Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎454r] (910/1237)

3
5. Spring Sowings .—These are everywhere in the Rezaieh area above the
average and, with the heavy snowfall this winter, should produce bumper harvests.
Forty tons of rice seedlings promised by the Persian (lovernment aie anxious
awaited. This rice, at present at Mianeh, should, with the help being gi\en b\
British military convoys to transport it to labriz, get to Rezaieh in time foi
sowing. Harvest prospects will, however, depend to a very great extent on the
Kurdish situation. . ,
^ 6 Kurds and Security .—There is every reason to believe that the Kurds are
arming as hard as they can. They are purchasing rifles at exorbitant prices,
frequently paying with the grain that they pillaged last vear. throughout
Western Azerbaijan there seems to be a great fear amongst the cultivators that
the events of last year will be repeated. Nothing has yet been done or said to
alleviate this fear, and recent incidents (detailed later) have not helped to improve
the situation. The answer lies with the Russians. ‘The Persians sit bacK and,
when things go wrong, just say “ Non mea culpa.” The Russians retaliate with
the fiction that it is not their affair. But this mutual “ washing of hands will
not solve the problem. I feel, after mv contacts with Doth Russian and Persian
officials in Rezaieh, that the Russians came into this country without any policy
whatsover, and that they have got themselves into a pretty sorry mess. I heir
first idea was that the Persians would be of no help to them and that the Kurds,
being violently anti-Persian, might; so they tried to make friends with the Kurds,
even going to the length of rearming them. Because things went well m the
Caucasus for the Russians, the Kurds have been naturally strongly pro-Russian.
But if the Germans had succeeded in breaking through the Caucasus to 1 ersia. i
am sure the Russians would have found their own arms turned against them
by the same Kurds* who would have seen vistas of great plunder opened to t em.
However having made these overtures to the Kurds the Russians now find
themselves saddled with a rather tiresome and embarrassing friend.
M Maximoff, the Soviet Consul in Rezaieh, seems to appreciate the necessity
for settled conditions in Western Azerbaijan and the production this year of the
highest possible quantity of food-stuffs. He has on several occasions helped the
Persian authorities to keep the Kurds in order and there is little doubt
the moral effect on the Kurds of M. Maximoff s associating himself with the
Persians is very great. Though the Russians have obviously no intention of
i ivin ; the Persians a free hand (which may be the reason why they have acquired
the reputation of being the “ protectors ” of the Kurds), I do
are doing other than discourage the Kurds from causing trouble he rurkish
Vice-Consul in Rezaieh thinks otherwise, and spoke darkly of the activities
of two Kurdish-speaking Russians, whose names, he said were Vusofov and
Tafarov and who are, according to him, constantly out amongst the Km ds.
added° that he doubted whether the Soviet Consul himself was kept .properly
fi fonned of their doings. Whilst the possibility of the Russians having some
dark plot up their sleeves cannot be completely disregarded, it seems at least
eouallv probable that these agents are no more sinister than our own political
officers in Iraqi Kurdistan, and that their task is to keep the Russian authorities
informed as to what the Kurds are up to. However, the Russians also have their
fair share of suspicions against us as is shown by their action m arresting a
peaceful Kurdish inhabitant of Rezaieh, one Mehmet Nndiq by name, and
expeUin.-' him from the Russian-occupied zone The suspicion that he was a
^British a-ent ” seems to have derived from the facts that he is the son of an
Iraqi Kurd, is well-educated and, amongst his accomplishments, counts a good
knowledge of Enghsh. - n^ ig stm exercised over the continued raids by
armed Kurds across the Turkish frontier. He says that one of the Turkish
Governors in the frontier zone has written to him to say that the people aie
raoTdlv losino- patience and that, unless the raids stop, there is danger that they
wm < et out If hand and start retaliatory raids into Persian territory He (the
vice-consul) is not concerned with the fate of the Kurds, nor particularly with
the effect of such raids on the relations between Turkey and leisia. but he is
afraid that if armed bands of Turks do cross the frontier, they may quite easily
come into conflict with Soviet troops, a happening to be avoided at all costs. He
told me finally that the Turkish forces on the frontier are to be conside ab >
strengthened in the spring. It is to be hoped that the Russians are told of any
^uchdndthe reasons which have made it X^lSt'a d^n7o TurS
certainlv suspect some ulterior motive. During the latest J have
territory the Kurds got away with more than 1.000 sheep, me Kiusiam nave