Autonomous Government of Khorasan
Encyclopedia
The Autonomous Government of Khorasan was a military state set up in modern day Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. It was formally established on the April 2, 1921 however the state collapsed just a few months later, on October 6, 1921. The area of the country was approximately 388,332 square kilometres and its capital was Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

.

State Information

  • Established: 2 April 1921
  • Dissolved: 6 October 1921
  • Capital: Mashhad
    Mashhad
    Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

    , Khorasan
  • Major Administrative Towns: Nishapur
    Nishapur
    Nishapur or Nishabur , is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad...

    , Quchan
    Quchan
    Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

    , Bojnourd, Sabzevar
    Sabzevar
    Sabzevar is a city in, and the capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 208,172, in 57,024 families.It is approximately 220 kilometres west of Mashhad, the provincial capital...

    , Torbat-e Heydarieh
    Torbat-e Heydarieh
    Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

    , Torbat-e-Jam, Tabas
    Tabas
    Tabas is a city in and capital of Tabas County, Yazd Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 30,681, in 7,962 families.Tabas is located in central Iran, 950 kilometers southeast of Tehran, in Yazd Province. Formerly it was part of the Khorasan province. It is a desert city with...

    , Birjand
    Birjand
    Birjand is the east Iranian provincial capital of South Khorasan and the centre of the county Birjand resp. Quhestan, known for its saffron, barberry, rug and handmade carpet exports....

  • Type of Government: Military Government
    Military government
    Military government can refer to conditions under either Military occupation, or Military dictatorship.-Military Government:Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory.The Hague Conventions of 1907 specify...

    , Secular, Nationalist
  • Population: N/A
  • Area: 388,332 km²(150,000 square miles) consisted of current Iranian provinces: Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, North Khorasan, Golestan
    Golestan Province
    Golestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the north-east of the country, south of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Gorgan....

     as well as region of Sistan
    Sistan
    Sīstān is a border region in eastern Iran , southwestern Afghanistan and northern tip of Southwestern Pakistan .-Etymology:...

  • Ethnic groups: Persian
    Persian people
    The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...

    , Khorasani Turkish, Kurdish
    Kurdish people
    The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

    , Turkmen
    Turkmen people
    The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...

    , Tajik, Hazara, Baluch
    Baloch people
    The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

    , Arabic, Aimak
    Aimak
    Aymāq , also transliterated as Aimak or Aimaq, are a collection of Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They are found throughout the north and northwest highlands of Afghanistan, immediately to the north of Herat, and in the Khorasan Province of Iran...

    , Barbari, Qaraei
    Qaraei
    The Qaraei or Kara Tatar are an ethnic group who live between the Altay Mountains and the Black Sea, in Central Asia, the Middle East, Transcaucasia and Eastern Europe....

  • Religions: Shia Islam, Sunni Islam
    Sunni Islam
    Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....

    , Bahá'í Faith
    Bahá'í Faith
    The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

  • Import Trading Partners: British India
  • Export Trading Partners: USSR, Afghanistan
    Afghanistan
    Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

  • Currency: Persian
    Iran
    Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

     Dinar
    Dinar
    The dinar is the official currency of several countries.The history of the dinar dates to the gold dinar, an early Islamic coin corresponding to the Byzantine denarius auri...

     Currency Photos
  • GDP: N/A
  • Total Armed Forces: 5,000 Gendarms in October, 1921

Military Governor-General

  • President of the National Committee of Khorasan(NCK): Colonel Mohammad Taqi Khan Pesyan
    Colonel Pesian
    Colonel Mohammad Taqi-Khan Pessian , born into an aristocratic family in Tabriz, was a popular military leader of Iran and became a national hero after his assassination...

     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 surrenderred to Persia and was simply acting Governor until arrival of Persia's appointed governor into Mashhad
    Mashhad
    Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

    .

  • 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

Official Post Name Party Affiliation
Commander of Armed Forces Major Ismail Khan Bahador NCK
Senior Gendarmerie Commander Major Mahmoud Khan Nowzari NCK
Director of Revenues   Monsieur Léon Dubois none
Revenue Accountant & Chief of Police (from 24 August to 3 October) Alam-od-dowleh NCK
Chief of Police(until 24 August)   Major Bronikovsky none
Mutavallibashi of the Shrine Zahir-ol-Islam NCK
Kargozar Mutasim al-Saltaneh Farrokh NCK
Owner of Tus Press Mir Morteza NCK
Chief Editor of Bahar Newspaper Sheikh Ahmad Bahar NCK
Poet & Founder of Democratic Party of Khorasan Mohammad Taghi Bahar
Mohammad Taghi Bahar
Mohammad-Taqí Bahār , widely known as Malek o-Sho'arā and Malek o-Sho'arā Bahār , is a renowned Iranian poet and scholar, who was also a politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature...

DPK,NCK
Poet Aref Qazvini
Aref Qazvini
Abolqassem Aref Qazvini was an Iranian poet, lyricist, and musician.-Biography:He was born in Qazvin.He composed many poems about Iran and was called a national poet. Along with his powerful poetry, he also wrote lyrics for numerous songs and played music. He was a revolutionary during the Iranian...

NCK
Mojtahed Mohammad Najafi Khorasani aka Aghazadeh none
Machine-gun Instructor   a German national none
Chief of Excise Department N/A NCK
Chief of Post Office N/A NCK
Chief of Telegraph Office N/A NCK
Director of Education N/A NCK
Chief of Customs Department N/A NCK
Chief of Justice Department N/A NCK

Gendarmerie Stations

Chief Location Name
Colonel Pesian
Colonel Pesian
Colonel Mohammad Taqi-Khan Pessian , born into an aristocratic family in Tabriz, was a popular military leader of Iran and became a national hero after his assassination...

Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

Ordu-ye Mashhad
Major Mahmoud Nowzari Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

Ordu-ye Naderi
Major Ismail Bahador Sabzevar
Sabzevar
Sabzevar is a city in, and the capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 208,172, in 57,024 families.It is approximately 220 kilometres west of Mashhad, the provincial capital...

Ordu-ye Qader
Captain Mohammad Taqi Kavoussi Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

Ordu-ye Kaveh
Captain Alireza Shamshir Torbat-e Jam Ordu-ye Shamshir
Captain Abdolrazaq Sepehri Gonabad
Gonabad
Gonabad is a city in and the capital of Gonabad County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 34,563, in 9,789 families.It is mostly well-known because of the Gonabadi Dervishes and for its qanats, also known as kareez...

Ordu-ye Barq

Regional Administrators & Tribal Chieftains

Administrator/Tribal Chief Region & Capital Tribe/Clan & Ethnicity
Ismail Shawkat-ol-Molk II Qayenat & Sistan
Sistan
Sīstān is a border region in eastern Iran , southwestern Afghanistan and northern tip of Southwestern Pakistan .-Etymology:...

; capital: Birjand
Birjand
Birjand is the east Iranian provincial capital of South Khorasan and the centre of the county Birjand resp. Quhestan, known for its saffron, barberry, rug and handmade carpet exports....

Khozaima Tribe; Arabic
Salar Khan Baluch Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

Baluch
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

Ibrahim Khan Baluch Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

Baluch
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

Jafar Khan Qaraei Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

Qaraei Tribe; Qaraei
Qaraei
The Qaraei or Kara Tatar are an ethnic group who live between the Altay Mountains and the Black Sea, in Central Asia, the Middle East, Transcaucasia and Eastern Europe....

Heydar Shah Barbari Tribe; Barbari
Mir Ali Ahmad Barbari Tribe; Barbari
Shawkat-od-Dowleh capital: Torbat-e Jam Teymouri Tribe; Aimak
Aimak
Aymāq , also transliterated as Aimak or Aimaq, are a collection of Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They are found throughout the north and northwest highlands of Afghanistan, immediately to the north of Herat, and in the Khorasan Province of Iran...

Shoja-ol-Molk Hazara Tribe; Hazara
Taj Mohammad Khan Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

; capital: Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Qaramanlu Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

; capital: Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

Qaramanlu Clan; Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...


Establishment

April 2, 1921 Colonel Pesyan, Chief of Gendarmerie of Khorasan has Ahmad Qavam the Governor-general of Khorasan toppled in a military coup and has him arrested and sent to Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

. Qavam and several other dominant figures in Khorasan were charged with Tax evasion charges which evidence were provided to Pesyan by a Belgian named Dubois who was Director of Revenue in Khorasan.

While Qavam was in prison in Tehran, Pesyan instated himself as Governor-general of Khorasan and ruled Khorasan autonomously even though he was a supporter of Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee
Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee
Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee was an Iranian politician and the Prime Minister of Iran from February to May 1921 under Ahmad Shah, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty....

 the Prime Minister of Persia.

In May 1921, Qavam is freed from prison and Tabatabaee is no longer Prime Minister. Qavam becomes Prime Minister and plans to take revenge on Pesyan. As of May 30, 1921 Pesyan declares that Khorasan is fully Autonomous and he establishes the National Committee of Khorasan or Komitey-e Melli-e Khorasan in Persian. The committee starts a program of plans and reforms, however they face 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 amount of shrine's revenues.
  • Subsidisine 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
  • Impose of censorship in the telegraph office.
  • Series of arrest 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 travellers leaving Mashhad and 10% Tax on all exports.
  • Encouraged export of goods to Afghanistan and Soviet Union.
  • Established 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 sunscribing 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
Kariz
Kariz refers to water supply - kareez In its early beginnings, Samarkand occupied part of Mount Afrasiab , which rises to the north of today’s Samarkand. As the city grew, it expanded its borders, and by the 9th century it occupied the entire hill...

 on Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 border and forces of Hazara chief Shuja al-Mulk. Gendarmes defeated and fled to Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

. 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
Kariz
Kariz refers to water supply - kareez In its early beginnings, Samarkand occupied part of Mount Afrasiab , which rises to the north of today’s Samarkand. As the city grew, it expanded its borders, and by the 9th century it occupied the entire hill...

, Torbat-e-Jam, Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....

 defeated the strong tribal confederatory force of Hazara, Baluch
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

, Barbari and Qaraei
Qaraei
The Qaraei or Kara Tatar are an ethnic group who live between the Altay Mountains and the Black Sea, in Central Asia, the Middle East, Transcaucasia and Eastern Europe....

, 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
Bakharz is a city in and the capital of Bakharz County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 6,854, in 1,661 families....

. Shuja fled to Afghanistan and the tribal disturbances in the south-east were stopped.

October 3, 1921 Pesyan himself took battle leading his 150 Gendarmes to fight a Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

 coalition tribal force which had more than 1,000 men, led by Sardar of Bojnurd and Taj Mohammad Khan of Quchan
Quchan
Quchan is a city in and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families.-Population:...

, who were also financially and militarily aided by the British and Persian government of Ahmad Qavam. Pesyan fought bravely with only 60 bullets, however he and his small force were circled by the Kurds and were martyred. 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
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

and handed the administrative duties to the newly appointed Governor-General of the province.
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