Autonomous Government of Khorasan
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The Autonomous Government of Khorasan was a short-lived
military state A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...
set up in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It was formally established on the April 2, 1921, and collapsed a few months later, on October 6, 1921. Their capital was Mashhad.


State information

*Established: 2 April 1921 *Dissolved: 6 October 1921 *Capital: Mashhad, Khorasan *Major Administrative Towns: Nishapur,
Quchan Quchan ( fa, قوچان ' ; also Romanized as Qūchān and Quçan; also known as Khabushan, Gochan) is a city and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 ce ...
,
Bojnourd Bojnord ( fa, ; also romanized Bojnūrd, Bujnūrd, Bojnoord, Bojnord or Bujnurd), known in the Middle Ages as Buzanjird, is the capital city of North Khorasan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and al ...
,
Sabzevar Sabzevar ( fa, سبزوار ), previously known as Beyhagh (also spelled "Beihagh"; fa, بيهق), is a city and capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, approximately west of the provincial capital Mashhad, in northeastern ...
,
Torbat-e Heydarieh Torbat-e Heydarieh ( fa, تربت حيدريه, also Romanized as Torbat-e Ḩeydarīyeh; also known as Torbat-e Heydari, Turbat-i-Haidari, Torbate Heydari, and Turbet-i-Haidari, and for short Torbat) is a city and capital of Torbat-e Heydarieh C ...
, Torbat-e-Jam,
Ferdows Ferdows ( fa, فردوس, also Romanized as Ferdos, Ferdous, and Firdaus; named Toon or Tūn until 1929) is a city and capital of Ferdows County, located in the north of South Khorasan Province in Iran. It is about south of Mashhad and 200  ...
,
Tabas Tabas ( fa, طبس, also Romanized as Ṭabas), formerly known as Golshan, is the capital city of Tabas County in South Khorasan Province of Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 35,150, in 9,903 families. Tabas is located in central Iran ...
, Birjand *Type of Government: Military Government,
Secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
,
Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
*Area: Consisted of current Iranian provinces: Razavi Khorasan,
South Khorasan South Khorasan Province ( fa, استان خراسان جنوبی ''Ostān-e Khorāsān-e Jonūbī'') is a province located in eastern Iran. Birjand is the centre of the province. The other major cities are Ferdows, Tabas and Qaen. In 2014, it ...
, North Khorasan, Golestan as well as region of
Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...
*Ethnic groups:
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, Khorasani Turkish,
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
, Turkmen, Tajik, Hazara, Baluch,
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
Aimak The Aimaq ( fa, ایماق, Aimāq) or Chahar Aimaq (), also transliterated as Aimagh, Aimak and Aymaq, are a collection of Sunni and mostly Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They live mostly in the central and western highlands ...
, Barbari,
Qarai Turks The Karai or Qarai Turks are a Turkic minority mostly found in Khorasan and Iran especially Torbat-e Heydarieh. At the start of the Qajar dynasty, Qarai Turks were also scattered even beyond southern Khorasan through the desert zone of Sist ...
*Religions:
Shia Islam Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, m ...
, Sunni Islam,
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...
*Currency:
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Dinarbr>Currency Photos
*Total Armed Forces: 5,000 Gendarms in October, 1921


Government structure


Military Governor-General

* President of the National Committee of Khorasan (NCK): Colonel Mohammad Taqi Pessian 2 April 1921 to 3 October 1921 * Acting Governor-General Major Mahmoud Khan Nowzari 4 October 1921 to early November, 1921 (Khorasan under Nowzari was not autonomous fully, as Nowzari had surrendered to
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and was simply acting Governor until arrival of Persia's appointed governor into Mashhad. * Selfimposed Governor-General Major Ismail Khan Bahador was second-in-command to Pesyan and after Pesyan's death he tried to maintain Khorasan's independence and continue Pesyan's path. He launched a coup against Nowzari on 16 October 1921 when he had him arrested and declared himself Governor-General of Khorasan which didn't last long as Nowzari received help and was rescued from prison.


Other senior government officials


Gendarmerie stations

http://khschool.ir/Article/ViewArticle.asp?id=498&catname=%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AE&ActiveStateCode=300


Regional Administrators and Tribal Chieftains


Establishment

On April 2, 1921, Colonel Pesyan, Chief of Gendarmerie of Khorasan, along with his cousin General Heydargholli Pesyan, a commander of the Iranian Cossack Brigade, had
Ahmad Qavam Ahmad Qavam (2 January 1873 – 23 July 1955; fa, احمد قوام), also known as Qavam os-Saltaneh ( fa, قوام السلطنه), was a politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran five times. Early life Qavam was born in 1873 to a p ...
, the Governor-general of Khorasan, removed in a military coup. He was arrested and sent to
Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
. Qavam and several other dominant figures in Khorasan were charged with
tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
charges, the evidence for which were provided to Pesyan by a
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
named Dubois who was Director of Revenue in Khorasan. While Qavam was in prison in Tehran, Pesyan was declared Governor-general of Khorasan and ruled Khorasan autonomously even though he was a supporter of Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee, then the Prime Minister of Persia. In May 1921, Qavam was freed from prison and Tabatabaee was no longer Prime Minister. Qavam became Prime Minister and planned to take revenge on Pesyan. As of May 30, 1921, Pesyan declared that Khorasan was fully Autonomous and he established the National Committee of Khorasan or Komitey-e Melli-e Khorasan in Persian. The committee started a program of plans and reforms, but faced some fierce opposition by some tribal and religious leaders.


Plans

Commenced between 2 April to 25 May *Reform the military organisation of Khorasan and proclamation of martial law. The ''nizam'' (infantry) and Gendarmerie were combined to form this new force. New soldiers were heavily recruited for the new force. In April there were only 200 Gendarms while in October there were approximately 5,000. *Setup of a finance commission to investigate and assess revenue claims. This had outraged wealthy tribal chiefs and merchants. *Reform of the shrine administration; this included steps to be taken against those shrine administrators who had consumed vast amounts of shrine revenues. *Subsidy of two local newspapers: ''Sharq-e-Iran'' (The East of Iran) and ''Mihr-e-Monir'' (The Shining Sun) to support the government of Seyed Zia Tabatabaei. Commenced between 26 May to 6 Oct *Imposition of censorship in the telegraph office. *Series of arrests of persons believed to have been collaborating with Persia's Central Government of Ahmad Qavam. *''Kumiteye Melli-e Khorasan'' (National Committee of Khorasan) issued a manifesto on 15 September 1921, and prepared a proclamation declaring Khorasan a republic which was postponed by Colonel Pesyan and never implemented. *Sold a large amount of grain to a Bolshevik Food Purchasing Commission. *Extracted forced loans from the wealthy and auctioned off the belongings of the defeated tribal chiefs. *Encouraged anti-British stance, pro-Soviet ideas and Persian Nationalist beliefs. *Imposed a poll tax on all travelers leaving Mashhad and 10% tax on all exports. *Encouraged export of goods to Afghanistan and Soviet Union. *Establishment of a local bank in September 1921. *Striking of its own coinage was also considered. *Steps for the inception of a Department of Education were taken; Colonel Pesyan himself gave money in the interests of female schooling.


Battles

Several tribal leaders who had lost most of their wealth and belongings due to Pesyan's reform programs were supported by Qavam's government. Therefore, on August 11, 1921, the first battle took place between a detachment of Gendarmes in a village near Kariz on
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
border and forces of Hazara chief Shuja al-Mulk. Gendarmes defeated and fled to Mashhad. This defeat results in appointment of Shawkat al-Dowlah a rival of Shuja al-Mulk as Governor of Torbat-e-Jam with a task to deal with disturbances and a sending of strong numerous gendarme forces on August 20, 1921. In September, 1921 Gendarme forces from Kariz, Torbat-e-Jam,
Torbat-e Heydarieh Torbat-e Heydarieh ( fa, تربت حيدريه, also Romanized as Torbat-e Ḩeydarīyeh; also known as Torbat-e Heydari, Turbat-i-Haidari, Torbate Heydari, and Turbet-i-Haidari, and for short Torbat) is a city and capital of Torbat-e Heydarieh C ...
defeated the strong tribal confederatory force of Hazara, Baluch, Barbari and
Qarai Turks The Karai or Qarai Turks are a Turkic minority mostly found in Khorasan and Iran especially Torbat-e Heydarieh. At the start of the Qajar dynasty, Qarai Turks were also scattered even beyond southern Khorasan through the desert zone of Sist ...
, whose leaders were Shuja al-Mulk, Seyed Heydar Barbari, Salar Khan Baluch, Mir Ali Ahmad Barbari, Ibrahim Khan Baluch and Jafar Khan Qaraei in a battle which took place in
Bakharz Bakharz ( fa, باخرز, also known as Ostā-ye Bākharz ( fa, استای باخرز), Ostād, Ostād Bākharz, Ostay, and Usta) is a city and capital of Bakharz County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 6 ...
. Shuja fled to Afghanistan and the tribal disturbances in the south-east were stopped. On October 3, 1921, Pesyan himself took to battle, personally leading his 150 Gendarmes to fight a
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
coalition tribal force which had more than 1,000 men, led by Sardar of
Bojnurd Bojnord ( fa, ; also romanized Bojnūrd, Bujnūrd, Bojnoord, Bojnord or Bujnurd), known in the Middle Ages as Buzanjird, is the capital city of North Khorasan Province, Iran. It is about from Tehran. and It is located 237 km away from Mashhad ...
and Taj Mohammad Khan of
Quchan Quchan ( fa, قوچان ' ; also Romanized as Qūchān and Quçan; also known as Khabushan, Gochan) is a city and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 ce ...
, who were also financially and militarily aided by the British and the Persian government of Ahmad Qavam. Pesyan fought bravely with only 60 bullets, however he and his small force were circled by the Kurds and massacred. Pesyan's head was cut off as proof of his death and sent to Qavam.


Collapse

After Pesyan's death, the committee was no longer united. A new rivalry started between Nowzari and Ismail Khan Bahador, who were Pesyan's partisans. Nowzari managed to take charge of Khorasan and he surrendered to Persia's government. In November, 1921 a strong military force of Gendarmes and Cossacks arrived in Mashhad and handed the administrative duties to the newly appointed Governor-General of the province.


References


Bibliography

* ''An Experiment in Revolutionary Nationalism: The Rebellion of Colonel Muhammad Taqi Khan Pasyan in Mashhad, April–October 1921'', Stephanie Cronin, Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.33, No. 4 October 1997, pp. 693–750.


Further reading


Soldiers, Shahs and Subalterns in Iran: Opposition, Protest and Revolt, 1921–1941


External links


Institute of Iranian Contemporary History Studies


{{DEFAULTSORT:Autonomous Government Of Khorasan 1921 disestablishments in Asia States and territories established in 1921 History of North Khorasan Province History of South Khorasan Province History of Razavi Khorasan Province History of Golestan Province 20th century in Iran 1921 in Asia