Ahmad Qavam

Ahmad Qavam (1954)

Ahmad Qavām ( Persian احمد قوام; also Qavām al-Saltaneh ,قوام السلطنه; *  1875 ; † July 23, 1955 ) was one of the most influential Iranian politicians. He headed several ministries and was Prime Minister several times . Like no other Iranian politician, he was involved in the political transformation of Iran from an absolutist monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. Ahmad Qavam was married twice and had one son.

Early years

Decree establishing the Iranian Parliament (1906)

Ahmad Qavam was born in 1875 to a prominent Iranian family. His father was Ebrahim Mirza Motamed al Saltaneh and his grandfather was Mohammad Qavam al Dowleh. His ancestors served as officials of the Qajar kings from the beginning of the 19th century . Only three prime ministers emerged from his father's family ( Hassan Mostofi , Ahmad Matin-Daftari and Mohammad Mossadegh ). His mother's family provided Prime Minister Mirza Ali Khan Amin al Dowleh . Qavam's older brother was Hassan Vosough , who was also Prime Minister several times.

Qavam began his career at the court of Naser al-Din Shah . Under Mozaffar al-Din Shah , Qavam Dabir-e Hozoor (private secretary) became the Shah. He formulated the decree signed by Mozaffar ad-Din Shah on August 5, 1906, establishing an Iranian parliament . During the time of the Constitutional Revolution , Qavam acquired the title of Qavam al-Saltaneh (Strength of the Throne).

minister

Ahmad Qavam as governor

After the introduction of elections, the establishment of a parliament and the establishment of a government legitimized by parliament, Qavam became Minister of the Interior in 1911. With the help of Swedish officers, Qavam founded the Gendarmerie , a national police unit to secure the highways during his time as Minister of the Interior . During this time, Qavam gained a reputation as an excellent administrative specialist.

Between 1914 and 1918, Qavam was first finance minister and then interior minister again. From 1918 to 1921, Qavam was governor of Khorasan . Qavam owed this position to his older brother Hassan Vosough, who had become Prime Minister in August 1918. At the end of 1918, Ahmad Shah tried to depose Qavam as governor of Khorasan because Ahmad Shah had sold the postal concession of Mashhad , the provincial capital of Khorasan, to his uncle Nosrat al Saltaneh. Postage was a major source of income for the governor during this period, which he used to finance his salary, administrative officials and local security forces. Qavam wasn't ready to give in. Prime Minister Vosough forced Ahmad Shah to withdraw the concession.

In 1921 Seyyed Zia al Din Tabatabai came to power through a coup . The new Prime Minister Tabatabai informed all governors about the new political balance of power. Qavam and his relative Mohammad Mossadegh , who was governor of Fars at the time , did not recognize Tabatabai as the new prime minister and refused to obey orders from the central government in Tehran . Tabatabai then ordered the arrest of numerous former ministers and administrative officials whom he accused of corruption. Ahmad Qavam was among them. The families of those arrested launched a propaganda campaign against Tabatabai, and on May 23, 1921, Zia was forced to resign under pressure from Ahmad Shah. On May 24, 1921, most of the "political prisoners" were released.

Prime Minister 1921

On May 28, Ahmad Shah sent his chief of protocol to the prison in Eschratabad to fetch Qavam. He offered him the post of Prime Minister, which he immediately accepted and held until October 25, 1922. In Ahmad Qavam's cabinet, Reza Khan, who later became Reza Shah Pahlavi , worked together as minister of war and Mohammad Mossadegh as finance minister as cabinet colleagues. Qavam announced a series of reforms, the introduction of a new legal system, the lifting of the rights of surrender and the hiring of foreign experts to clean up the state finances. After the Anglo-Iranian treaty of 1919 had not been ratified by parliament, and thus the loan promised by the British government with the agreement could not be used, Qavam's concern was initially to secure revenue in order to be able to act as a government to be. Reza Khan had started a military reform that was supposed to bring together the three different military formations of Iran, the Persian Cossack Brigade , the Persian Gendarmerie and the remnants of the regular army . For training, uniforms, uniform armament and regular wages, considerable financial resources were required, which Qavam first had to raise. First, Qavam turned to the US government, which agreed to send financial experts to Iran. On behalf of Qavam, Morgan Shuster was recruited to represent Iran's financial interests in the United States. On January 24, 1922, however, Qavam lost the support of parliament and resigned.

Prime Minister 1922

However, the new Prime Minister Hassan Pirnia could not last long and had to resign on May 25, 1922. Ahmad Qavam took over the post of prime minister again. During the reign of Qavam there were such important events as the suppression of the separatist movement of Colonel Pesyan , which succeeded with the help of Reza Khan , the reorganization of the Iranian finance and tax system, which was tackled with the support of the American financial expert Arthur Millspaugh .

In October 1923 he was accused of planning an assassination attempt against the then Minister of War Reza Khan . Qavam left Iran to avoid arrest and traveled to Europe. He did not return to Iran until 1930, but refrained from any political activity.

Prime Minister 1942

After Reza Shah's resignation, forced by the British, Qavam was again prime minister under Mohammad Reza Shah in 1942. Under pressure from the British occupation forces, Ali Soheili had to resign in favor of Ahmad Qavam . Qavam was considered pro-British. In December 1942, the British and Soviet occupation forces were reinforced by US troops to take over the transport of military goods for the Soviet Union through the Persian Corridor , which further fueled the increasing tensions between the occupying powers and the Iranian people. Qavam was only able to stay in office for 5 months due to growing domestic political pressure and Soheili was again Prime Minister on February 14, 1943 and remained so until March 27, 1944.

Prime Minister 1946

Ahmad Qavam in gala uniform.

However, Qavam faced the greatest challenge as Prime Minister after the end of World War II with the Iran crisis in March 1946. Josef Stalin refused to withdraw the Soviet occupation forces six months after the end of the war, contrary to the three-power agreement agreed with Iran and Great Britain . Qavam traveled to Moscow to negotiate directly with Stalin. He promised an oil concession in northern Iran demanded by the Soviet Union, so that the fulfillment of this demand would not provide any reason for Soviet troops to remain in Iran. After US President Harry S. Truman pressured Stalin that the US would increase its troop presence in Iran and would not shy away from a military confrontation, Stalin finally withdrew Russian troops from Iran. However, after the withdrawal of the Russian troops, the Iranian parliament refused to confirm the concession agreement concluded with the Soviet Union at the instigation of Qavam, so that it did not become legally valid and was therefore invalid. Qavam had won a great diplomatic victory. He had freed Iran from Russian occupation without having to keep the promises made to Russia.

With the end of the Iran crisis, a new era began in Iranian politics. The time of Russian and British interference was finally a thing of the past. Iran began intensive cooperation with the United States of America , which would last until 1979.

Years in France

After resigning as Prime Minister, Qavam left Iran and went to Paris. In 1952, five years later, he returned to Iran. Mohammad Mossadegh , as prime minister, had caused an international crisis ( Abadan crisis ), and to end the crisis, Mohammad Reza Shah Qavam reappointed Prime Minister after Mossadegh suddenly submitted his resignation on July 16, 1952.

Prime Minister 1952

Qavam's term of office was only supposed to last six days. Mossadegh's supporters called for a day of "National Resistance" on July 21 and organized a large demonstration. Qavam used police and army against the demonstrators. At the end of the day there were 36 dead demonstrators. Qavam announced his resignation and Mossadegh was back in office. After parliament declared the dead martyrs, a special tribunal was set up by Mossadegh to investigate the deaths of the demonstrators and bring those responsible to justice. Qavam was also summoned, but stayed away from the tribunal for health reasons.

Qavam was a broken man. This was not how he had imagined the end of his long political career. Qavam died three years and two days after the shameful end of his political career. After his death, his private house, which resembles a palace and is surrounded by a 7,000 m² garden, was sold to Egypt as the ambassador's residence. After diplomatic relations with Egypt were broken off, the house was converted into a museum for glass and ceramic work in 1980 . Today it is one of the sights of Tehran.

literature

• Alireza Avsati: Iran in the last 3 Centuries . Intishārāt-i Pā'kitāb, Tehran 2003, ISBN 964-93406-6-1 (vol. 1), ISBN 964-93406-5-3 (vol. 2) (Persian).
• Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. The men and women who made modern Iran, 1941–1979. Volume 1. Syracus University Press et al., Syracus NY et al. 2008, ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0 , SS 158-164.
• Hamid Shokat: Dar Tir Rase Hadese. The political life of Qavam osSaltaneh . Našr-i Aḫtarān, Tehran 2006, ISBN 964-8897-14-X (Persian).

See also

• Hassan Vosough
• Mohammad Mossadegh

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah. IB Taurus 2000. p. 41.
2. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah. IB Taurus 2000. p. 228.
3. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah. IB Taurus 2000. p. 235.
4. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah. IB Taurus 2000. p. 40.