File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎368r] (383/1080)

266.
CIS-FRONTIER.
Bandargaz .—November 29th.
There is desultory fighting among the Jaifarbai and Ak Atabai Turkmen.
The Russian Consul at Astarabad hopes to commence official business
at the end of November. All Russian subjects living in the Province,
also Turkmen, have collected about two thousand tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for expenditure on
the occasion.
The Vnyeshtorg are contemplating opening branches in Bandargaz,
Astarabad, Shahrud, JJamghan, and Sabzewar. They have sent out a
commercial reconnaissance to these centres.
The concern is financing its operations in Mazanderan with money
advanced by the British bank in Tehran. (Responsibility for this statement
must lie with the correspondent.)
November 28th and December 1st.
The Kurd Khawanin have surrended about 450 rifles, one gun, one
mountain gun, and two machine guns. Their commandos have gradually
dispersed since the arrival of the Persian Cossack detachment and there are
now remaining only some 200 which is 50 in excess of the number of local
levies allowed to be maintained by order of the Khorasan Government.
The Khawanin express their helplessness to account for all the Govern
ment rifles seized from the Gendarmerie for, they say, are unable to trace
individuals who were in possession of these arms and have now absconded.
The correspondent states he was present when the Kurd Chiefs Wali Khan,
Farajulla Khan, and Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, sent away a lot of rifles and
ammunition to their respective villages.
A Turk and Bolshevik called Majid Beg held a large meeting of Qushan
Turks and Kavkazis.at the house of iussaf Qarabaghi. He stated that the
Turks of Askhabad were ready to send reinforcements to Colonel Muhammad
Taqi Khan but that his death frustrated their plans. He was on his
way to Meshed where he would unfold his programme to the Turk community
there.
The Khawanin with an escort of 500 horsemen went to Sabzewar to meet
the incoming Governor-General of Khorasan.
Bajgiran .—November 26th.
On account of the attack on the Bolshevik post on Galol Hill (Intelligence
Summary 48, page 6) the Chief of the Special Department at Gaudan has
strengthened all posts in his section of the frontier. A meeting _ was held in
Askhabad to discuss the incident and it was decided not to interrupt the
friendly relations existing between the countries but merely to strengthen
the frontier posts.
As noted previously the new Chief of the Special Department, Gaudan, is
Grebenshchikov. His assistant is a common sailor. The Officer Commanding
the frontier post there is a former Tsarist Officer and was once a subaltern
in the 8th Siberian Regiment. His name is Abramov. The former Chief
of the Special Department, Melnivok, has been nominated to Russian Sarakhs,
but has not left Askhabad to take up that appointment.
According to the testimony of a Kurd who was one of Zabardast Khan’s
following when the latter fled into Russia, his former chief has taken up the
r61e of Bolshevik agitator. The Bolsheviks lodged him in a Red Army barrack
at Tashkent where he convened meetings and harangued his audience on
the now well-known lines “ The Persians are our brothers. In India there
are also 50 million inhabitants of whom 25 million are already Bolsheviks.
The Revolution was purchased with blood and many victims. Therefore
must we defend it to the end, ” etc., etc.
A coalition composed of the Chief of the Special Department, Gaudan,
the Persian Customs officer, Bajgiran, the local Governor, and several Kurd