An excerpt from the memoirs of Mohammad Hassan Abdizdani

The condition of Tabriz Garrison in which it Fell

Compiled by: Faezeh Sassanikhah
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2022-2-16

On the night of 11^th of February, while I was in Tehran, I heard that the Tabriz Garrison had not yet been captured by the revolutionary forces and that the Maragheh armored force also wanted to attack Tabriz. I arrived in Tabriz at night. On the same day in Tehran, there was news that the Qazvin armored force wanted to attack Tehran; the people had dug the road and welded the iron rod together and closed the way for the armor no to move so that they could not come to Tehran and Tabriz as well. We had to come to Tabriz by rural roads.

    It was midnight when I arrived in Tabriz and went to the house of Eng. Yekta. The city was a worryingly secluded place. Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Elahi and Dr. Salimi Khaliq and Mr. Mirza Abdullah Vaez were invited to come by phone at night, and they also came to the house of Mr.Yekta. Mr. Vaez was not much aware of the struggle and was mostly a supporter of the struggle, but his father, the late Mirza Hussein Vaez, was a fighter in the name of the Constitution.

     At the same gathering, it was decided to go to Ayatollah Ghazi's house in the morning. We went early in the morning to see him and asked why he was; every city are fallen and nothing has been done here yet ?! I also explained the problem of Qazvin. Fortunately, Maragheh armored forces were deployed here as well and therefore he could not come to Tabriz. We told him that if he gave the order and permission, some actions would be taken here as well.

     By the order of Ayatollah Ghazi, Mr. Haj Mirza Abdulhamid-Bonabi and Mr. Ostvar Mohammadzadeh, who was the head of Bidabadi's office, were asked to come to Mr.Yektaۥs house. Ostovar Mohammadzadeh was a fan of the struggle and a disciple of Mr. Ghazi. Mr. Ostvar Mohammadzadeh and Mr. Bonabi went and showed the Mr.Yektaۥs signature to the commander of Bidabadi, who was the commander of the Tabriz garrison, and told him that the garrison was currently under the supervision of the Imam's representative; they disarmed Bidabadi in his room without any resistance and brought him to Mr.Yektaۥs house. Bidabadi was respectfully detained at the house of Ayatollah Ghazi and the news was not leaked anywhere. It was in the afternoon that the people realized that the Tabriz garrison had fallen.

    It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon when they reported that we had walked to the attacked garrison in the capacity of a car. He was a Mr. Yekta and Dr. Salimi and Khaliq and Seyed Mohammad Elahi and Mirza Abdullah Vaez and myself. In front of the garrison, I saw a man holding two guns in his hand and running. I quickly jumped out of the car and shouted twice: "stop!", but he ignored me. The third time I shouted: "fire!", although I did not have any gun; he put the guns on the ground and went out. I picked up the guns and put them in the car. When we got to the garrison, I saw a major in front of the barrack crying and saying the garrison were looting. I said, "Well, don't let it be looted," and I ordered the aerial shooting. There was an underpass inside the garrison s where we took four or five guns. We announced through a loudspeaker that whoever took a gun would be shot at. Most of those who took up arms were either teenagers or those who were not at all militant and opportunistic. Of course, the weapons they were carrying were unusable and broken. We prevented this as much as we could and sent all the weapons taken to Ayatollah Ghazi's house to determine what we should do.

   After the time of evening prayer, I told the person who was in charge of the garrison at night to decorate the garrison yourself and protect it.

    He cried like a child saying humbly not to leave there and stay the night! I said: We are those who do not sleep, we are in the city and we are patrolling, do not be afraid!

[1] Nalabandi, M. (2010). Execute Me! (Memoirs of Mohammad Hassan Abdizdani), Tehran, Islamic Revolutionary Documentation Center, 2009, p. 299.