Khosrow Qashqai

Khosrow Qashqai
Qashqai in 1979
Member of Parliament
In office Credentials rejected in 1980
Constituency	Eqlid
In office 27 April 1952 – 16 August 1953
Constituency	Firouzabad
In office 25 April 1950 – 19 February 1952
Constituency	Firouzabad
In office 12 June 1947 – 28 July 1949
Constituency	Firouzabad
Personal details
Born	c. 1921 (1921) Firuzabad County, Iran
Died	1 October 1982(1982-10-01) (aged 60–61) Firuzabad County, Iran
Political party	National Front
Other political affiliations	Democrat Party (1946–48)

Khosrow Qashqai (Persian: خسرو قشقایی; c. 1921 – 1982) was an Iranian politician and a Qashqai tribal leader.

Qashqai was a secular nationalist, and an opponent of Pahlavi dynasty. Historian Mark J. Gasiorowski describes him as "very pro-American".^[1]

Career

Qashqai joined Democrat Party of Ahmad Qavam upon establishment, and was elected to the parliament in 1947 election.^[2] In the next term, he was elected to the parliament as an independent.^[3] and during the 17th term, he joined the National Movement fraction after 1952 election.^[4] After 1953 coup d'état took place, he was forced into an exile that lasted from 1954 to 1979, when the Iranian Revolution happened.^[1]

Qashqai had close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the 1950s, and his cryptonym was "SDROTTER/4".^[1] He re-established connections with the American agency in 1978 again and in January 1979, he visited the Department of State.^[1] Following his return to Iran, Qashqai regularly met with CIA officers in Tehran. He requested them to help him establish a newspaper, but the CIA saw no use in this matter and apparently refused the offer. Instead, the urged Qashqai to continue ‘full-scale political activity’ and strengthening his ties to various players in order to gather intelligence and influencing them.^[1]

In 1980 parliamentary election, Qashqai won a ticket supported by the National Front. However, his credentials were rejected due to his American connections.^[5][6]

Prosecution and execution

Qashqai was arrested after the 1980 presidential election, when the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line released documents regarding his involvement with the Americans. He escaped from prison and fled to Fars Province to organize armed tribesmen for an insurgency. They were suppressed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and he was arrested in April 1982.^[1] He was executed on 1 October 1982.^[7]

References

1. Gasiorowski, Mark (2015), "US Covert Operations toward Iran, February–November 1979: Was the CIA Trying to Overthrow the Islamic Regime?", Middle Eastern Studies, 51 (1): 115–135, doi:10.1080/00263206.2014.938643, S2CID 143114380
2. Abrahamian, Ervand (1982), Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton University Press, p. 243, ISBN 0-691-10134-5
3. Abrahamian, Ervand (1982), Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton University Press, p. 261, ISBN 0-691-10134-5
4. Abrahamian, Ervand (1982), Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton University Press, p. 269, ISBN 0-691-10134-5
5. Baktiari, Bahman (1996). Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics. University Press of Florida. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8130-1461-6.
6. Chehabi, Houchang E. (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris. p. 286. ISBN 978-1850431985.
7. "An Iranian guerrilla leader, executed for plotting against the Islamic regime". United Press International. 16 October 1982. Retrieved 25 January 2020.