Coll 28/112B Persia. Tabriz. Monthly dispatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan, & misc: reports.’ [‎136r] (272/451)

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Oraaf spent some time in Tabriz in the middle of the month,
it beinp credibly reported that he had been invited by the
Govern or-General to consult on the situation in Khoi.
On July 16th. the Counsellor of the United states embassy in
Tehran, Mr. Ward, accompanied by the United States Vice-Consul
in Tabriz, visited Mahabad. They went at the invitation of Gazi
Mohamad who provided them with the escort of a Kurdish Lieutenant
Colonel, Sadiqi Haidari, who, it seems, is Director of Culture in
the Kurdish National Government. (The Kurds do not use the term
Minister’).
Gazi Mohamed saw the visit as a chance to awaken American
sympathy for the Kurdish cause and the Kurdish authorities in
Mahabad made great efforts to impress their visitors, making an
enthusiastic convert of the Vice-Consul, at least. According to
his account, the Kurds he met, including Kajji Baba, President
of the Assembly and Saif ul Gazi, Director of the Army, talked
frankly and reasonably, concealing none of their contempt for the
Azerbaijan Democrats. Uiey impressed him with their smartness and
efficiency, the freedom of their regime, their military bearing
and particularly the genuineness of their national movement. He
declared that he saw no evidence of ftoissian inspiration or
direction. ( ir. Dooher has been in Azerbaijan only since March
and in the Near East only about a year.) He was told ,he said,
that the Kurds would accept the following minimum settlement with
Tehran* A Kurdish Governor-General, a Provincial Council, the
guarantee of their cultural rights and an Army officered in the
main by Kurds. They would be willing to accept an Iranian
Commander in Chief. He heard some talk of a United Kurdistan
embracing the Kurdish districts of Iraq and Turkey, but the
Mahabadis to whom he gave credence rather played this down. He
came back apparently convinced first that the Russians have
nothing to do with the Kurdish National movement, and second, that
the Kurds will fight for their minimum demands.
Cne conclusion to be drawn from this report is that the
[ Kurds are at least better propagandists than the Azerbaijanis, who
[ certainly have not gone out of their way to woo American sympathy.
Hut then, the Kurds, while obviously dependent on Russian er-
j couragement and material assistance, are not very happy about
Communism. The Azerbaijanis, being completely in the toils, have
no choice but to be more rlussian than the Soviets, whereas the
Kurds, involved with Russians, Azerbaijanis and Persians, none of
whom they love, may well believe that to bring in a sympathetic
America will increase the number of possible moves in the game.
109. vezaieh. News from Western Azerbaijan during the month has
been contused, but in the last week in July the Democrat Adminis
tration there seems to have got into difficulties. The presence
of strong Kurdish forces in all the surrounding district obvious
ly offers tempting possibilities to the incurably factious people
of Bezaieh, i&tslims, Assyrians and Armenians alike. There has
always been, too, an independent spirit in the Democrat Party of
Rezaieh which resents its subordination to the predominantly
Tabriz Central Committee. It was reported towards the end of
the month that the Bezaieh Committee had telegraphed to Jaafar
Pishavari demanding that the credentials of the Bezaieh deputies
to the Provincial Council should be cancelled and new elections
held. Pishavari is rumoured to have agreed to this demand, but
Gadiq Padegan and some other members of the Central Committee
have been sent to investigate.
'Ihe Kurds, no doubt, are fostering this growth of dis
sension between Rezaieh and Tabriz. Frequent reports are re
ceived of the studious fair-dealing of the Kurds, particularly
the virtuous conduct of one Kamil Beg of the Begzadehs who
appears to be the Kurdish Quartermaster in Rezaieh and who is
exploiting the propaganda charms of novelty by making the Kurds
pay for everything they take for the supply of their forces.
This seems so attractive to the people of Rezaieh that even the
’Ajam merchants of the town are reported to be declaring that
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