The posts in this weblog are mainly about history, heritage, language, art, and culture of Persia (that is named Iran since 1934). Persia is, therefore, equal to Iran, and Persian is equal to Iranian. Note that Persian is a nationality not an ethnicity. Pars (or Fars) is the major ethnicity in Persia but there are also Persian Kurds or Arabs. Similarly, the official language in Persia is Persian (Farsi is the local name and may not be used internationally). For more details please read my posts.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Persian democracy
One hundred years ago in these days, the king of Persia (Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar, 1853 – 1907) accepted to create a parliament, by which the monarch's power was curtailed as he granted a constitution and parliament to the people. He died of a heart attack 40 days after granting this constitution, and his successor (Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, 1872 - 1925) was against that decision. He dissolved the parliament with the military and political support of Russia and Britain.
The political movements that came later resulted in the dissolution of the Qajar dynasty in 1925 and the ascension of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878 - 1944) to the throne, and left the power totally in hands of the new king. It changed, however, in early 1950's when Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh (1882 - 1967) became the democratic elected prime minister. It was at the time of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919 - 1980), the last king of Persia. Mossadegh had a Doctorate in Law from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His government was the only democratic period in contemporary Persian history.
The main challenge of Dr. Mossadegh was with the British government about the oil. Till that date, Britain was just taking the oil from Persia and not really paying for that. Dr. Mossadegh announced the oil a "national resource" and proposed to sell it to Britain, instead of letting them just take it. Britain made a case against Dr. Mossadegh's government (The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company case) in the International Court of Justice. Dr. Mossadegh, himself, defended the case in the court, and won that case!
The sad story starts here. The British government did not accept the fact that a democratic government in Persia makes a decision for its own country, which could be against the benefit of Britain. They decided to remove Dr. Mossadegh from power, but they needed the help and support of the US government. Harry Truman did not agree with the idea of Winston Churchill, but as soon as Dwight Eisenhower got the power, in early 1953, the CIA and SIS started the plan.
In 19 August 1953, Dr. Mossadegh was removed from power by a complex military coup known as Operation Ajax (New York Times, in 2000, published the CIA documents about this operation). Dr. Mossadegh was tried by a military tribunal for high treason and received a sentence of 3 years in solitary confinement, at a military jail, and was exiled to his village, not far from Tehran, where he remained under house arrest until his death, on 5 March 1967.
I think not only the fate of democracy in Persia, but also the historic path of the whole Middle East would be different if the Britain and the US governments thought a bit further than their short time benefits. I wish the US government that wants to give democracy to the Middle East now, did not take it away from Persia 53 years ago. It's my personal idea, but it is interesting to hear the exact same thing from Bill Clinton, the former US president! Last year, in an interview with Charlie Rose during World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Clinton said:
.... Iran's a whole different kettle of fish, but.. It's a sad story that really began in the 1950s when the United States deposed Mr. Mossadegh, who was an elected parliamentary democrat, and brought the Shah back in. And then he was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini, driving us in the arms of Saddam Hossein! The most of the terrible things that Saddam Hossein did in 1980's, he did with the full knowing and support of the United States government. Because he was in Iran, and Iran was what it was because we got rid of their parliamentary democracy back in the 50's. At least that is my believe. I know it is not popular for an American ever to say anything like this, but I think it's true, and I apologized when President Khatami was elected. I publicly acknowledged that the United States had actively overthrown Mossadegh and I apologized for it, and I hope that we could have some rapprochement with Iran....
The video of this interview was available on the Internet, but not any more! You can still read part of that interview here.
The political movements that came later resulted in the dissolution of the Qajar dynasty in 1925 and the ascension of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878 - 1944) to the throne, and left the power totally in hands of the new king. It changed, however, in early 1950's when Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh (1882 - 1967) became the democratic elected prime minister. It was at the time of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919 - 1980), the last king of Persia. Mossadegh had a Doctorate in Law from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His government was the only democratic period in contemporary Persian history.The main challenge of Dr. Mossadegh was with the British government about the oil. Till that date, Britain was just taking the oil from Persia and not really paying for that. Dr. Mossadegh announced the oil a "national resource" and proposed to sell it to Britain, instead of letting them just take it. Britain made a case against Dr. Mossadegh's government (The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company case) in the International Court of Justice. Dr. Mossadegh, himself, defended the case in the court, and won that case!
The sad story starts here. The British government did not accept the fact that a democratic government in Persia makes a decision for its own country, which could be against the benefit of Britain. They decided to remove Dr. Mossadegh from power, but they needed the help and support of the US government. Harry Truman did not agree with the idea of Winston Churchill, but as soon as Dwight Eisenhower got the power, in early 1953, the CIA and SIS started the plan.In 19 August 1953, Dr. Mossadegh was removed from power by a complex military coup known as Operation Ajax (New York Times, in 2000, published the CIA documents about this operation). Dr. Mossadegh was tried by a military tribunal for high treason and received a sentence of 3 years in solitary confinement, at a military jail, and was exiled to his village, not far from Tehran, where he remained under house arrest until his death, on 5 March 1967.
I think not only the fate of democracy in Persia, but also the historic path of the whole Middle East would be different if the Britain and the US governments thought a bit further than their short time benefits. I wish the US government that wants to give democracy to the Middle East now, did not take it away from Persia 53 years ago. It's my personal idea, but it is interesting to hear the exact same thing from Bill Clinton, the former US president! Last year, in an interview with Charlie Rose during World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Clinton said:
.... Iran's a whole different kettle of fish, but.. It's a sad story that really began in the 1950s when the United States deposed Mr. Mossadegh, who was an elected parliamentary democrat, and brought the Shah back in. And then he was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini, driving us in the arms of Saddam Hossein! The most of the terrible things that Saddam Hossein did in 1980's, he did with the full knowing and support of the United States government. Because he was in Iran, and Iran was what it was because we got rid of their parliamentary democracy back in the 50's. At least that is my believe. I know it is not popular for an American ever to say anything like this, but I think it's true, and I apologized when President Khatami was elected. I publicly acknowledged that the United States had actively overthrown Mossadegh and I apologized for it, and I hope that we could have some rapprochement with Iran....
The video of this interview was available on the Internet, but not any more! You can still read part of that interview here.
Labels: Persian history
¶ 7:42:00 pm
