Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎548r] (1098/1237)

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July 24, 1942.
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Tabriz Diary No. 1, of Id
Section 1.
Gopy No.
—(Received in Foreign Office, July 24.)
I ARRIVED back in Tabriz on the 25th April and re-established the
consulate-general on the 27th April, 1942. This diary covers the months of
May and June. In future it will be written up fortnightly. I apologise for the
length of this number.
2. Azerbaijan revisited. —I had left Tabriz in 1937. The intervening years
have brought no great changes to the outward appearance of this province or of
its inhabitants, but they have given reality to that nightmare of all politically-
minded Persians : the Russians are here. I had heard so much before leaving
London, at various points on the way, and at Tehran, of Russian intransigence,
of their machinations and unscrupulous methods, that I approached my consular
district warily, ready for trouble at the first post. I met with none. If anyone
wishes to learn from my two months’ experience in Russian-occupied Azerbaijan
let him register that the Russians, certainly no angels, are equally certainly no
i ogres.
3. Weather. —In the early spring of every year millions of tons of water
rush away to waste in Azerbaijan, much of it through narrow defiles where it
could be conserved with relatively little effort. Every late spring and early
summer bring hot, dusty winds and a period of anxiety for the peasants. If there
is rain at frequent and regular intervals, all is well. If one or more of these
necessary rains fail the crops may be parched beyond recovery. This year all is
well with the crops. The thunderstorms of May and June were regular and
frequent over the whole area and the harvest ought to be good. In Western
Azerbaijan in particular, the peasants are now beginning to cut their best crops
in twenty years. It is thought that the Kurds will not interfere before the grain
has been threshed, at least, but there is some anxiety as to what may happen when
the granaries are full.
4. Agriculture .—The Finance Department is preparing for me and for my
Soviet colleague a statement which will, I hope, show how this year’s sowings
compare with last year’s, the estimated yield, and the stocks of grain, &c.
remaining over from last year.
5. Food Supplies .—Legation circulars exhorting consular officers to ensure
proper distribution of food supplies make somewhat academic reading at this
post, particularly as regards bread supplies. There is no shortage of food in
Azerbaijan so far. The quality, too, is good, generally speaking, although for
a period in June there was complaint that the cheapest type of bread had been
adulterated. Prices, however, are high for poor people, as the following figures
show :—
Commodity.
June 1938
June 1941
June 1942
Rials.
Rials.
Rials.
Wheat, per kilo
0-59
1 • 65
1-10
Bread
0-96
1-50
1 10
Rice ...
300
3-30
600
Sugar, moist
400
5-95
7-50
Sugar, loaf ...
4-30
7-00
8-50
Mutton
2-60
5-20
6-00
Ghee
... 10-80
16-00
36-00
Tea
... 44-00
70-00
120-00
Kerosine
1-35
1-65
2-65
Firewood
0-21
0-30
0-30
Charcoal
0-50
0-80
1 20
Milk
0-83
1-25
1-60
Potatoes
1-00
1-60
Fowls, each ...
4 00
10-00
14-00
Eggs, each
0-10
0-175
0-30
Prices have, of course, been rising for years, but the rate of increase has
quickened sharply since the occupation and the occupying powers are blamed
O