Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎72r] (144/1237)

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Sir,
945
British Consulate-General,
3U3HIZ.
August 12th, 1945.
BH i have the honour to abmit the following report of a tour of the
liurth Western part of niy Consular District which, as indicated in my
Tele,-ram No«62, I have just made. I was accompanied by Mr. yarbudi,
the interpreter of this Consulate-General.
r^y intention was principally to visit iiaku, which no^British^^
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Consular Ofticer has seen since the occupation. As there is no nooeu.
in Haku and no person vdth British con:x cticns v/hose hospitality I might
by custom expect to enjoy, I telegraphed to the Acting Govemor-Gener;il
of yes tern Azerbaijan (the Fourth Us tan) on July 31st asking him ii he
could arrange accommodation for me in Maku on the night of July 55tn.
As I had received no reply from the ustandar by July ^th and +/
obliged by other circumstances to put off my visit, I decided to JP Jry
• iglcu the follov/ing v/eeic by way of ezaieh and see what could be arranged
from there. Maku was already among the towns specified on ny Marxian
pass.
3 . x left Tabriz on the morning of August 4th and reached I.larand,
where the road to Khoi and \ estern Azerbaijan branches fro<^i the main
Tabriz-Julfa road, at about ha If-past nine. The main Julfa road is in
very good condition sand it is possible to travel at a hi^h speed on it^
without risk of damage. On the Tabriz side of Maraud I found a Soviet
check-post v/hich had not existed v»hen .;r. fang passed through too re on
June 19th. I called on the Bakhshdar (i.iayor), Ibrahl i Khodjesteh, a
youn>; man of pleasant appearance and manners, who gives an impres.sic.• oi
being both intelligent and active, and wfao has shown himself ver^/
tov/ards this Consulate-General. He speacs Russian fluently ann unde mfe xl
a little gnglish. He was formerly Baklishdar of Mishgin Gha*ir and uertai
in Dastem Azerbaijan and appears to be an authority on personalities |
and organization of the Shahsevan tribe. I gathered that he had no
particular worries i a^:rarian trouble in his district had not open
sei 3 ious; the harvest was good and relati ons with the aovie^ authorities
and the Tudeh Party not too bad. The district of Maraud has a population
of about 14,000 and is purely agricultural, the principal crop being
fruit. Mr. khodjesteh estimates the annual produewion ot apricots at
about 3,000 tone. The process of gathering anti drying apricots in the
sun was in full swing at the time of my visi .
4 . The chief news he had to tell me ;as of a rur ier wwicn bad
occurred in Sofyan the night before. So^an ie aidway bet-pen abri.
TT^pand. The Bakhshdar’s version oi die af ail was tn-o jour
Soviet soldiers from Tabriz had arrived in Hofyan
mit the bailiff in chirge of some property beloni^ing the
af-esLclf vhatever the reason for their interview, it had been
a ItoU one. The bailif: web alleged to have dm,vn a ^volver «ao
thereupon promptly shot mead by the -ied iirmy m-,.. ^ ^i ^-n g'M ~
airv the 0 o C. Russian Troons in Azerbaijan, nod gone to vjo!^ .i.i
lm”late3y on reoeinnfc'the news about 2 a.m. ertSS
Men present at the preliminary inveeU^tion. me ijoIVT^ ox to- -ri «
-■/ere not yet clear, but the Bakhshdar thought it .il .ht be the result of
axi old quarrel. There was no ougsesticn that if had any poli-l<-al
significance.
5 . x wn s told by Ur. khodjesteh that 106 people fron the arancl
district, chiefly "Huhajlro" (formerly residents in the haa
joined in the attempted mass uigration to the soviet t erMan l'<v
, i : < --:u . -t He said that Persian xm
S!3ib^CH^S^kVt?ed t hylsa 0 ic h |oi^ir?M.h Ut exit
visas/
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. Bullard, MeG. A ,i
... . buosador,
TAHRAH.
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