Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎89r] (178/1237)

U-ilvstFsity• It» ao©ial» ^cosxoulo ajnd political ideals are
irreproiiciiai'le• Qfts ot}^r point ol interest In ttie la^nifeato is tlie
deaaM for a r«-disti ibution of scats la the Majlis so as to give
Azerbaijan a nu-tier ol deputies prop• -* us, i^nfet 9 to. itb^ populations
whioh is claimed to be 4 millions, fac i)moagm%ic Ppety accordingly
dcmsM one tbird of tae M&jiie seats 5'or flWMWmfjan# * Instead of tbs
present twenty. s ^ .*
riahavari, idiui-s lehr an nsw»par>«- Aj^p/idLfaid to have boon
t-usps-idedf sae at first reported to b 1 about to publjlsh it bars# but
>s)n be ‘tember 5 th. the firet number of the. new Party h official organ#
. 41 . r bald an, a peered bearing the namcj of-AljLbhaoistkry a® editor.
hi seem to have pu 11 shed s nev.apapstLJlLjJfeL f . gaiac 4 ame hare some
year... ago* ii 2 :t?rbai:iLin is- a sintlc sheet# . rltfin mostly in furki#
but containing a reT articles in Persian. Besides sa editorial
declaration 01 policy thie first n*iiaber contains an article entitled
w At the dross Roads j our b&st £ord*, in whio i the Party declares quiot
openly that the present r action ry policy of the Central Oovcmaent
U\ inspired by Loncbn# and. tiiat if Tehran wishes to persist in this
pc 11 oy it mast b<i prepared to esy good-bye to Azerbaijan.^
Torea other prominent member* of the freedom Front# Turabi, the
editor of hlip-.v ,,r~i-aav > Faridun Xbrahimi # the redactenr re a pons able
of the aame, am: liuacsela Gull Katibi, v.hoae own newspaper# F .rvad.
has ceased publication, remain for the tine being outside the new
Party•
It is inconceivable that the Rusciah cuthoritlfe vould permit
the eatahllshnent of a party here which was in any way 0 posed to the
line that hat- been lei... down for rudeh Iran, bocal conservative
opinion is that the new party la merely 0 manoeuvre designed to get
ov-r the awkward fact that Tudeh’a violence nas so diegusted the
majority of the inhabitants of this province that many will find the
courage to vote against candidates calling themselves Tudeh in the
f 0 rthcomlng 01 ^ at ions.
ITS. *.u,,lah In th* last ,vU In Aagttjt tJwr* was a
shirmibn between Z±ro iigna’e men and gendarmes at th& bridge of
Ettlnnej# near Re sale h* Two gendarmes were killed. A bo ay of about
70 gendaf&i&s was sent from Rezaieh to attack the /Curds# but ’sas
stopped on the vay ay Russian troops who dissrat i them and cent the
aiVtuc. hacK to the Persian Goa^aundcint. When tha latter protected# the
Russian Gov^saxidsat said nia men had acted in good faith# thinking
t h^ gend u me s werf b and its.
the three i'Comsla envoys were arrei tod at Resaleh on August
Gth. (Diary M 0 * 13# para 163}, the Komela in iiahabad promptly seized
the decrepit Farmsndar and several ether Persians and asked Oazi
Mohamed * s pe mi as ion -0 kill them* Oasi nohsaaed discouraged this
Ltcp# and on new© arriving that the three envoys had been freed# the
hostages were set at liberty. The F&jia^ndar# %ith singular Isc^ of
judgement, promptly went off for a quiet holiday to Maragha.
Two inforaants from Mahabad give news of e rift in the Kmale
lute. It would appear that a Kurd called Kirza Kafur Mahisudian,
seconded by a certain Armenian named Aram from Miaadu b, has fsundsd
a branch of the Tudeh P&rty In Uahabad and has di*awn off quite a
large number of K omul a memhe rs. Agitation against the influence of
chiefs laud lords is said to have begun# and tht? movement mey
represent# if nothing else# resentment at the assumption of too much
authority Gy Urazi lion, iiad* One informant thinks that th* Russian
authorities have cooled iu their friendship towards Ko&aXs ^and
remarks by Russian officials about Kurdish lawlesoneas land *?ome
colour to thio view) and maintains that tha Ian vice—Goniul at
Resaleh refused to iutervenu at (»asi Mohtmed s request to secure
the release of the three Romala envoys at Rccaieh* The r<. ason for
Russian cooliie-ss is said to be that they auapcct the British ot
supparting the Komala! Rue si an vial tors to Mshebsd in the last few
weelcs have been fairly numerous and have included, besides the
Soviet Vice-Doneul from Rezaieh# Uma*o£f, the town ommmamt of
Miaaduab# Balim Astlkhim# said to bo a senior officer from dazvia#
and M&m&Qftf the political officer at Raged eh. Mr. faettuboff, the
Gouneellcr of the -Soviot Itabaefly# is aleo said to have visited,
Muhabad during, hie recent trip to Western Azerbaijan.
/Bazi