Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎23r] (46/1237)

r~\
? : , tlm . Birlya aad« a longer oration* When General
1 i'abria (alary Ho. 14), the OeaocratB presented hla
lita un ultimjtAu, saying clearly v,hat they wanted and Ivlny lehrata
a r «fa outbid tijae in which to grant their Just r quest**
ce'i le*« #1 t P h*‘ i ' , ' 1 * lwut i8hr « il showing any wllllngneaa to aieet th^
J?eople e wi®b«s# xh«r«fore the Democrat 4?arty has been forxned to
fhftrLenl *** ^rovlnSlal SsuSoU iHL
instrument 0 / which a sound and hon-est locsl governaent will be
acnieved* Storiea of violent measures intended by the Democrat
^arty are pure lies* 'Jte arc not plunderere; there Is no no^d for
an/one to fear for his life or property* The military and ooli^o
arc our brothers* we Intend them no harm; but if they try to
repress us by force they wi I be drowned U\ the olood 02 ' the people
01 ^^^baijin • We have iow taken matters into our own h* nia w«
f re 2 trone;«r thaii Tehran thinks, and xm&er the flag of Iranian
independence we demand local autonomy**
„„ 1 ^ lriya !: W**«h **£ 00 ^chad in rwasturing tome to allay the
real alarm that, hau ba.a growing in the city throujhout the day. It
ecLdaiel fof thif^ht!"** 4 ^ the baZaa1, that Eolation waa
fiahavari apoke next ana aald that it had been intended that
eeut. of the villagers should speak, but it was late and very oold....
lu ‘■not, U any shitty hau been pi iimed for that night, the elements
not ^ ^
co-operating# A reactionary anowetorm came! blustering in
--as;* ana ths Da mo crate turiic 2 up their collars and went home#
next day, Hovsaber 19th*, the ?arty called a ^People’s
oi Afcerbaij n (Aa«?rbaijai lihalq Oon^resi), which continues
■ 300
were
from the
The
Uongrt'sa
in session at the time of writing* It is being attended by
representatives of ‘’the people of Tabriz", and also by some
representativee from i^ezaieh, Ardebil and Marageh, and its ournoee
is presumably to elect the Provincial Council*
The «Qwn is periectly quiet, though tlie merchant and propertied
classes continue to be very anxious - those of them who remain, for
^®TTed and ti nsi . rre their goads and anney to Tehran#
inifa migration is now presumably stopped by the Democrat control of
tne road. * r the lust month there has been agitation in the Party
pr^sfa against the transference of g -000 and capital from Tabriz, and
at the beginning ol the period under review the Party imooeed an
abt;olute prohibition on the despatch of all food-stuffs to Tehran.
fnej( were not able to stop the transfer of funds through the
imperial and dational Bank until last Friday when ocsmunl oat Iona
by telegraph and post were cut. iOS
There ar. few further details of the situation in the orovlnee,
is now believed that the Deacorats are in complete control
of ^ianeh. unc Gendante officer and seven men are said to have
been Killed in fighting there on Tqturday• The police of the town
declared themselves ready to surrender to ths Democrats, but were told
to carry on under directlcn# Travellers h<ve come through from Tehran
ofiicers have been detained# Snow has added to the
aiiiiculty of communication with Hianeh by road, end bad flyinc
weather has prevented the Soviet air service to Tehran from ooeretina
since November 16th* The officer commanding the Gendunaerie in Sarah
is said to have been killed and the disarmed gendarmerie and troupe
taken prisoner to an unknown destination* Two gendarmes are reported
to have been killed in a village near Marageh, while in i^arageh"
it sell, the local Democrat leader has called on the Persian garrion
iabout 80 men) to surrender their arms ana evacuate under threat of
^»0Q0 Democrats. The Persian garrison at Mianduab ie cut
off ana in seme danger of attack ay Auruieh Democrats subvertin« the
Azerb ija.* Democrat Party*
,, Th® opposition in iabriz was cheered by the news broa cast from
uehran an; repeated by London th»t reinxorceaents of troops and
g«ndanae« ware proceediiig towards kianeh, an^i were correspondingly
depressed ^hen they heard on the wireless today that thia force had
be«n^turned back by the Russians at KaiVin. In these circumstances
fhc Feral an Domaan^iant iie re la unlikely to send any men from Tabriz to
*d.aaeiw
/At