War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

Merchants without frontier 207and the head of the revived Anjoman of Tabriz in the summer of 1908 (Rajab1326 ah). See Mansoureh Rafi’i, Anjoman, pp. 42 and 75. Echoing Amir-Khizi(in Qiyam-e Azerbaijan va Sattar Khan, p. 161), Rafi’i cites the starting date ofthis new phase of the Anjoman as late Jumadi II or early Rajab 1326 ah⁄July1908. With reference to Vijviyeh (in Tarikh-e Enqelab-e Azerbaijan va Balva-yeTabriz) a slightly later date of 17 Rajab 1326 ah/15 August 1908 is also given.See Rafi’i, Anjoman, p. 177 (n. 126). Members of the Anjoman of Tabriz included,among others, Hajj Esma’il Amirkhizi, Seyyed Hossein Khan Edalat, Hajj MirMohammad-Ali Esfahani, Hajj Naser Hazrat, Sheikh Mohammad Khiabani, HajjMehdi Kouzehkanani, Hajj Sheikh Ali-Asghar Leylabadi, Mirza Javad Nateq(Naseh), Mirza Esma’il Nowbari, Mirza Rashtchi, Mirza Sadeq Khan Sadeq al-Molk, Sheikh Salim, Mirza Ali Theqat al-Eslam, Seyyed Hasan Sharifzadeh, Seyyedal-Mohaqqeqin, Mirza Hossein Va’ez, Mirza Ali Vijviyehi, and Mirza GhaffarZonouzi. See Rafi’i, Anjoman, pp. 42–6, and 75. It should be noted that duringthe constitutional campaign many merchants in Azerbaijan (such as Hajj MehdiKouzehkanani, Hajj Mir-Aqa Rabet, and Hajj Rasoul Sadaqiani, among others)funded the Anjoman of Tabriz and were also supporting the partisan forces affiliatedwith the Anjoman. For a brief biography of Hajj Mehdi Kouzehkanani, who wasalso referred to as “Abolmelleh” (father of the nation), and his involvementin the constitutional movement in Tabriz, see Samad Sardarinia, Mashahir-eAzerbaijan [Notables of Azerbaijan] (Tabriz: Zowqi, 1370/1991), pp. 103–12.Hajj Mir-Aqa Rabet was also among a group of Tabriz constitutionalists whocommissioned a commemorative rug in honor of Howard Baskerville (a teacherof the American Memorial School in Tabriz who had supported and trained Tabrizconstitutionalist partisans and died during the fighting in the Tabriz civil war).For a photo of this group and the commemorative rug, see S. R. Shafagh, HowardBaskerville, 1885–1909 (Fifth Anniversary): The Story of an American Who Diedin the Cause of Iranian Freedom and Independence (Tabriz: Keyhan, 1959), p. 24.Volunteer fighters who were trained by Baskerville during the civil war in Tabriz,included M. Mo’tamed al-Tojjar, Karim Eskandani, Rezazadeh Shafaq, HasanKouzehkanani (the son of Hajj Mehdi Kouzehkanani), Abbas-Ali Hariri, RezaPaknia, Zein-Ali Balazadeh, Karim Rafi’i, Ali Birang Hariri, Mohammad-AliPaknia, Ahmad Ghazvini. Ahmad Balazadeh, Ali Postkhaneh, and EbrahimQafqaichi (?). For a photo of this group, referred to as “Baskerville Troop,” see,ibid., p. 19.39 Memoirs, p. 73.40 Memoirs, p. 90.41 “Karbalai” and “Mashhadi” refer respectively to those who had made the pilgrimageto Karbala (the mausoleum of Hossein (d. 680), the third Shia Imam, inKarbala, in southern Iraq) and Mashhad (the mausoleum of Ali al-Reza (d. 868),the eighth Shia Imam, in Mashhad, in north-eastern Iran). In due course, all brothersvisited Mecca, thus climbing up the pilgrimage ladder and became “Hajji.”42 Memoirs, pp. 83–6. Accordingly, in 1317 ah⁄1899 Hajj Reza went to Rasht tolook after family business. His acquaintances in Rasht included a certain MirzaMohammad-Reza, who was a poet in his own right, an encounter which musthave inspired Hajj Reza to write some “meaningful” poetry himself – also whilein Rasht, Hajj Reza learned Russian. Memoirs, pp. 41–2. The Memoirs also indicatesthat Hajj Reza was admitted into the constitutionalist society (theAnjoman) of Rasht and regularly traded with Baku and other towns in the Caucasus.In the summer of 1908 he was in Baku when he heard the news of theupheavals in Tabriz. He delayed returning to Tabriz and finally on 1 Sha’ban 1326ah/28 August 1908 he went to Istanbul and stayed with Hajj Gholam-Reza Aqa(?) and began trading. The news from Tabriz of the passing of his wife, RobabehBirang Harir-Foroush (a relative of the above mentioned Ali Birang Hariri, who