Ahmad Nakhjavan احمد نخجوان | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of War | |
| In office 26 October 1939 – March 1942 | |
| Prime Minister | Ahmad Matin-Daftari Ali Mansur Mohammad Ali Foroughi |
| Preceded by | Esmail Amir-Fazli |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Ali Foroughi |
| In office October 1934 – 14 April 1936 | |
| Prime Minister | Mohammad Ali Foroughi Mahmoud Djam |
| Preceded by | Jafar-Qoli Asad |
| Succeeded by | Esmail Amir-Fazli |
| Commander of the Imperial Iranian Air Force | |
| In office 1943–1943 | |
| Preceded by | Majid Firouz and Mir-Mohammad Mohanna (co-commanders) |
| Succeeded by | Mir-Mohammad Mohanna |
| In office 1933–1937 | |
| Preceded by | Sadegh Koupal |
| Succeeded by | Ahmad Mirza-Khosravani |
| In office 1931–1932 | |
| Preceded by | Ahmad Mirza-Khosravani |
| Succeeded by | Sadegh Koupal |
| In office 1924–1930 | |
| Preceded by | Reza Mizani |
| Succeeded by | Ahmad Mirza-Khosravani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 September 1893 |
| Died | 28 April 1966 (aged 72) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Qajar Iran (1910–1925) Pahlavi Iran (1925–1966) |
| Branch/service | Iranian Gendarmerie Imperial Iranian Air Force |
Years of service | 1910–1966 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant general |
| Battles/wars | |
Ahmad Khan of Nakhichevan (Persian: احمدخان نخجوان, 13 September 1893 – 28 April 1966) was an Iranian military leader, major general and Defense Minister.
Biography
Ahmad Khan was born in 1893 in Tabriz and was the eldest son of Ali Khan of Nakhichevan. He belonged to the famous and influential Turkic Kangarlu tribe of Nakhichevan. Nakhichevan studied in France. After leaving school, he held various insignificant posts in Tehran. All this time he was the assistant and close friend of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Mohammed Reza was declared heir to the throne on 1 January 1926. He was educated in Switzerland and graduated from the officer's school in Tehran. In 1938, returning from Europe, he visited Baku. During the reign of Reza Shah, he often took part in government meetings and actually served as the minister of war. General Ahmad Khan of Nakhichevan, who held the post of Minister of War at that time, was actually his assistant.
Colonel Ahmad Nakhjavan completed his pilot training in 1925, and in February of the same year, he flew to Iran with a plane purchased from France, and landed in Qala-e-Marghi on 5 March. Ahmad Nakhjavan became the first head of the Imperial Iranian Air Force and was the director of aviation with him until 1937. During this time he was changed several times and fired, but each time he returned to service after a short time.[1] In 1929, he became a brigadier general.[2]
In 1940, he became the acting Minister of War in Prime Minister Ahmad Matin's cabinet, and he was soon promoted to the rank of Major General. Nakhchivan was under the auspices of the Ministry of War until 29 September 1941, at the same time as the Soviet and British forces invaded Iran, and approved the plan to dismiss conscripts and recruit contract soldiers to members of the Supreme Army Council. This caused severe change and protests from Reza Shah; Therefore, Ahmad severely beat Nakhjavan and threw him in prison.[3] He was imprisoned until 16 September and became Minister of War on 20 September, after the Shah resigned to restore Prime Minister Foroughi's cabinet. Thereafter, he was an inspector and head of Mohammad Reza Shah's military office for some time and died in 1967.
Ahmad Nakhjavan was the first Iranian pilot to fly a Breguet-19 aircraft with the Iranian flag and emblem from France to Tehran's Qala-e-Marghi base on 25 February 1925. Nakhchivan had trained in France and flew only 200 hours. Thus, on this date, the first aircraft of the Iranian Air Force, piloted by an Iranian, crossed the international borders and reached the Iranian airspace. During this period, the Iranian Air Force was removed from the form of a small office at the Army Command Headquarters and became a separate force called the Imperial Army Air Force of Iran.[4]
Ahmad Nakhjavan, along with Ismail Meraat, the then Minister of Culture, emphasized Persian orthography, and their efforts and those of others accompanied the Shah in ordering the establishment of a Persian language.
References
- Tehran Press, ed. Headquarters Zach. VO, Tbilisi, 1945, p. 63.
- Там же, стр. 53.
- Pars Yearbook, Tehran, 1947, pp. 77-78. (in Persian)
- Mansur Badashkhan, Iran in the month of Shahrivar (August–September) 1941, Tehran, 1942, pp. 13-14. (in Persian)
Bibliography
- Dr. Baqer Aghili (2007). Reza Shah and the Uniformed Army. Tehran: Namak Publishing. ISBN 978-964-6895-05-8.