Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎87r] (174/1237)

ii&Yfcs beim or two previous ^•rnands oy the Party for the? re ioval
of tm Post aM telegraph Master of the town. From reporter aching
i&oi’ijSi alter aomw delay p It < ould appear that about AU&ust ^Oth.
Kahlrl he £ an to lead & thorough going attack on local Persian
hw^mment officials. Uhs removal of the Postmaster wa.. again
de.uahbedf presusaably &, ,..uue this official is in a position wo inte2 v,, '
ru t Xuueh c QBimuxii cat ions. Ihe gitation would seem to have had the
iihiAfleieaey of the Municipal services for one of its muin themes,
t lxice the Mayor of Maragi^a, Agha MuJ tahud Mad eh, was seise 1 , oy 1 u- - e h
emhera, ■ iven a broom ,nd dustpan and forced to sweep up the main
fitroet. i'he Ue&d of the loc^i Putolic ae^lth hepartaent was beaten up
Vt th abMes time. A day or bQ later hablri telegraphed to raoris and
Tehran cieiuanding the r-~*uoval of all the heads ox Govem^-ent
Departments at present In Msr&gha*
un Attgust 5lst. it was leu that one Gurdan of Persian troopSj
under the coaaanu of Sargura Gafvat, had been despatched to Maragha
on the orders of General eehanhani, ano that jiartlsl lav. had been
©at^blibhed tiA«re • fhe Mayor and Public Prosecutor of Marv-gha Utgha
mueta-ihari) fled to iabris. Aablri was reported at the same time
to have sent at« message to the do vie t uonbUi.-Grcne ral Ik# re, apprising
dim of the unanimous debix % e of trie people of Maraghs that Huaaian
troops saould not leavt f the country. The Persian military ooanander
in ths town Inpoaeu a curfew, but the uuddh Party tore the notices
down.
Un deptc-mber ^rd*, it was reported that the toting Parnandar of
Martha, ikgha Asinah, had arrived in fanris, rand that the accountant
of the nunici #allty had been badly beaten up and brought to Tabris,
©here he died" in hospital. After the flight of the Acting Farsaandar,
it seems that dargurd Safvat assumed his iuactions, and promptly
arrested Kabi’i Mablri. Infomatioa about what followed comes from
Persian military sources, bus tne general outline is moot probably
true, fne hovio t lown Comuaikisnt, hearing of Mablri’a irrest, orders*
all Persian troops ana police to be confined to barracks and put a
. 3 sl&n a. he then sent to t f ioer i3
charge, lieutenant nans eh, ordering him to declare what am a he had.
fhe lieutenant refused, ihe Town Co-a a fid ant then suamoned Sorgurd
Cafvat to his office and obliged him to oran the Ucutenaat by
telephone to hand ovi-r all tbs am® o~ the Guru an. 'fheee were brougid
to the Oomandatur ana locked in a room under Euasian guard. Gargui*d
Maivst las detained by the It own Go ^mandsmt about sis h^urs, and
during this time Kabiri was released by his p^rty, and made a
triumphant speech in the main street, ihen tnc - eraiau troops had
been disarmed the order confining them to barracks was cancelled.
Meanwhile, Civiaxonal ii.d* at fabric had learned what was going
on, i tDfd sent two majors by car to invusti^ate. fney stopped in
Maragha by Euasian military, not allowed to leave their oar, and
finally escorted back to the check post on the la or is road# On the
orders of the i’own Uoanandant bar guru dufvat cancelled iil?# previous
order imposing martial law. juieutsnant Daneah was t j ld to leave the
town immediately, and is now ia xabris.
both these ofxleers ax^e reported to nave been reprimanded oy
their superiors for obeying tlie verbal order® of tbs Moviet iown
Commandant •
At the time at writing the position would appear to be that the
i’udeh Party are in effective oontrol ox the town. It is on id tnst
tney have employed the town criers to announce that all claimo and
complaints and other public business must be referred ast to a
Government department, but to habiri and his second, faghisadeh.
By the usual process of invera ion, th«# fuueh Party in Tabriz
&r<.. ixow cl aiming that the murdered munielpsl accountant w&a one of
their own men aiki that he was killed cy the Persian ailitaxy.
176 . utht'T Tucich Affolr^ . it wae rumoured here ia August th*t the
f&brls Xuden «woutf Araachir hovan^csian was to be deprived of uls
pax'll ament sry i^aunity so that he could be prosecuted for his alleged
> rt in the Li^van. aiGair. he arrived in Tabri* for the Anniversary
v /of