مجموعة ٢٨/١١٢أ "بلاد فارس. تبريز - رسائل شهرية عن الوضع الداخلي في أذربيجان وتقارير متنوعة." [و‎‎٣‎١‎٢] (١٢٣٧/٦٢٦)

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152• '4aox*la ions . An article In the local newspaper f Jfchtarl
tiii'ilmsil 1 h&a aiatecl cluntly that the supcrvialng casuaittee did not
wisu to give credentials to the aucceaeful candidates* The newspaper
limn calls upon tiie Majlis to reject the credentials of the follow
ing fcix deputiesi xishivari, because ne is unknown: Khoi, because he
bougiit his seat: Ipekchian, as he is known to be a lorgerer; Sartlp
^-v.adehj uocause he is stupid* Illiterate and always against the
overiMent; ;i a digi, as lackey to the ex-drown xrince, and Mujtaiiidi,
because his father used to pray for the Tsar*
It is clear that the action of the supervising coiaaittee in
attempting to withhold credentials was directed almost exclusively
against the uuasiaa candidates, Pishivari and Xpekchian, the chief
irregularities alleged being at Tabriz, where Tudeh Iran pressure
obtained the votes without which neither could have been elected,
according to the Oovornor-General he convinced the coimaittee that
the/ would have to grant the credentials as action should have been
taken with regard to the alleged irregularities at an earlier date.
They had, however* not even troubled, he said, to bring them previous
ly to his notice. The fact of considerable Hues!an pressure, as
recorded in paragraph 117 of this Jlary, is nevertheless confirmed
^ from several sources.
xb& new deputies have now left for Tehran.
Armenian Mefttiosu Voting for the deputy for the Armenian
ana Assyrian minorities in Azerbaijan has now been completed, but
ti*. t inal figures iiave not yet been published. In Tabriz the results
iuive h totalitarian flavour about them: 1,Wf votes have been given
a jr *uj iuueh irun—iioviet candidate and only four to •■n ot he r candid
ate, the previous deputy. There were nevertlieless many abstentions.
Voters felt that no freedom of choice was allowed thsm as fear of the
soviet disciplinary am is widespread.
1^* nrdebil .^lection. This is the only remaining oonstitutency in
which voting has not oeen completed. Things have not, however, been
i,oing smoothly owing to the attempt of Tudeh Iran and the Russians to
impose an unknown mullah, dheikh Hussein Lenkorani, on the electors,
voting was suspended for some time, but has now been resumed,
apparently the Governor-General was privately tipped from Tehran to
back nenkorani, out he states that he telegraphed notwitnstanding to
tbs Prime minister asking him to Inauce the iOist, tatis to refrain frc»a
interference, henkorani has recently been in Tehran participating in
the campaign against deyyid 2 ia.
JM...a!A aira*. ^ large cinema which is to show exclusive
ly a evict films (see paragraph 118 of this diary) is the Cinema
Stars. A large sum of money for its completion is being advanced
through Abraham Gog an, cinema owner of Tehran, who is also stated to
be the chief distributor of boviet films in Iran.
The management of the Cinema Dideban in Tabriz has succumbed
to the insistence of the Soviet Conaulate-Gemral that at least one
film in three should be Russian. A higher proportion was at first
demanded, but the owner held out against it am Gov let films are less
popular than the American and British films he has previously shown
almost exclusively.
The Vatan Tolindm*, the soviet Turk! nev/sp^per, has ceased
for the moment to publish its propaganda articles about Boviet
Azerbaijan* 4 .his appears to be in deference to a request made by the
Governor-General, who took exception to many of the articles as well
as it a publication in Turk!.
The large pavilion in the Tabriz public gardens is to be handed
ov^r to the xoiasians for the duration of the war, other accommodation
being found for the destitute sick who are its present occupants,
it is to be used for a permanent exhibition of Russian trade and
culture as well as to house a Soviet-Iranian civilian club, which is
about to be started. It is stated on good authority that the request
/for