Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎12r] (24/1237)

-7-
^8* Ahe elams iaeicteat to tine orange of government
paralysed the b ssaar fox* about a aonth. Retail trade ‘vaa not
interrupted, but there was no ex oh: age of CKj^aodities on any
female. In addition, tue interruption of oom^unication with
lehr an put. m end to the flow of good out from Tabri 2 . The
export of food-btufla froa the province had been prohibited for
tine by the Party before December 12th. r.na after that date
liiove^:©nt ol aJXjf lorries on the Tehran ro?d e £ eev rely restricted
Xhw position Is now that ©orchanta may drfpatch certain classes
n i (other than food-atufia) if they give a written undcr-
taking tuat tuv proceeds ox sale will be r turned to Azerbaijan*
The cefcfcatAon of banfeiag buxinewithin the orovinoe has
stopped intv. rn^I t * fc»ue oe t ween the towns* ini a tiaij never jssoten
been very i .^01 i.untt m most of the centres of Amor aijan -
Rezaioh# Ahoi, Aruabil and Mianduab — are self-*supporting in
staple ioou-atnflm, but Xabriz supplies them -1th aanufacturea
ouch textiles and shoes, ana imported goods. H^re ^gain, if
tneiw is no early settlement with Tehran, the only possible outlet
far the provinces products - wbeat, dried iruitg, fata ^nd
Iv. l twr - it soviet Russia, &nu vusain is th^ sole so ,rce of
wUp^ly 1 ur imported i4ia.nuractui , @s. the circulation of co^&oditlea
; nu money within the province nu.>t obviously be restored in
a e.*oxm Lime, perhaps through to© constitution of an Azerbaijan
National dan: with Russian aid*
^39* kv-f.n .-i.' q ;. 4.1 A, in© liquidation of the Gendarmerie and
the military garrison oi Rexaioh was planned to taKe dace shortly
pit-r the formation of the autonomous Government in labrisB* Arms
uaJ scarcely ou^un to be distributed in Western Azerbaijan,
however, when the Gaaaandant of the lUzaleb Garriaon, Sarhang
ii^n^ineh, to ox the initiative* xue gendarmerie, eu , o ported by
the *i* lignt titaks of the garrison, drove the Flda f ls out of
this villages where they wer; begianing to concentrate on December
141a. end for thr©© days tii©raafter had the to'm firmly in 11»ir
control. Darin*, this time they attempted to nip the Democrat
rimlAe, in tae bud oy see .in... out and slaughtering known ond
suspected Dcmooratat ixi tne tom. This wae done without much
discrimination oy tne gendarmerie who fell into the old Rezateh
a u :oit a* religious feud and quickly began to tr at any Dhaldean,
seyriaa or Arm© ,ian Dhrlstian tu a potential if not an actual
Democrat* Daa^ of the Christian community in extern. Azerbaijan
had joineu tun democrat Party see in in it a promise of ©scape
rro*a tae uncient threat of persecution and ma so acre their
-urdiah and furkistt-muslim neighbours. Thie only aggravated
the hatred and tear wnlch the foralens have elw^ya nhown for
the Dhriutisn minority here, and it was Inevitable that the
gendarmerie, reokuited as it is from the dregs of the ©uslim
p-uyul&ti'.in, ohouid iora this occasion into a pogrom*
It la difficult to fflak® a near estimate of the number of
civrii&aa killed during these tnree or four 1 cys, out pex^haps
oeiw^^a fifty sixty la not far from the truth. About thirty-
live oi iacac wex*y unarmed Uhrlailens whose coimectton v 1th the
Dcaocrat i'arty is doubtful* The *orst incident occurred at the
viHuge 01 Dunbar h&xnaa v Dharvaan) about a mile from Re zaieh,
bh«ru a luujx fired on u group of unarmed Assyrian peasants, killing
i*ine uifi funding 10* Tfa« democrats una .nasalans, of course, made
capital out 0 ^ thbfc>c ^urocities, whicn were acid to prove the
wisdom of uue Russian refusal to allow tm Persian troops in this
province to be reinforced* The Soviet Vice-Coaaaul at Bezaieh
to puotographto of noun 01 the victims which were later published
H Demoornt newspaper A z rbulp.^n of December g?th.
A hb Russian military authorities n^de no attem’t to intervene
oui^ii^ these days, out on December 16th. they actively assisted
the ^e*^ocrate to oring in reinforcements fro® Ahoi, Dhaour and
i*u»raud, ai.u on toe evening oi that day the Fida'is began to
overrun tne pobltiona the gendurses had tajeen up on the outskirts
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