Gotûbêj:George Martin Lees

Silav @MikaelF: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Commissioned at seventeen in the Royal Artillery, he served in France but soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, in which he won the MC (Military Cross). After a tour of duty as flying instructor in Egypt he went to Mesopotamia for further active service, winning the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) in air operations. He took part in the capture of Kirkuk from the Turks, making a forced landing behind the Turkish lines in what became the Kirkuk oilfield, regaining the British lines on foot by following geological outcrops seen from the air.
After the war Lees joined the civil administration in Iraq (1919–21), serving as assistant political officer in the mountainous Halabja district close to the Persian frontier. At the time of the insurrection he had an exciting escape, but later returned to Kurdistan. He resigned from the Iraq administration in April 1921 and began to study geology, in which he had become interested in Kurdistan. After a few months at the Royal School of Mines he joined the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the British Petroleum Company Ltd) in June 1921, as assistant geologist, without formal academic qualifications.

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, r. 163:

He was educated at St Andrews College, Dublin (1906-1915) and immediately thereafter attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in preparation for taking part in the first world war, then in progress. From Woolwich he was commissioned in the Royal Artillery, in which he served in France. He soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and won the M.C. There followed a tour of duty as a flying instructor in Egypt, where he gained his first experience of the Middle East, a region on which he was later to become the leading geological authority. From Egypt he moved to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and saw further active service in air operations, for which he was awarded the D.F.C. He took part in the capture of Kirkuk from the Turks and made a forced landing behind the Turkish lines in what is now the great Kirkuk oilfield, regaining the British lines with difficulty on foot. After the war Lees remained for a time (1919-1921) in Iraq in the civil administration. He received a testing and perilous assignment as Assistant Political Officer among the turbulent tribes of Southern Kurdistan. In the vain hope of avoiding costly military occupation the British authorities had decided to set up in Kurdistan a buffer state between the Persians and Arabs under a semi-autonomous ruler (Mehmûdê Berzencî). Lees was one of a small group of picked officers whose function was to advise the ruler and his administration and organize the training of local armed forces. Unfortunately for the plan, the Kurd ruler betrayed the trust placed in him and soon sought to set himself up as independent king of Kurdistan. Although unpopular as a tyrant, he had a religious following and succeeded in organizing considerable forces for the overthrow of British authority. Lees, in charge of the wild and mountainous Halabja district close to the Persian frontier, was besieged in his house by hundreds of armed men and only escaped with his life by an ingenious ruse and by great courage. Later he returned when the country was pacified, and helped the process further by his influence and by personal negotiation with one of the most dangerous tribal leaders. An exciting and modest account of these events was given by Lees to the Central Asian Society in 1928 ('Two years in South Kurdistan'). His successor, Major Noel, who came to Halabja as Assistant Political Officer about two years after Lees, stated 'I can testify to the great reputation he left behind ...

Jînenîgariyên mayî li ser kariyera wî ya jeolojîk, bi piranî li gel pargîdaniyên petrolê ne. GPinkerton (gotûbêj) 18:11, 25 gulan 2021 (UTC)

Binêre: Lees, Two Years in Kurdistan, rr. 259–264.: Çîrokek dirêj e. Hamid Beg, ji bo Mehmûdê Berzencî dixebite, di destpêka serhildanê de rûniştgeha Lees dorpêç dike lê êrîş nake. Mehmûdê Berzencî ferman da ku Lees mirî an sax were girtin. (Lees di berê de ji hêla F. S. Greenhouse ve tê şîyar kirin; xeta telegrafê di navbera wan de tê birîn lê têlefon hîn jî dixebite!) Lees bi leşker û hevalên xwe re direve. Lees û Adile Xanim hatina qasidek saz dikin da ku dorpêçkaran bixapînin. Ew ji dijmin re dibêje ku balafir têne û ku ew hewce ne ku aerodromek nû çêbikin. Lees hemî dravê ku Hamid Beg dixwaze dizî dişewitîne (piştî ku hemî hejmarên rêzê binivîse!) Ew bi gelê xwe re hêdî hêdî ji bajêr derdikeve. Ev hîle avantajek dide wan; û ew di reva xwe de biserkevin.

Lees her weha dibêje ku wî dît ku ala Kurdî li Halabja hildaye. Piştra, ew eynî ala wekî "souvenir" kete destê Lees. GPinkerton (gotûbêj) 20:35, 25 gulan 2021 (UTC)