Presented to USSR NKID official P. B. Zudin by Mr. Qavam on 27 February 1946

Presented to USSR NKID official P. B. Zudin by Mr. Qavam on 27 February 1946

In addition to the verbal discussions which have taken place and in confirmation of my aide memoire, I direct your attention to the circumstances below, leaving no place for doubt in the correctness of my statements:

The situation which has been created in Azerbaijan cannot have any other consequences except anarchy, disorder, and laying the groundwork for the creation of the same situation in other provinces of Iran.

In such circumstances not a single government could take upon itself the responsibility for preserving order and calm in the country.

Several days before my departure for Moscow in his announcement about mobilization Pishevari addressed the population of Azerbaijan with a call to march against Tehran to overthrow the Central Government.

2. [SIC. no 1.] At a time when I am holding talks in Moscow with the highest Soviet authorities about an improvement and strengthening of relations between the two countries I have received a telegram according to which armed Azerbaijani detachments have set out in the direction of Gilan, occupied the settlement of Hashtpar, and then in two trucks attacked and seized the settlement of Kargan Rud.

Taking into account the fact that, there are no more than two battalions of the Iranian gendarmerie in all of Gilan, which are deprived of freedom of action thanks to the presence of Soviet troops, and since the representatives of Soviet authority on the scene are obstructing the dispatch of troops to Gilan from the Central Government, the Iranian Government is deprived of the ability to prevent an attack of insurgents, and the population of Gilan is seized by unrest and fear.

In bringing the above to your attention I request that you give appropriate instructions to the Soviet military organizations in Gilan:

1. Not to obstruct the freedom of action of the Iranian gendarmerie located in Gilan and

2. To give their agreement to the dispatch of additional detachments from headquarters [tsentr] to establish order in Gilan.

Moscow, 27 February 1946

[Handwritten: “Persia, from Cde. Molotov”]