IOR/L/PS/12/3417

Papers concerning affairs on the northeast frontiers of Persia [Iran], with a focus on Iranian Azerbaijan, sent to and from British Government officials based in Persia, including those at the British Consulate at Tabriz and the British Embassy in Tehran, and the Foreign Office in London.

The correspondence covers the following:

• Throughout the period June 1930 to July 1931 (ff 379-421), the situation on the Perso-Russian and Perso-Turkish borders, and relations in the region between Persia and Russia. These papers predominantly comprise reports from the British Consul at Tabriz (Clarence Edward Stanhope Palmer).
• During October and November 1932, calls to boycott the elections to the new Persian majlis by an organisation describing itself as the Nationalist Organisation of Azerbaijan (ff 368-378). Papers include a translation of a manifesto issued by the organisation (ff 369-370).
• In 1935, reports responding to rumours of civil unrest in Tabriz (ff 357-363).
• In 1938, deteriorating relations between Iran and Russia, partly in response to Russia’s unease at an increase in trade between Germany and Iran (ff 337-352).
• The political crisis brought about by the declaration of the Azerbaijan People’s Government in November 1945, and the ensuing Iran-Azerbaijan Crisis, which arose from Soviet Russia’s refusal to relinquish Iranian territory originally occupied by Russia during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941 (ff 4-336). Papers include a declaration (in French) made by the National Congress of Iranian Azerbaijan (ff 259-260), and the translated texts of programmes and laws announced by the Azerbaijan National Government (ff 207-209, f 92, ff 77-79, ff 61-63).