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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎40r] (80/1237)

The record is made up of 1 file (615 folios). It was created in 16 Dec 1941-6 Mar 1946. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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Xaurlz uijiiU lot: 1945 . Ha, IT . ^,q,aax.\ta« t'J
206. Gwimral .>lt>u .j l,l yg . Ih« jaain subject ol public: inti©rest in Tabriz
duriiig the l&et three iseelts hat been the n ppoint*aent of s new Governor-
General* The matter haa hung fir© since last Tiarch and there seams to
be no reason *hy it should not continue to hang Tire until next March*
but new interest has lately been aroused in it by the departure of the
‘“"Scting Governor-General and the news that Mehdi Tarrukh had been
^pointed as Governor-General • Th® latter*® i . iinent arrival has be en
^reported every day for the last fortnight* but he still tarries in
Tehran* The civil administration is now presumably ia the hands ?f
the Chief Secretary (Kaie-i-Gaftar) - but no-one is quite clear on
this point.
In local politics the period has been a bus/ one, with the
Democratic Tarty strenuously organizing itself for the coming struggle*
It has settled its internal constitution and produced a lengthy
programme of action to supplement its initial manifesto* According to
1 the latest declaratins oi its press it is now all set to begin its
j fight for an autonomous Azerbaijan.
From the huraish districts comes news of a new harmony between
Kurds and Azerbaijan Democrats and of intensified preparations for a
campaign for Kurdish independence* As at moat ti ;C 8 during the paat
twelve months there is an air of approaching crisis in the affairs
of Azerbaijan, and, aa alwa/g, it is impossible to tell whether this
ti...e too it will all dissolve in vapour Inge or not.
207* Local G ov a rodent * After several attempts, the Acting Gnftremor-
Gencral, Aghai A.V. Nikjou, would appear at last to have persuaded the
Central Government to accept his resignation, or, according to another j
point oi view, the Central Government are at last convinced that it is
unwise to leave him in office any longer* ihe Director of the
Department of Justice, A^hsimcd All Mumtaz, was Instructed cy Tehran
to taku over Uie local government until the arrival of mehdi Farrukh, j
the Governor-Gener.l dsfci^n&to, but Mumt z deollaed* His refusal seema
to have called forth a re cuke, but he was not to be moved* Hi'-cjon,
meanwhile, informed the heads of the Government departments in Tabriz
that he had ceased to function as Acting UaWidar and had excused
himself from executing any more instructions received from the
Gentral Government• This appears to have been on October 9th* On
October 12th* Hikjou abruptly announced that he was leaving the town,
and caught the aeroplane for Tehran on October 13th*
Kikjou, who, as Diractox of Gustoms, and in the early d-r t ye of his
appointment Acting Governor-General, was a popular character, has
been accused by the conservative merchants and landlord* of having
completely sold th? pass to the TUdeh (later Democratic) Party and the
Hub si ^ns* Thers is no do^bt that wh<^re tii© interests oi the two sides
have clashed he has yielded to the pro-huasian party, but it ia hard
to bq e what else he could have dine, he has consistently declared that
he thought it was in the best interests of Azerbaijan to bar before the
storm, do ng what he could to prevent open violence. There ia some
thing to be said for hie point of view, but he has not been uniformly
successful In keeping the peac<*
The only senior Iranian oiiicial of any i port a ace now remaining
in Tabriz is the Commandant of the Tnird Diviei n, Sartip Durakhshani.
When asked if he was responeible for the adaini* tration of tha province
this officer said he was not* Asked who was, he said he didn’t know*
He would, however, he declared, do nis duty as long as he remained here
and accept responsibility for law and order.
The head of the civil administration, theoretically, ia Aghai
fusuf Ilmi, the Rais-i-Daftar, or Chief Secretary of the Governorate-
Gene rai•
On tlie 16 th. October it was so firmly believed that Mehdi Farrukh,
the Governor-General designate, had left Tehran that the Persian
Oommandant sent a sn 11*fore* of troops to meet him* (See para 208
below). It was l <ter le rned that he had not left Tehran. Similar
/rep rta

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Content

Reports and correspondence concerning the internal situation in Azerbaijan and Tabriz during the region’s occupation by Soviet military forces, part of the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia [Iran] in the Second World War. The file chiefly comprises reports, submitted on a monthly (and later fortnightly) basis by the British Consul-General at Tabriz, reporting on events in Azerbaijan and Tabriz. Reports up to July 1942 are printed, while subsequent reports are typewritten. The typewritten reports are organised under subheadings that vary from one report to the next, but generally cover: weather; agriculture, locust movements, food supply and reports of hoarding; consular tours; the activities of consular colleagues and counterparts; local government, local politics, and elections; Kurdish affairs, including events at Rezaieh [Orūmīyeh]; Armenian affairs; public order; the activities of the Persian, Russian and United States military; trade, commerce and labour; transport and communications, including convoys, and the activities of the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation (UKCC); propaganda. From late 1944 onwards the reports increasingly focus on rising political and social unrest in Azerbaijan, which would eventually culminate in the Iran-Azerbaijan crisis of 1946. These later reports focus on the emergence and activities of new political parties (including the Tudeh Party and the Democratic Party), new political newspapers, and Soviet activities in Azerbaijan.

The file also includes: correspondence sent by the British Ambassador in Tehran, Reader William Bullard, forwarding the Tabriz Consul’s reports with comments to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; note sheets covering numerous reports, giving a précis of the report’s contents; the translation of a report by the Persian Minister for War, secretly obtained by British sources, describing military and political conditions at Rezaieh, dated 17 May 1942 (ff 560-564); a report of a visit to Rezaieh in February 1945, compiled by the British Consul-General at Tabriz (ff 147-154).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (615 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 617; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎40r] (80/1237), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3524, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069965564.0x000051> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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