Tax Resistance Notes From Here and There


Here’s a Reuters dispatch from concerning tax resistance in Ottoman Iraq:

Turkish Tax Troubles.

Persian Passive Resistance.

[Reuter’s Telegram.]

News has reached here of trouble among the Persians at Kerbela, near Baghdad, in consequence of Turkish exactions. It appears that a Persian shopkeeper refused to comply with the excessive demands of the local Turkish tax gatherer, and was arrested.

He was brought before the Cadi, who spat upon him, and the Persian Consul, to whom he appealed, treated him with contempt. The aggrieved shopkeeper harangued the crowd, and two thousand angry Persians accompanied him to the British Vice-Consul, of whom they begged protection against Turkish misrule.

The affair was reported to Constantinople by the officials in Baghdad, with the result that the local authorities at Kerbela have been ordered not to press for recovery of the taxes, pending the consideration of the whole question.

Chief of Police Killed.

A Reuter message from Constantinople states that a serious disturbance has occurred at Erzerum in consequence of the exile of the Mufti and two Mahomedan citizens of that place, owing to their alleged action in on the occasion of a demonstration against the introduction of the new income-tax. The Mahomedans clamoured for the return of the exiles, and the Vali fled from his residence. The Chief of Police was killed by the mob, and the shops were closed. The Government buildings and the residences of the Vali and the foreign Consuls were guarded by troops, but, notwithstanding the precautions taken, some damage was done to Government property. Order was finally restored on the exiles being brought back to their homes. The movement was exclusively confined to the Mahomedans, the Christians holding aloof.

You can find more complete information about that second revolt and its context at this Picket Line entry.