§ Lieut.-Commander FLETCHERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can make any Report on the settlement of Assyrians in Syria; how many have so far been settled; and what amount of money still remains to be found for completing the League of Nations' plan of settlement?
§ Sir J. SIMONAs my Noble Friend stated in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Twickenham on March 4th, the settlement of the Assyrians is in the hands of a Committee of the Council of the League of Nations. This Committee has recently been in session in connection with the preliminary arrangements for the settlement, but it has not yet issued any official report on its work since the beginning of this year.
The position at the moment is that, as my Noble Friend informed the hon. and 718W gallant Member on March 4th, over 6,000 Assyrians have already been settled provisionally or the Upper Khabur River in Syria pending their eventual removal to the proposed permanent settlement in the Ghab area. The Council Committee has just authorised an increase in this provisional settlement by the immediate transfer of 2,500 more Assyrians: from Iraq, so that there are likely in the near future to be nearly 9,000 Assyrians temporarily established on the Upper Khabur.
Meanwhile preliminary work is taking place on the reclamation of the site of the proposed permanent settlement in the Ghab area. Until the site is ready, the plan for the settlement of the Assyrians which has been adopted by the League of Nations provides for the temporary establishment in the vicinity of the Ghab of the balance of the Assyrian immigrants from Iraq over and above those placed provisionally on the Upper Khabur river. I understand that arrangements for this further temporary settlement are under active consideration but that matters have not yet reached a stage where it is possible to begin to transfer Assyrians to the vicinity of the Ghab.
As regards the last part of the question, the financial position in regard to the settlement is still, so far as I am aware, as it was described to the House on February 25th last by my Noble Friend.