Coll 28/112B Persia. Tabriz. Monthly dispatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan, & misc: reports.’ [‎21r] (42/451)

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FOLITIOAU
It wan with incroaPlng lnt( 3 rost timt the people of Azerbaijan
watched the continued rounoing up of SSuhajjlrs and other fifth evxlumn
eln ientn (September Diary, paragraph 49) during the early days of
October* Whet had the Central (Government in mind? Cot. Id they really
afford to take auch drartic action ageinst people who were, to put it
mildly, favourably regarded by the Soviet? And could the Government 1 c
firmneas in this regard be taken aa indicative oi their attitude to
the much-diccunced oil cueatinn? AIpo, if the 3 >viet bluff were
called, wovld a military occupation by the us; inns of Azerbaijan
necessarily ensue? Such were the thoughts that exercised the minds
the community# sous anxiety began to yi o ewhat to a hope
that the "political experts” in the cafds and restaurants might be
wrong - tfe t itless dooi. t not a&alt t o ,>:-ovinc:o - W
•. rb' - f after all, the Government knew whnt t->ey were doing# A
steady reinforcement of the frontier guards caused little excitement
- troops were concentrated in arund, bet' eon orarxl one hoi, and
between Khoi end aku# Reports were nlso received of forti ioatior^
ol the Tul fa- nr and-Ta.bris ro&d* But the man in the street had ma
his mind that the battle was to be I I in Tehran - with glo
on - and that the ilitary parade was merely o J
and men who bo depended upon to give 1 - ^ in a run ioiO ^
t sir hoxinj - to Telirua or oven art i or sosth - ii tue aai^^of
their nhinr so -‘Oi; I red#
53# As was only to be expected, the military and the gendarmerie
decided to oka th > most of the rituation - raid their doniineering
attitude nod petty exactio ,s wherever they thoip ht they could ‘’get
away ith it* 1 caused much irritation and annoyance to a co'rnunity
that had h •- iRore than enoug h o'.' t t sprt of thing# The people
s
had to concede, however, th«t the military, by their energy in
despatching the i<u sophiler , had brought t-A ' i £-*i
unbelisvable state of affaire - alum,dot ruiioure vv’doh liad tofec-u an