THE PERSIAN EMBROGLIO

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 13, 28 December 1911, Page 5

THE PERSIAN EMBROGLIO

ALLEGATIONS OF BRUTALITY DENIED.

DI SARMA MEN T DEM ANDED

[PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. ] St. Petersburg. Dee. 27. An official telegram from Julfa. trans-Caucasia, reports that the Con-sul-General at Tabriz protests against the infamous calumnies upon the Russian troops, who are treating the inhabitants with humanity, notwithstanding their atrocities upon the Russian wounded, and the mutilation of bodies.

He declares that any particular instances of the innocent perishing are solely due to the bombardment of houses whence a Russian detachment was subjected to a fusillade. The commander of a detachment removed women and children from these houses to a shelter encampment. and thence conveyed them to the town by peaceful inhabitants eser.iied by Russian soldiers. The officer commanding the latter was treacherously killed.

■Subsequently the Consul-General informed the Governor and Chief Mullah that the disarmament of the people was a pre-requisite to negotiations, adding that he would not tolerate the presence of armed spectators in the streets or on the roofs. Placards were posted throughout Tabriz demanding the immediate surrender of arms. Twenty Persian cossacks under the Consul-General’s instructions are patrolling the Christian quarters.

The Consul-General sent troops to the spot where a number of Russian soldiers were killed. The bodies of the latter were found reduced to cinders. The indications were that some had been burned alive, the corpses apparently having been only severely wounded. THE ANTI-RUSSIAN OUTBREAK A STRONG RUSSIAN FORCE. (Received 28, 8.5 a.m.) Teheran. Dec. 27. The Director of the Persian Department of the Foreign Office, interviewed, declares Russia is convinced the Persian Government is not associated with the anti-Russian outbreaks at Tabiiz and elsewhere. Thq authors of the Caucasian outbreaks are principally Armenians and criminals posing as political agitators. He adds, “three thousand five hundred Russian troops are going to Tabriz and Teheran. There have been fresh attacks on the Indian Sowars at Kazenm and two were killed.