IOR/L/PS/12/2875

This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2874. It contains papers regarding the Assyrian Crisis in Iraq during 1933-1935. The papers cover the proposed scheme to resettle the Assyrians of Iraq in British Guiana, on land to be purchased from the Rupununi Company. Following a report by General Browne and Signor Giglioli of the League of Nations Assyrian Committee, which concluded that the British Guiana scheme was unworkable, the League considered a scheme for resettlement in the French-mandated territories of the Levant [Syria]. The file contains details of the trip made by the President of the Assyrian Committee (J Lópaz Oliván) to Iraq and Syria, as well as details of the negotiations over the division of costs between HM Government (HMG), the Government of Iraq, and the League of Nations. The purchase of the Iraqi Railways by the Government of Iraq is also discussed in the file, with HMG and Iraq eventually reaching an agreement to lower the cost of the railway in return for a higher Government of Iraq contribution to the Assyrian resettlement in Syria.

The file primarily consists of: correspondence between the Foreign Office, HM Consul at Geneva (J C Sterndale Bennett), HM Minister at Baghdad (Charles Harold Bateman), and the Government of Iraq. It also contains a number of reports and memoranda circulated by the League of Nations, including minutes of the 37th through to the 61st meeting of the Council of the Assyrian Committee.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).