Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎5r] (9/644)

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[8706] b 4
22. During the year the Persian authorities appear to have broken up a
widespread Sovietic intelligence service, and a number of junior Government
employees were convicted of selling information. These investigations directed
attention to the question of propaganda, and it appears probable that
General Ayrom, the energetic chief of police, has at last succeeded in winning
the Shah round to his view that the propaganda menace must be taken more
seriously than leading members of the Government have been willing to do.
*^,neral Ayrom has, if he is to be believed, taken steps to tighten up the control
of all known Communists, and a wary eye is kept on the activities of the Soviet
diplomatic and commercial representatives. These steps, so he told the acting
oriental secretary, had brought upon him the avowed hostility of the Soviet
Embassy.
23. There appears to be little doubt that during the year under review the
treatment of refugees from the Soviet Union by the Persian authorities improved
considerably. Earlier reports had shown that, though the reception of refugees
escaping to Azerbaijan was on the whole reasonably humane, the treatment of
those entering Khorassan was frequently deplorable, but, as the result either of
unofficial representations made both by His Majesty’s Minister at Tehran and by
Lieutenant-Colonel Barrett at Meshed, or of the deterioration of relations with
the Soviet Government, a marked improvement in the treatment accorded to
refugees in Khorassan has been noticed.
24. The situation of the Persian authorities is by no means enviable, since
they fear, first, that Ogpu agents may be introduced among the refugees, and,
secondly, that if they allow the refugees to enter Persia the Soviet authorities
will create frontier incidents as a reprisal. The situation is, moreover,
complicated by the fact that the majority of the refugees entering Khorassan are
Turkoman tribesmen, uncivilised and unruly, an intrinsically undesirable
element in a half-civilised country.
25. In March a frontier incident took place at Bilasavar in Azerbaijan.
Details are wanting, but there appears to have been a clash between the frontier
guards, probably caused by Soviet troops following up refugees into Persian
territory. Both sides were soon reinforced, but the tension apparently died down,
though the Russians were reported to be holding a strip of debatable territory on
the frontier.
T urkey.
26. There was a great improvement during the year in Turco-Persian
relations, brought about by the signature of a frontier agreement which removed
at a stroke the worst causes of friction between the two countries.
27. Discussions which might evidently have lasted for ever had been in
progress for a more convenient definition of the frontier in the Ararat region
between the General Stall's of the two countries, but it was not until the Turkish
Minister for Foreign Affairs decided, as he put it, that a moderately satisfactory
settlement was better than no settlement that agreement was reached. Tevfik
Riistii Bey, accompanied by a small staff of four persons, accordingly arrived in
Tehran on the 18th January, and by the 24th January it was possible to issue a
communique stating that the agreement had been signed the day before.
28. The agreement provides for three frontier modifications. By the first,
which was by far the most important, the control of the whole of Little Ararat
(an area of which Turkish troops had, however, been in possession for some time)
is given to Turkey; this cession will probably enable the Turks to deal effectively
with the Kurds in the area.
29. The second deviation, in the neighbourhood of Kotur, added some
90 square miles to Turkish territory.
30. The third, near Bajirgan, had been the main difficulty. By this
modification the Persians gained some 80 square miles of valueless country.
31. On the whole Turkey came better out of the exchange of territory.
32. At the same time a treaty of arbitration and conciliation was signed.