Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎277v] (554/749)

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*say that there is intensified propaganda for Kurdish independence; that the | 4
local Kurdish leader, Qazi Muhammad, is enlisting Kurds for the Independent
Kurdish army; that funds are being collected; that a pageant had been staged
showing Kurdistan delivered from bondage by the Russians; and that a
named Samadoff had recently arrived from the Caucasus to encourage the
i movement. These reports are possibly exaggerated, but there is little doubt that
j there is some truth in them—unfortunately, because they serve to embitter the
j attitude of the Persian authorities towards the Kurds in general. According to
a circumstantial report received by the Persian Government, the Soviet Consul
from Rezaieh recently visited Mahabad and promised full Russian support to
the movement for Kurdish independence. The truth of this requires confirmation.
Some reports say that the movement is spreading to the Herki, the Shakkah, the
Mansur, the Dehbukri and the Mamish, and that the onk chief of Northern
Kurdistan on whose loyalty the Persian Government can rely is Quraini Agha
I 0 f the Mamish. The tribes of Southern Kurdistan have as yet shown no sign of
being seriously affected.
Eastern Azerbaijan.
6 . A few days ago the Soviet Ambassador informed the Persian Under
secretary for Foreign Affairs that, unless the Persian authorities began within
five days the disarmament of the Shahsavan tribes of the Ardebil district and of
the “ brigands ” of Mianeh, the Soviet military authorities would undertake the
operation themselves. The Shahsavan tribes are anti-Russian, and their
principal chief in the Ardebil area, Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Xusrat, has recently been taking'
vigorous action against agents of the Tudeh party who have ventured into the
tribal territory. " Bv the “brigands” of the Mianeh district the Soviet
Ambassador means the followers of Salar Muzaffer, a prominent landowner who
has also recently been hunting Tudeh agents from his district. The reply given
to the ambassador is said to have been that the Persian troops would be
instructed to begin disarmament operations in the towns of Mianeh and Ardebil
(where, according to the Chief of the General Staff, Tudeh sympathisers have
been issued with arms by the Russians), and that further operations would be
carried out in accordance with the Government’s general programme in which the
disarmament of the Kurds of Mahabad had priority.
Kuhigcdu.
7. Abdullah Khan Zarghampur appears to have made good use of the
re-establishment of correct relations with the Persian authorities that followed
on his submisison, reported in Summary No. 13, paragraph 8 , to convert the
responsible Persian Army commander, General Humayuni, to a belief in his
(Abdullah’s) virtues and in the unreliability of all the Kuhigalu chiefs lately
opposed to him—flussein Quli Rustami, Khosrow Zarghampur, Muhammad
Hussein Taheri and Malik Mansur Bashti, who were, until the submission of
Abdullah, strongly supported by General Humayuni. The latter is now accusing
them of preparing to create trouble at the instigation of agents of the Tudeh
party, who have, it is true, recently visited Behbehan and Hussein Quli Rustami
of the Mamassani. He has suggested that Abdullah Khan should be used to
arrest Khosrow and disarm his followers The Chief of the General Staff has
expressed to General Humayuni his surprise at this sudden change of attitude
and has asked for more precise information to justify it. It is unlikely that this
will be forthcoming.
Russian Affairs.
8 . About a dozen persons of the landowning class of Mianeh in Azerbaijan
were recently deported to Tabriz by the Soviet military authorities, their crime
apparently being opposition to the Tudeh party. Some have since been allowed
to return to Mianeh.
9. The incidents at Tabriz of which the Soviet Ambassador, as reported m
Summary No. 16 /1945, paragraph 5, had complained—with good cause—turned
out to be an assault by Persian policemen on a Russian in civilian clothes, who,
however, was not killed, and a much more serious incident where it is alleged an
assault was made by seven Persian civilians on two Russian youths and a Russian
o-irl of 15 was raped. The suspected assailants in the latter case were arrested
by the Persian authorities, but the Russians insisted on their being handed over
to them and they are still in Russian custody.