Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎75r] (150/1237)

I .vice. But X thinit Xangineh’e description the more rjliable, as the
Iraq,! informant mai r v/ell have mistaken the Soviet flac* v/hich the
tlahabad Kurds frequently fly, for the Kurdish flag. Zanglneh tho^ht
the Kurus in the Mahabad region were all solidly for the Komala,
including all the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. Sadelis, chiefs of the powerful Dehboukri
tribe. The only chief of note who stood outside was Qaraini Agha,
kziown as Amir ul ’assha’ir, who lives in Lahijun, near Khaneh. Omar
iJian of the Shakkak, the old co irade of the late isinail Agha (Simco)
/J 7aB t the Acting Governor ral said, a member of t- I had
previously heard that Omar Khan had not cooiitted himself.
11. - I mentioned that the Russian authorities in Khoi had said that
security on the Khoi-Resaieh road was not good. 3arhang Zangineh said
that he had had no report of any particular incident there recently, but,
of course, acts of banditry did occur from time to time on any road in
Azerbaien. He told me that one Kurdish highwayman, Kopi, who had held
ur, and stolen the cargo of 8 lorries .between Maragha and Mianduab some
time ago, had recently been arrested in liolduz and brought to Rezaieh.
He will be sent to Tabriz for trial. He also volunteered the
information that two days before my visit there had been a murder in the
principal square of Khoi. (See para.6 above). Two "muhajirs”, it
sterns, had been to see the SotIi in Commandant, and just as they
ca.ie ou\ of his office they were attacked by a townsman of Khoi who
stabbed them both, killing one and wounding the other. The murderer
was arrested and taken to the police station. While the investigation
watf proceeding, the son of the dead man carae in and shot at the
murderer but missed him and hit the mui
hit the mdrclerer’s father who was standing
by. The Acting Governor-Oeneral remarked that he supposed there was a
woman In the quarrel somewhere.
12. Sarhang Zanyineh came to return my call early in the morning of
uy departure fra.t Hezaie.i (August 7th). His visit van brief, but he
spoke somewhat more freely as my interpreter was not there, and Zangineh
can express himself well enough in French. His theme was the familiar
one of Russian interference. A good deal of propaganda was going on
for a union of Soviet arid "Southern 5 ' Azerbaijan, and the RuS; Ians were
undouotedly actively aiding the Kurdish Independence movement. In this
connection he told me that the day before certain Kurds had arrived and
were trying to arrange the despatch of 300 reinforcements from Rezaieh
to the Kurds who are fighting against Persian troops in the Uerivan area.
They were being helped by the Soviet authorities, but he did not know
whether the reinforcements had actually left. On the other hand, five
kcmala agents who had recently arrived in the town from Mahabad had been
arrested by the Iranian authorities and had been sent to Tabriz by the
lake steamer. Throe of them rx?re young men educated in laghdad,
speaking Anglish and Arabic as well as Kurdish, Persian and Turki. The
other two were tribesmen acting as a bodyguard. Reshed :^eg Herki, it
appeared, was now back from his visit to Iraq, as Sarhang Zangineh had
just learned that he had had a meeting with I-ajor Jaafarov in his home
village of Mavana. , .
13* I had made appointments to call on my Russian and Turkish \
colleagues on Monday morning* Talaat Bey Acharer, the Turkish
Consul-General, whom, somewhat to my surprise, I found in residence \he
much prefers Tehran), was in good spirits in spite of the deadly f
dullness of life in Rezaieh. That it must be dull I con well b:i|ove,
as I found him inclined to sigh nostalgically for the past pleasure^ c?f
uedda, whei’e he was some years ago First Uecretary of the Turkish \
Legation. He regretted that my very short stay in Rezaieh did not 3\ve H -
him time to organize what he called a "banquet" for me in the country \
outside the town. He told me that in order to put a little life into
Rezaieh society he had organized a club. The first meeting, he said,
was well attended, but attendance had rapidly declined until the sole
members were now himself and the Turkish Vice-Consul, M* Bahry. It was
impossible to got the Russians in the town to share in any informal
social life. .Talaat ley, whose id strict Includes Kermanahah and
iiaiaadan, appeared to be chiefly interested in two topice: the Kurdish
question/