Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎253r] (508/1237)

element, told m of their dif ioulty in restraining the hot-heads
from nfrticinatlag In polities and ar© still full of fears for
tha sttieiy of the Assyrian element *?hoa th© f osle?a8 can a&ain
tyire free rein to their pent-up fanatioian*
4 # X Min able to hare tro long oonversatloaa with the
\aoYernor-Oeneral, Ssrlmug All Akbsr Durakhshoni, who, during the
two monthe he hae hoen at Reeaieh has d ne naach towards re
st blisMag general oonfidenca after the disorde s of last July
and in making the Kurds and other elecaemte unders and that the
"orsian authorities are still a factor to be reckoned with.
Although a soldier, he is averse to the use of fores where it can
possibly be avoided and considers that even with the sm&ll force
at his disposal he can mi :tain order now and on the withdrawal
of the soviet troops# un this latter point he may b® soraewhat
too optimistic, but ha© general ideas on the handling of the
situation are undoubtedly sound* He realised on his arrival that
the Kurds and other Maori ties thought that the authority of the
Persian Government had virtually ceased to exist and that they
were destined to become Soviet citizens* He has already had some
success in mking them understand that tho MoAioaA^flj.1 go and
the Persians will regain and that iin^e meantime internal affairs
are primarily his concern* One oroof of the changed attitude of
the Kurds is that they no longer queue up at the Soviet Consulate
*lth their grievance* 9 but come to the Governorate and many Kurd
ish chiefs h^ve spontaneously expressed their fidelity to the
Iranian Government. Sarhaag Burakhshani is even confident that
he could disarm the Kurds without bloodsiied if permitted to remain
in Heealeh* Thera seems coneiderfible doubt, however, as to the
length of his stay, there being © strong rurour that he is unlike
ly to return from a. visit ha is shortly to o«y to Tehran. Hie
removal would, in ary opinion, be a misfortune, particularly if it
meant a reversion to e venal off icial, aaxlotl* to make personal
&***» ^1* ohler eim. Both the Persians and the Kurds with whom I
eooke had a good word to say for the present Govarnor-Ck-neral,
although H . Belikov of the Soviet Consulate is reported to have
said that he was running so fast that he would soon reach the end*
In point of f«ot, however, Sarhang iurakhshani has also tangible
successes to show in kia A deputy or lieutenant of the governor in Ottoman Iraq, with additional responsibilities as a high-ranking provincial judge. relations with the Soviet authorities.
5* The Gove nor-General had just returned from the second
visit he ted paid to Mahabad, where he ha d gone, on last notions
from Tehran, to repair the Mischief onased by the unauthorized
incursion of Sartip HuahJ^md, oosssander of the troops in Kurdistan
into a district which wjis not hi* own* This general was already
hated in Mahabed and his threats of violence ©gainst th© loc f 1
Kurdish chiefs had threatened to disturb the tranquillity of that
district* The Governor-General smoke vary warmly of the ^etebad
Kurds, drawing a sharp diatincion between their settled, orderly
existence and the turbulence of the Jelsli, Sh&kkftk and part of
* the Herki tribes to the Morth. He even had s good word for Gazl
S^hnmrd, who had professed that h© was a loyal Persian subject
and denied the extremist ideas attributed to him. He feund the
^angour tribe in a st t© of crnaic:*rable poverty, which he took
to bo the cause of the unrest amongst thea, and decided that as
soon as ever possible they and the other tribes should receive the
rationed goods to which they were eiititled. He likewise formed
no bad opinion of the various tribal chiefs, again comparing very
favourably tbeir tribal administration with that of the chiefs of
the northerly tribes just mentioned* The Governor-General does
not believe in the likelihood of the Hahabad Ku ds joining in any
movement against the Persian Government with the Bansh or Hezaleh
Kurds as he considers they have few ideas or interests in oonmon.
1 do not myself consider, however, that he is necessarily ri ht
as regards ths la ck of tie© between the Baneh and Mahabad Kurds:
both are slike very sensitive to any suggestion of the re-intro
duction of e repressive Persian regime threatening alike their
possessions and liberty. Cn© thing tbnt dls^le? sed Sarhang
Durekhshani in ^.shebad was the ineffectiveness of the Fermandar,
whom he found In almost complete ignornnoe of what wea afoot.