Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎231r] (464/1237)

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ends with an exhortation to &eraand the punishment of Sa’id and his
associates, MushaPj i.iururi # 2*8TinK.Qfsh and Kazitni| and the expulsion
from Iran of Seyyid Zia ud Din.
The well which Russian engineers have been sinking in the
Municipal Garden was finished before November 7th. It was formally
presented to the people of Tabriz on that day to mark the anniversary
of the Revolution and as a token of the friendship between the
^r^nisn and Soviet peoples. It is said to be over 150 metres deep
„.nd to give about 3,000 litres of water aday.
The new Russian school, mentioned in ^iary No.17, paragraph
271, is now open for the attendance of children up to the fourth
class.
298. Oil Concession. Demonstrations and meetings organized by
the Tudeh Party and The Jibhei ^zadi continued up to November 7th.
On that daythe news was received in Tabriz that the Soviet Govern
ment had agreed to the postponement of the question of oil concess
ions until after the war. The agitation ceased almost at once. A
crowd which had as ambled, as on every day of the preceding week,
before the Municipal offices, w's addressed by Birya, who thanked
them for their past efforts and told them that there was now no
further need for their services, as the matter * had been settled
in Tehran’. Their day was not spoilt, however, for there were
plenty or processions forming up in honour of the October xievolu^ion,
and it was only a question of getting a different set of banners.
The last days of the agitation h«d been quite orderly. The
Tudeh Party had appointed their own special constables who kept
order at the meetings and patrolled the bazaar wearing brassards with
the words * Mamur Intizamat Tudeh* on them. There is little doubt
that the action of the Soviet authorities in disarming the Persian
police and army officers, however deplorable it may have been from
the point of view of the prestige of the Persian administration, did
at least serve the practical end of averting further bloodshed.
Experience ha^a shown that guns in the hands of the Persian police
will go off, and another corpse or- two would not have eased the
situation. The Soviet authorities no doubt felt that there was never
any danger of the demonstrators, for their part, exceeding a certain
degree of violence. The police and army officers h ve now received
their arms back. ^ J .. . r ^
It is naturally not possible to ascertain the exact extent or
■ Soviet instigation of the agitetion: there ere numerous stories
whose chief importance is that they show how wide a field it was
attempted to cover in seeking support for the Russian demand.
example, a Tabriz doctor says that he was asked by the -evict
General to call the members of his profes ion together anu send an
agreed telegram to the Government demanding compliance with tna
Russian request in the interests of the poor of Azerbaijan, ke avcrs
that he did invite a number of his colleagues to his house, but
addressed them in such a way as to lead them to turn ^ ^oposoI
down, whereupon he virtuously reported to the soviet uonsul-Gener&l
that he had done his best, but he feared the profession didn t really
care about the poor of Azerbaijan.
Another report is that about 70 of the retail sellers o*
kerosene in Tabriz were assembled by one of t ^® ir nu ® b an *
and taken to the Soviet Consulate-General on the pretext thet some
more advantageous conditions for the sale of T® t ! r !
be announced to them. When they got there eight before
viewed by Kassan Hassanov, the Caucasian Vice-Consul, w..o laid befor
them the text of a telegram which he asked them to sign. ^1 oun
one excuse or another for refusing. ^ ^
Again, Ibrahim Ilkhan The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. .h -adeh reports that he was ^ K ^ oy
Hassan Haesanov to ask his rather, Amir Asad, to persuade the Kurdish
chiefs of Bukan to send a joint telegram.
Enquiry into the shooting on October 30th. ’”^ e “ °“ e
killed and another wounded (Diary Ko.lB, paragraph 288 ) does not
seem to have been prosecuted with vigour or ‘ Q isgi _
definite conclusion. On November 6th. it a / t
on from Tehran had arrived here, composed ® r ‘-- a ]*ang Narzan. (
time chief of the Divisional Staff -’Rais-l-otad - * * .
Sarhang ,.zad Tegzana, Aarhang Mazhari, who has he y„ 8briz