File 566/1921 ‘Persia: military Attaché’s intelligence summaries’ [‎4v] (17/818)

2
re
mr**
6 The chief organiser and worker of the Communist party in Enzeli is a
Russian named Seisin. He is an employee in the Russian Water transport Depart
ment and the head of a section styled " Troiki,” which is concerned m investigating
cases of bribery amongst Soviet workmen. He is ipso facto a member of the
“ Cheka.”
Azerbaijan.
7. Tabriz. —Reference paragraph 3, Intelligence Summary No. 34, dated the
25th August, the retention of Colonel Ismail Khan as Military Governor ah Labriz
is confirmed. The departure of His Highness the Crown Prince from Tehran tor
Tabriz to assume the duties of Governor-General of Azerbaijan has been indefinitely
postponed. The War Minister is strongly opposed to the Crown Prince returning
to Azerbaijan, as the province is in a very satisfactory state undei its piesent
administration. There is considerable friction in consequence between the Crown
Prince and Reza Khan. The latter, as usual, has got his own way.
8. Amar Khan, a prominent Shekkaki Kurd, with TOO men was on the point of
leaving Tabriz to return to his own village when he was arrested by the military
authorities. He is now, however, said to have escaped or been released and to have
left the town. The authorities were afraid that he might try and become a second
Simko.
9. The new Soviet consul at Tabriz, M. Slavotski, is a Pole about 25 years of
age, who had graduated at the Russian School of Oriental Languages.
10. General Abdullah Khan, the General Officer Commanding North-Western
Division, has been called to Tehran for a conference with the War Minister, and
arrived at Tehran on the 30th August.
11. TJrumia. —Reports from Urumia show that the Deputy Governor
(Musteshar-ul-Mamalek) is doing his best to work sympathetically with the
missionaries and members of the Near East Relief in that town. Some twenty to
twenty-five refugees continue to leave Tabriz for Urumia by every Sunday’s train.
Another 100 or more have entered the Urumia plain via the road which skirts the
southern shores of the lake. These travelled without the permission of the local
authorities, and run the risk of being deported.
12. In a letter from Urumia it is stated that 400 of Ruz Demir’s troops have
moved from the Ketur frontier towards Nochea; also that the Russian and Turkish
consuls in Urumia are working together in organising active propaganda amongst
the Kurds in Urumia, Saujbulagh, Ushnu and almost to Rowanduz. This report
needs confirmation.
13. Ardebil. —A Menshevik, called Sultanov, has been recently fighting the
Bolsheviks at Khudaferin Bridge, on the Russian side. He was defeated, and arrived
in Tabriz about the 18th August with eighteen followers. He handed over to the
General Officer Commanding North-Western Division their rifles, six machine guns
and eight Lewis guns. He stated that forty families had accompanied him to the
Perisan side of the frontier, and that others would probably follow.
T rans Caucasus.
14. Baku. —An informant, usually reliable, states that there are six dismantled
submarines in dock in Baku, which were brought there from the Baltic last year.
15. The same informant states that there are now only six warships in commis
sion in the Caspian fleet, named as follows : —
“ Markeen ” (former “ Voiskovoi ”).
“ Altfater ” (former “ Turkmentz Stavropol
“ Yakov Sverdlov.”
“ Lenin.”
“ Trotski.”
« £ ‘ Rosa Luxembourg. ’ ’
... • • i
16. The “ Marksen ” is now stationed at Enzeli, and has only recently been
overhauled and repainted in Baku. She has three 4-7 guns abaft the funnels, one
3-inch gun in the bow and one 3-inch gun in the stern. No torpedo tubes are visible.
I*- hhe Peisian consul at Baku reported to lehran by telegram on the
4th September that the Azerbaijan authorities had complained that Persian troops
had entered Russian territory in the Mugan district. It is believed that this
complaint has no foundation in fact.
-T ii m Mmi