Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [512r] (1026/1237)
The record is made up of 1 file (615 folios). It was created in 16 Dec 1941-6 Mar 1946. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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86
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S ? * LuC/iL « On January 4th the new /Oovarnor-
oeneral t,ava a Iarge party in the municipal building,
reputed to have the largest reception room iji Ira^4a?fc
excluding the Officers* Club in Tehran. H.i
were brought forth for the occasion; there was an orchestra
playing in reasonable harmony, considering that it was com
posed of individuals drawn from the three competing and
bitterly hostile orchestras of Tabriz; and there was a meal
^ of good quality without any of the ostentation which usually
^ mars such occasions. But we were made to stand, some seventy
^persons, throughout the meal, and there was no placing. My
poor Soviet colleague made a rush when supper was announced
and went along the corridor twenty yards ahead of the main
body of male guests, when the national anthems were played
the British preceded the "InternationaDd'. After I had said
”a few words'* time. nuznetzov took her husband apart from the
table ana spoke with him urgently, but he remained speech-bound
and was an unhappy man for the rest of the evening. It is
disappointing to iind realists like the Russians taking such
trifles to heart, out I don*t think it will upset Mr. Kuznetzov
for long. He is a good fellow and was quite restored to good
spirits wnen I saw him a few days later.
Tfce-Qoycn'iwp S<inu-r»l~ hod a good deal- to say about-~a
purge • -&tee wteae At. When I made one of my
periodic visits to enquire about progress with wheat collection,
the Governor-General had much to say about the corruption and
incompetence of officials in the Finance aid Wheat Monopoly
Departments, and he said he was going to clear out a number of
them. I wondered if we had a strong hand in Azerbaijan at
last, but was disappointed when I found that he had merely
passed the suggestion on to Mr. Vivian, leaving him to take
action so unpopular. M r * Vivian, quite rightly I consider,
decided to have a try at making the department work as it is.
After all, there exists no reserve from which competent
officials can oe recruited to replace the duds and the dis
honest in this country and Mr. Vivian has enough to do for
the moment without looking for trouble, lie may even, by his
example, move these departments to some sort of effective
action, but sooner of later he will have to gut rid of some
whose best endeavours must necessarily be dev »ted to covering
up their past sins.
Six officials have been sent from Tehran to assist
Mr. Vivian and he is sending them out to wheat-growing centres
as his own. Some of them are known in Tabriz, and they were
classified as ’*Kohna Gurdler'* - meaning '’old wolves'*, which is
the generic term in Azerbaijan for Persian officials.
About this item
- Content
Reports and correspondence concerning the internal situation in Azerbaijan and Tabriz during the region’s occupation by Soviet military forces, part of the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia [Iran] in the Second World War. The file chiefly comprises reports, submitted on a monthly (and later fortnightly) basis by the British Consul-General at Tabriz, reporting on events in Azerbaijan and Tabriz. Reports up to July 1942 are printed, while subsequent reports are typewritten. The typewritten reports are organised under subheadings that vary from one report to the next, but generally cover: weather; agriculture, locust movements, food supply and reports of hoarding; consular tours; the activities of consular colleagues and counterparts; local government, local politics, and elections; Kurdish affairs, including events at Rezaieh [Orūmīyeh]; Armenian affairs; public order; the activities of the Persian, Russian and United States military; trade, commerce and labour; transport and communications, including convoys, and the activities of the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation (UKCC); propaganda. From late 1944 onwards the reports increasingly focus on rising political and social unrest in Azerbaijan, which would eventually culminate in the Iran-Azerbaijan crisis of 1946. These later reports focus on the emergence and activities of new political parties (including the Tudeh Party and the Democratic Party), new political newspapers, and Soviet activities in Azerbaijan.
The file also includes: correspondence sent by the British Ambassador in Tehran, Reader William Bullard, forwarding the Tabriz Consul’s reports with comments to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; note sheets covering numerous reports, giving a précis of the report’s contents; the translation of a report by the Persian Minister for War, secretly obtained by British sources, describing military and political conditions at Rezaieh, dated 17 May 1942 (ff 560-564); a report of a visit to Rezaieh in February 1945, compiled by the British Consul-General at Tabriz (ff 147-154).
The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (615 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 617; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [512r] (1026/1237), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3524, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069965569.0x00001b> [accessed 13 July 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3524
- Title
- Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 1ar, 2r:69v, 71r:136v, 138r:150v, 150ar:150av, 151r:194v, 196r:197v, 199r:300v, 302r:420v, 424r:560v, 565r:575v, 577r:581r, 583r:616v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence
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