'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎660r] (1321/1386)

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Sunni populations would probably render lukewarm the action of the Porte, who has
sent forces to the Turkish frontier, for the purpose of cutting off the retreat of the
rebels.
It is reported that Taimur Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Khan has captured 160 camel-loads of rifles and
cartridges destined for the Sheikh; that the capture was effected in the Beradost
district, and that the conductor of the caravan said he was conveying them to Nochea
and had traversed Van.
The march of the Persian army from Binab to Souj Boulak was not effected with
great rapidity. Sheikh Abd-el-Kader, Hamzah Aga, the Zerza Chiefs, had all ample
time to make good their flight from the latter city. Thence, with the fragment of
their 1 ormer army, they went to the Mangour tents, gathered reinforcements, traversed
Lahijan to Ushnei, and attempted a raid on the Suldouz frontier, which was eventually
suppressed by the Karapapacks. Finally, Sheikh Abd-el-Kader retreated on Mer
gever.
It is not difficult to understand that Russia should be assuming an attitude of
extreme watchfulness at this present crisis in the fortunes of Persia, and that she
cannot be indifferent to the results of a movement which was extending to her frontiers
bordering on Azerbaijan.
Inclosure 3 in No. 70.
Consul-General Abbott to Mr. Thomson.
Sir, Tabreez, November 29, 1880.
I LEARN by later intelligence that the Sepeh Salar has dispatched 5 regiments,
4 guns, and 1,500 cavalry to Mergever; 4 regiments to subdue the Mangours, 2and,
with the rest of the army, has transferred his camp to Suldouz.
The Kurdish population of Souj Boulak, who fled to Serdesht and other
mountainous regions, have returned to their homes, through the instrumentality of
Ahmet Bey, Chief of the Beyzad tribe. He has been all along loyal to Persia, and
accompanied the Sepeh Salar to Souj Boulak, where the Sadr-ed-Dowleh has assumed
government.
Buyuk Khan Karapapack has been charged to bring to camp the Mammash
Chief, who, at an early stage of the rebellion, sided with the insurgents, but soon after
gave in his adhesion to Persia.
The Sepeh Salar is displaying great tact and ability in his dealings with the
Kurdish Chiefs. His selection of Osman Aga Geourk, of Serdesht, to command the
expedition sent against Hamzah Aga and the Mangours is a judicious step, those Chiefs
being at feud with one another’ His Highness has not held out any promise to
Hamzah Aga of Royal clemency, but has simply intimated to him that if he be sincere
he had better come to the camp and tender his submission.
I believe that the Sepeh Salar, on arriving at Souj Boulak, took immediate
measures to prevent any further outrages on the part of the Persian troops, and that
those measures proved effectual; and that before quitting Tabreez he sent strict orders
to the officers commanding the armies to place guards over all villages mortgaged by
foreigners and to secure them from molestation. If, as now asserted, such villages
were destroyed, this must have happened before the Sepeh Salar took the chief
command. The officers who allowed such proceedings to go on are responsible for
them, and for disregarding the instructions issued by his Highness.
Sheikh Obeidullah owns villages both at Mergever and in the highlands skirting
the mountain range which forms the boundary between Persia and Turkey. It is not
improbable that he may have retreated in that direction, and a report is current here
that a Turkish force has already frustrated an attempt he made to cross the frontier
to Nochea.
Icherik is the stronghold of Ali Khan, the Shekak Chief, alluded to at the close
of my telegram, and stands to the right of the mountain pass which separates Selmas
from Oroomiah.
I have, &c.
(Signed) WILLIAM G. ABBOTT.
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