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Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [601r] (1204/1237)
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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file copy
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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVtRNM^TXT
r
PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 198/163/34]
3 ^
January 10, 1942.
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Section 1
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Copy No
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received January 10, 1942.)
(No. 202.)
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 despatch. No. 51 of 30th November, 1941, from His Majesty’s
Consul at Tabriz, reporting the internal situation at Tabriz.
Tehran. December 10, 1941.
fyssO-
Enclosure.
oJU» AtOL' "ti
CX/V
1 C §b) •
Consul Cook to Sir R. Bullard.
(No. 51. Confidential.)
Sir, Tabriz, November 30, 1941.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the situation at Tabriz and in
Azerbaijan continues to be outwardly quiet, although it is obvious that potential
disturbance and discontent lie not far from the surface. The soothing and in
parts misleading article published by the Minister of the Interior in the Tehran
press on his return from this province probably shows his disquiet, while the
Governor-General and the chief of gendarmerie have been absent together for
over a week in the capital at a time when the local situation is certainly no easier.
2. Possibly the attention given to the Azerbaijanis and their problems in
the Tehran and Istanbul press, after years of neglect and oppression, has helped
to fan their smouldering grievances. It is dilficult to describe any political
movement as yet, but there are undoubtedly private meetings and discussions,
threats are known to be uttered against the Tehran officials here, whom nobody
imagines to be much changed from the corrupt and inefficient gang they were
before (with the possible exception of the chief of police), stories of Turcophile
parties are heard, accusations of Bolshevik machinations are put forward,
Armenian intrigues are blamed and dire vengeance foretold. Over all hangs the
question of how long the new and unloved Shah will last, and even more how long
before the all-powerful German armies will arrive—with or without Turkish
compliance or assistance—in the Caucasus and so bring better order here.
3. There are still minor incidents in the countryside, but it is difficult to
know their seriousness or extent, since both Soviet and Persian authorities when
questioned flatly deny them—unless they reflect wholly on the other party. The
bandit Husseni Ghuli has not come in for pardon, as foretold to me by the
Governor-General over a fortnight ago; the Russian general hinted to me then
that his forces were shortly going to deal decisively with the man, but I am
confidentially informed that he was parleying with Soviet officers in Miandoab
one day last week. At Ahar, on the road to Ardebil, the newly-installed
gendarmerie had their rifles taken away by a party of hectoring Russian officers
(who spoke Azerbaijan Turkish), but when I spoke to General Novikoff about
this apparent disregard of the agreement signed only recently in Tehran he
vigorously denied the possibility of the affair, and I am left to surmise that it
must have been Russo-Armenian officers acting without the knowledge cr
authority of their superiors, or else Persian adventurers in search of rifles and
wearing Russian uniforms. A fight was repoted ten days ago at the entrance to
Tabriz between Armenian peasants and the gendarmes collecting taxes, in which
[25 29]-—
ENCLOSE IN WEEKLY LETTER
RECd.POL. ” * Pt.|
No. 6 7 FEE 1942
31 JAN 942 ;
FROM SECRETARY, EXTERNAL DEPT.,
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.
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.’ [601r] (1204/1237), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3524, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069965570.0x000005> [accessed 13 March 2025]
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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