File 5257/1919 'Persia: the Military Commission' [‎35v] (75/534)

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T* • nnlv difficult to collect taxes from such people, but
robbery and pillage. It is , n °* ° ^ and so diminish the revenues of the country,
their raids impede trade and ra , ’ ^ ^ f considering the internal security
of ,hl 0 —S tSX o, .ho Empire i„ to „>
areas, viz. :—
(a.) The North-West.
Zenjan. ^ province of Kermanshah, with Persian Kurdistan and the
rurl Aran
the province of Isfahan, the
-The province of Azerbaijan, including the district 01
(b.)
Bunder Abbas and its
The West.- — x
, c . rrXoT Burupri, the prov.nco
* ’ Bakhtiari and Knhgaln counlry, Luratnii and Arabisttn.
(d.) The South. —The province of Pars, excluding Pun
fed TheS^hfast.-Tht provinces of Kerman and Yezd, Persian Baluchistan,
the port of Bunder Abbas and its hinterland.
(g) ft AYrtThTh^C^ 'provinces < of GhUan Mazanderan and Astrabad.
g The districts of Tehran, Kazvm, Qum, Sultanabad, Kashan, Semnan,
Damghan, Shahrud, Bustan, and the Dasht-i-Kavir.
11. North-West drea.—The security of this area is a problem that is likely to
cause the Persian Government trouble for some time to come. The Shahsevan nbes
have been recently in revolt; the Kurds west of Lake Urumia will require to be kept in
subiection. There is inflammable material in this area, which is the more dangerous
because the neighbouring portions of Turkey and Transcaucasia are in an unsettled
state, and likely to remain so for some time. There will be people from across the
border who will always be trying to stir np disaffection agambt the Grovernmeiit
among the inhabitants of Azerbaijan.
The tribes of Azerbaijan, on the other hand, are mostly settled m villages, which
facilitates dealing with them. Only a small number of the Shahsevans have different
places of habitation in summer and winter, and these are not distant from each other.
The tribes in the west of Azerbaijan are also, similarly, generally settled in a single
locality.
There are probably 25,000 to 30,000 men in this area who are in possession of
firearms, and though only a small proportion of these could collect together in one
place, and those would be without the discipline and cohesion which are essential
to any serious action, yet the men are brave and individually formidable antagonists.
The important trade route in this area is the Tabriz-Zenjan road leading to
Tehran. The Julfa-Tabriz railway requires consideration. A route of minor
importance is the Astara-Ardebil-Tahriz road.
12 . Western Area. —The tribes of Kurdistan are generally sedentary, and live
either in their own villages or those which they have appropriated from their
neighbours by force. The problem of keeping them in order is one that is, therefore,
more dependent on the mountainous nature of the country they live in than in their
wandering nature. These tribes keep their own districts in bad order, and are much
given to pillaging neighbouring tracts. The numbers of armed men in Persian
Kurdistan is difficult to estimate, but it is considerable, and the men are individually
brave.
a Kermanshah province there are at least 20 , 000 ' armed men, many brave
and addicted to robbery. These tribes have different summer and winter locations,
sonmat considerable distances one from another. The tribes throughout Western
feouth-Western Persia are a good deal interconnected.
T e main trade route in this area is the road leading from Qaraitu (the frontier
p°mt whence the railway runs to Bagdad) via Kermanshah and Hamadan to Tehran
and the Caspian.
thk fLA Wes T rn ,u rea '^ Exce Pt in Southern Arabistan, the western part of
q t r . <: y e ! e V 1 j mountainous country hindering the movement of troops.
Southern Arabistan is at present completely under the authority of the Sheikh of
Mohamerah and kept quiet by the latter. This region is, however believed to be
thT region CvhTh 8 men - Norther n Arabistan is also quiet,
the region having been entered by British troops during the war It is however, a
whok of Arahista tr °h bI fu . ture '. Ifc is . a matter of great importance that the
oilfields there b * h ° Uld ^ k6pt qmet 0Wing to the P rese nce of the valuable