Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎27r] (54/1237)

With th© Compliment* Mr - L ~‘' P ' * ZWj2<stx,c '‘
of tho f-* ~ rixian ^z\a-3iV.ny
Under S-^^tarv of Statu^ j. f Q1 Ht'lQAA
H< • 'i&iS 9 n *1 C fvtr< »r» Afloino * .< w X "'W
,ehran
?\U
'Bir,'
fnr’ For. i^n Afiairs |
194/<i 9/45 ^ f
r- rtOP^
_\
X U vc the hoaouVnAo . L 0 ;ife.
565
«i9ta December i
Iih.
ft Mr. 3heahan, Chief
Inspector oi the Imperial Bank, of Tran paid a visit to Tabriz on - /
18th December 9 arriving there by ^ioviet plane. He found that
conditions in the atreats appeared almost normal. Chops were open
and the ho ha r ran roces ions iovini freely. Traffic control ./as
in the hands of the rersian police but the streets were lightly
patrolled by re >el troops in civilian clothes with rifles. ’he
Imperial Bank of Iran was carrying on business as usual and had
not )ee > eted» The Manager reported that he could not gauge
the future situation as the autonomous "government” had only just
taken over and most of the oazaar was closed because of the
religious holi lays. ’he uan on private and coi; icrcial withdrawals
from the dank he Hi would make it difficult for certain ie chants
who were i v eoted. to the Imperial of Iran to pay their debts
to the latter. i g cr had/no qualms about his own safety
or that of his staff. The last thing the local "govern sent” wanted
was that foreigners should be moll or foreign interests lat-r—
fex d wi th.
On the following day he had an interview with Cub- anager
t for Tehran, the branch
the orders
orders oi tne
.nuter to pay
only if
»lacO of the
rifles. The
of
Ban
R ; elli.
The in
ana < ; er ’navir
ij X X l# X u x
Teh ran,
was
in
charge oi
Aghai
era ugh, vi
io was disrc
sgarding
of
the
Bank ,.elii
in T
ehran and v/f
is acting ur
ider the
loc
al
” go v e m.ne n t
• i i
o l<ad been
Ins ^ rue ted
ov t he J
che
cue
s drawn on
gove
rnnent accoi
mts only, t
tnd then
coante
x*signed by
the a
ppropriate *
’Min i! tries
'. In p]
usu
al
* ersian guards t
here were rt
;el guards
carrying
Bank s
ce ied to be
doir
^ no ousiiiGs
5b whatever
<xX161 . ;G v>
to
col
iect bills
or dx
S C O • 11X w S. * •
i he gu b—i«aiu
i^er aXx.«s
attempting
.. . Lch seemed to be toe sexxx
It was difficult to tell whe
he would have IHed to carry
Certainly he was not prepare
ov rn itnt 1 •
s he had been left in charge,
hia sympathies lay, but he said
ut his head office’s instructions,
to risk anything for the autonomous
b. On the aane day he had a talk with local I.anager of the
anglo-1 rani an Oil Company, Aghai i?’eroughi, who seemed energetic and
rageoue. He reported h; had moved fairly freely about his
district Inspecting his depots. There had b en little or no inter
ference with the company*s business. He thought the rebel forces
outnumbered the Persian troops six to one and that the latter were
right to surrender, since they would in any case have oeen wiped out,
thanks to the kussians. He put tht blame for the situation on the
British, who shoul have insisted on a joint occupation from the first
The local government were a set of criminals who would disappear over
the border in a night if the lersians were allowed to reoccupy the
province.
4. On the ;£Guh Dece sot r ht had a conversation with a local
Armenian banker who stated that he had heard that the "government"
were anxious for trade in the province to continue without inter
ruption and that they werv ready to help merchants. Sxpor'to to
Tehran of goods other than foodstuffs would continue, but only
against cash. Capital could not be exported fro-i the province. He
had also heard it suggested that the Russians would concentrate their
exports on Tabriz, instead of sending part to the oastian ports, so
as to force other provinces to do business with az rbaisjon. exports
to abroad from Azerbaijan would pass via Rowandirz or Jatum. he
thought that the bon on drawings on private and co mereial accounts
:it tin 3t-ik ,ielli o ild oe relaxed gradually.
i
iUf’M
in/ic
‘J ' ’JANl94r : :
l Mm office'