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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [607r] (1216/1237)
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.
OF HIS BBjTAffNIp
MAJESTY’S GOYERNMENT
PERSIA.
December 6, 1941.
CONFIDENTIAL.
19 41
- ! Section 2.
[E 8057/42/34]
Copy No. 9 4
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—{Received December 6.)
(No. 184. Confidential.)
HIS Majesty’s representative presents his compliments to His Majesty’s
Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to transmit
herewith a copy of a report by His Majesty’s Consul at Tabriz respecting the
internal situation in Tabriz.
Tehran, November 12, 1941. Q • . 4- -r
Enclosure.
Consul Cook to Sir R. Bullard.
(No. 47. Confidential.)
Sir, Tabriz, November 9, 1941.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the present situation in Tabriz
remains reasonably calm, although during the past week there has been a certain
amount of agitated feeling in various quarters for different reasons.
2. When I saw the Governor-General at the beginning of this week, he
again mentioned his fear of some kind of ‘ £ democratic ’' demonstration on the
coming Friday, the anniversary of the Soviet Revolution, and asked me again to
mention the subject to the Russian authorities. I assured him that I had every
reason to believe that the Soviet authorities here would not encourage or even
permit the kind of turbulence he feared, but it was obvious from our conversation
that he suspected the Russians of intriguing with the local demagogues whose
names I have previously mentioned, and he even told me the names of the Soviet
military officers (either staff or political bureau) with whom they have meetings
and conversations. To this I replied that it was equally possible that
Agarzadeh and his friends had been taking the initiative with the Russians to
give themselves some semblance of support, just as a few weeks ago they had
made indirect overtures to this consulate—without meeting with any particular
response.
3. On the next day the chief of police visited me, ostensibly to pay a call,
but I suspect to sound me on the subject of possible disorder. He, too, raised
the subject of Russian connivance in the local “democratic” movement, and
wondered how best to deal with it. I was able to assure him in turn that the
Soviet authorities would not countenance disorder this week, and that it was for
him and his police officers under him to take all suitable measures to secure public
order if necessary.
4. As Major-General Novikoff was still away from Tabriz, I did not think
it necessary to mention the subject to any other quarter, until I became aware
on Thursday of the most persistent rumours and alarming forecasts of riots and
rebellion in the town. The Turkish Consul-General came to see me at midday
in an undisguised state of extreme anxiety, saying that he and everyone he knew
felt sure of trouble next day, that the Armenians were being incited by the
Russians, and that he was going to ask the police for three rifles with ammunition
that evening in order to defend the consulate if needs be. I tried to allay his
fears, saying that I knew that the local police would deal with any outbreak
immediately; this seemed to depress him all the more, as he admitted that the
chief of police had just informed him half an hour ago that his constables had
been ordered to shoot without hesitation if the situation demanded it. Early in
the evening my Persian clerk came in to say that the whole town was seething
[24—53]
REC*. POt- f
?9,UEC 911
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.
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.’ [607r] (1216/1237), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3524, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069965570.0x000011> [accessed 9 August 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