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usual blue rubber stamp and the number ‘50’ perforated in
the upper centre. The 50-toman note has two ‘rosettes’ of nine
holes perforated to either side of the ‘50’ on the issued notes.
The 50-toman note is commonly found as a remainder, with the
signatures printed (as for the other denominations), but without
the rubber stamp and perforated value. (This suggests that the
rubber stamp and the perforated value were applied near the time
of issue.) It is not known whether this variety of the note, with the
printed signatures, was ever placed into circulation; as all issued
notes of this denomination appear to have been hand signed.
The first period of progressive reform within Iranian Azerbaijan
did not last long. Soviet influence was insidious, with many
officials in the new government being Azerbaijanis from Soviet
Azerbaijan. A secret service was set up to target people opposed to
the new government, and it was not long before some of the laws
intended for reform were being used against political opponents.
For example, land was taken from people opposed to the new
regime and distributed to the peasants. People who opposed the
regime soon started disappearing, taken from their homes at
night, and opposition to the Autonomous Government became
less demonstrative as the terror increased.
The much vaunted return to the Azerbaijani language soon
became a fertile ground for writers and editors from Soviet
Azerbaijan, as Soviet-sponsored literature increased. The
authentic Azerbaijani of Iranian Azerbaijan was overwhelmed by
interference from the Russian-influenced Azerbaijani of Soviet
Azerbaijan, as books and the press became dominated by Sovietissued
publications.
With the advent of the Cold War, the occupation of northern
Iran by Russia and its aspirations in the Middle East were causing
concern to the British and Americans. In an ‘incident’ that is
regarded as the first confrontation of the Cold War, the Russians
initially bolstered their forces in Iran and then withdrew after
Iran promised to establish a Soviet-Iranian oil company. In April
1946 overtures by the Iranian government to Pishevari resulted
in several positive meetings. In Tehran, politics had shifted
to the left with a change in government, and there seemed to
be a willingness by Tehran to come to an agreement with the
Autonomous Government in Tabriz. Although initial talks were
disappointing, in May 1946, following the withdrawal of Russia
from northern Iran (including Iranian Azerbaijan), the talks
became more productive. Despite losing the backing of his Soviet
allies, Pishevari negotiated terms favourable to the Azerbaijanis,
while making concessions to the central government. The outlook
for his regime was looking politically sound and the negotiations
that commenced in April seemed to be coming to a positive
conclusion in August.
However, even as the political gains were being savoured,
the tide was turning against the Democratic Party in Iranian
Azerbaijan. Discontent at Russian influence, diminishing respect
for religious institutions and religious values by the new regime,
conscription, grain collections, and crop failures, all led to
increased opposition to Pishevari’s regime.
In a political coup, Qavam al-Saltanah, the Iranian Prime
Minister, turned the situation on its head. Until October1946
he had shared government with leftist parties and he was not
willing to be confrontationist. But after the Russians departed
and his position firmed, he formed a new government without
the left and immediately refused to negotiate further with the
Azerbaijanis. Qavam declared national elections would be held in
December 1946, and Iranian armed forces would supervise the
elections in all provinces, including Azerbaijan.
Feeling betrayed and now aware of his isolation, Pishevari
postured and defied Tehran, pouring forth invective from Tabriz.
But rather than rallying support from the people of the region, local
opposition to Pishevari’s regime continued to grow. On 8 December
1946 the Iranian army marched into Iranian Azerbaijan and met
little resistance. Most of the officials in Tabriz realized the end had
come, and some sought to negotiate with the central government. A
call to fight to the death by Pishevari on 11 December was ignored
and the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan
admitted defeat on 12 December 1946.
It is estimated that Pishevari’s regime was responsible for the
death of over five hundred people. Unsurprisingly retribution
followed hard on the heels of the Iranian occupation, not from
the Iranians, but from the disaffected population of Iranian
Azerbaijan. Many of those who had been part of the failed regime
met an untimely death, usually from a crude gibbet. Truckloads
of Azerbaijanis from the toppled government crossed into Soviet
Azerbaijan, but there was, to the surprise of many, no support
from the Soviet Union to restore the regime. The status quo was
restored only when Iranian Azerbaijan came once more under the
control of the central government.
It is not known what happened to the currency issued by
the Autonomous Government. In all likelihood, it became
worthless and was not honoured by the Iranian administration.
The availability of large numbers of 50-toman remainder notes
suggests that these notes were in transit at the time the coup
failed. These notes are common and easily available for collectors.
Other denominations are less easy to obtain, but are available. As
is the case for many other banknotes issued throughout history,
the notes of the Autonomous Government of Azerbaijan remain
one of the few tangible reminders of a distant event, an event
now often romanticized, but which altered little in the fortunes of
Iranian Azerbaijanis at the time.
Bibliography
Abrahamian, Ervand Iran Between Two Revolutions Princeton
University Press, Princeton, USA.
Farahbakhsh, Fereydon. Standard Catalogue of Iranian Banknotes
Tehran 2005.
Fawcett, Louise L’Estrange Iran and the Cold War – The
Azerbaijan Crisis of 1946 Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, UK.
Hovsepian, Armen http://www.iranbanknotes.com/
Lenczowski, George Russia and the West in Iran, 1918-1948
Cornell University Press, Ithaca, USA, 1949.
Swietochowski, Tadeuz Russia and Azerbaijan – A Borderland in
Transition Columbia University Press, New York, USA, 1995.
Correspondence
Prof. Peter Hill of the Australian National University
Dr. M. Mehdi Ilhan of the Australian National University
Footnotes
1 The Iranians used the Jalaali or Persian calendar.
2 Farahbakhsh, in his catalogue of Iranian banknotes, lists only
lower denomination notes (i.e. all but the 50-toman note) with
printed signatures, but then writes that lower denomination
notes ‘signed by hand will be charged 40% over normal price’.
Therefore, it cannot be said whether the lower denomination
notes were ever issued with hand-written signatures.
56 IBNS Journal 48.2