the Archbishop of Canterbury's mission of an intention to disarm the Nestorians in the Tyari and Ashiret districts, inquiries were made, and Her Majesty's Vice Consul at Van telegraphed that there was no truth in the reports. I may add that if the hon. Member has any private information on the subject which he cares to communicate to me I shall be happy to receive it.