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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [554r] (1110/1237)
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
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3
disarm the tribes as an opportunity for seizing the tribesmen’s flocks. I think
that perhaps he forgot he was an official and spoke as a property-owner, with a
good deal to lose if serious trouble ensues in the Maragha district. His statement
is in direct contrast with the official Persian version, which always begins with
the accusation that the tribes were guilty of looting, but it corresponds closely
^^■•iyith the Russian explanation of how the trouble began in the Rezaieh district,
/ou will recollect that Serhang Hashimi recruited gendarmes and armed
civilians there for the purpose of disarming the Kurds and that the first, and
virtually the only, achievment of the gendarmes was to kill and rob some Kurds
bound for Mehabad on business. Indeed, Mr. Kabiri’s remarks were so
un-Persian in their form that I wondered at one stage whether he might not have
come under Russian influence, or be giving me a prepared story for quotation to
the Russians. I think the chances are that he was sincere, but I was careful to
make suitable remarks which could bear repetition either to Persians or to
Russians.
10. Assuming that there is truth in what the Governor said. Mr. Kabiri’s
version of the proceedings against the tribes east of Maragha provides one more
illustration of the utter worthlessness of the gendarmerie, as well as proving
the Russian case that in the matter of looting there is little to choose between
the Moslems and the Kurds, except that the Kurds are more effective. The
only remedy which I can suggest is a reconstituted gendarmerie under foreign
officers. The present force has no health in it whatsoever; it is rotten throughout.
It does not matter that the orders given to it are in the public interest, because
when entrusted with their execution it perverts them into occasions for brutality
and robbery. Honest Persians admit this. I understand that an attempt is
being made to secure order in Kurdistan by giving the Kurds the responsibility
for guarding the roads, but this cannot be entirely satisfactory, or more than
a temporary solution at best. Foreign officers of the right type might make
something of these same Kurds, however, and, being free from all taint of racial
or religious feud, they might be able to secure co-operation between disciplined
Kurds and a rehabilitated Persian gendarmerie where no Persian officer can
hope to succeed.
I have, &c.
R. W. URQUHART.
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.’ [554r] (1110/1237), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3524, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069965569.0x00006f> [accessed 14 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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