Abstract: Monthly reports submitted by the British Consul General at Tabriz, concerning events in Tabriz and Azerbaijan. The reports, which span the period January 1946 to January 1948, cover: the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Azerbaijan following the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Iran during the Second World War; the short-lived existence of the Azerbaijan People’s Government, declared in November 1945; the activities of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan and its leader Ja’far Pishevari; the Iranian Government’s reassertion of control in Azerbaijan in 1947. The reports include sections describing: the general situation (with a detailed chronology of events given for reports covering January 1947 to May 1947); the activities of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan; military operations; internal security; trade and industry; finance; communications; agriculture; Kurdish affairs; Armenian affairs; British, Soviet and American [USA] interests, including propaganda. The file includes an English translation of an agreement between representatives of the Government of Iran and the Azerbaijan People’s Government, the original of which was published in the newspaper
Azerbaijanon 16 June 1946 (ff 165-167).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.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 225; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: 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.Physical description: 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 side of each folio.