Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎172r] (346/1237)

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‘X’Uex'tf arts rumo ,ra that the appo iatmeat of Muhaamad Husseia
Muhtasiiami as i'^rmanaar of Ttbriz (^ee laat ul ivy) is appr^v^d neither
□v tut oavitt authorities ror tue Q ovem^r~<i*nsx*aX• It le uveit
ealu that tiie soviet 0 asuiMieneral refused to acce"ftlie cord wuicxi
ne left v,itfi hi it oa iirat arrival. t bet hr this is true or aot,
Muhtaahaai was coaspicuousl/ absent from all tine coiebratioas connected
with the aaniver ar of the ked in the weok-eaa of Feoruary 25rfl -
-Sbth. He cives the itpres. ion of being . a intelligeat und experienced
liicial, ©no o, id seem V> :.ave particular ex vria.ice of i .duotrlol
.robleme, uriving oeen long employed in the Ministry >f Industry, and
for a «hiie iii charge of tne l&ctory Section,. It not generally
believed, however, that his appointment nere will be of long duration.
In reply to a iuestioa ^nether he had his is.tily with him, he replied,
a little wistfully, that ne hau left the f-.mil,/ in Tehran, as h- did
hot Itnovv . hether he wo lr be stayi^. in Tabriz.
44. it.ur 1 . i h3 vipit o 1 tae Tudeh deputy, mir Jaaf ur
1 ishivari, to Tuoriz a ■pears to have been undertaken as much in his
own interest, with a view to establishing himself in the electorate’s
good graces before the next elections, as in the service of tho
Party’s cause. A speech he made at the Firdausi School on February
20th., t o an audience which included the G iVernor-Gcneral end many
heads of Government Departments contained nothing of particular
political interest, and w, a iatcaded perhaps mere as a piece of
personal publicity tnan n/thing else. Unscrupul is intrigues, he
averred, had aept him for a long time fro... playing his proper part as
the representative of the people of Tabriz; it was o-.ly now th&t he
nan a chance to introduce himself fu ly to the electors. The speech
w^s indued with the usual diatribes against the r, reactionaries^ in
Tehran, and Seyyid 21a in particular; it appealed lor the maximum
support for the rreedoia Trout, and v as rounded off with some high-
flown praise of the ked Arm.. . *-ishivari ha^ now gone on a visit to
hho i •
v. i.an .if f ^lrs. The outbreak of minor disturbances in different
;> c .rts of the province which has marked the past f rtnight has led to
an increase of rumours *,nd reports of kussian instigation, of no
greater reliability, perhaps, than those which attribute the same
disturbance a to toe influence of the Acting British Qons il-General.
Giki report fro . a usually reliable sosa^ce Tsue para GO bcl >w) which
scums to prove thet the riotous kurus t mahabad had direct kussian
sup ort is not p rhaps so conducive when th^ limitations of inter
preters rnd the subjective style of Kurdish narrators are taken into
consideration. It is also access, ry to .ear in mind, wuen assessing
the truth of re ort s of Russian encouragement tof t ■ ouble-m ke a, that,
in Azerbaijan at le .at, Sussian officials are not ail automatons
wnose every act la the me chan cal execution of a oolicy planned and
dictated, f r v ©hove. A lsr c e number of ked Army ofiioers and
civilian uoviet officials in this province are Turki-speaking Caucas
ians, ol tne same race, traditi ns a id religion as the Turki-speaking
Persian sub w ects with whom they mingle so ir«uly. Whether it*” is the
p o 1icy of the Soviet Goverument • ■ i not, these officers canaot heIp
tuking a warm interest In local affairs, and, imbued as they are with
a feeling of their own superiority, it is hardly to by expected that
they could refrain from using their opportunities for missionary work
an their lees enlightened relations. Caucasian officers wer-
naturally prominent in the celebrations held to mark the 27th.
n IVvrsary of the founding of the red Army. They addressed meetings
at three of the largest Tabriz, factories, where tneir zeal, oloqaence,
onu above all their smart Uiiioms and. well-fed a »pc a ranee could not
selp cut i ,press the be crag, led workers; one t; ok part in the Iran >-
boviet Cultural C ciety’s celebration, and one toll the story of the
ked -rmy to the pupils of the Girls’ School.
The anniversary of the to uidia^ of the i<ed Arm, was marked by
celebrations held on February 2Trd., *uth., and . 5th.• M. the 2frd.,
in the morning there was a march ast ot Soviet troops in the main
street or the city, about l, CIO cav Iry, v.ith txo mounted bands, 500
artiile^ and 60 lorries lull oi ini ant ry taking part. They were
y followed