November 19, 2004
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Hundreds gathered in heavy rain at Sattar Khan’s gravesite in Rey to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Azerbaijani constitutionalist leader’s death. Speakers honoured his decisive role in Iran’s Constitutional Revolution while calling for the defence of Azerbaijan’s national identity, mother-tongue education, civil rights, and the transfer of his remains to a dignified mausoleum in Tabriz.
The first speaker was engineer Gholamreza Amani, who had travelled from Tabriz to Tehran. He strongly criticized what he described as the continuing influence of Aryan chauvinism within the country’s cultural institutions. Despite the unparalleled sacrifices of Sattar Khan and other devoted constitutionalist fighters, he argued, publications and media outlets affiliated with Aryanist currents generally refrain from presenting the truth about the Azerbaijani people’s struggle and its importance during the decisive years of the Constitutional Revolution.
Amani also condemned the repression and surveillance imposed by security institutions on Azerbaijani cultural activities, including the Babek Castle gatherings and the commemoration of the second anniversary of Safar Khan’s death.
“Despite all the pressure imposed upon us, we will not take a single step backward in defending Azerbaijan’s national identity,” he declared. “Instead, we will move forward with even greater strength and determination.”
He concluded by calling for Sattar Khan’s remains to be transferred to Tabriz and placed in a magnificent mausoleum befitting the National Commander.
The second speaker was Abbas Lisani, an Azerbaijani cultural activist from Ardabil.
Lisani stated that Sattar Khan’s struggle for the freedom of all the peoples and national communities of Iran would remain a golden chapter in the history of the Azerbaijani nation and among freedom- and justice-seeking peoples throughout the world.
“The Azerbaijani National Movement is a continuous and enduring movement that, over the past century, has been cultivated by such great figures as the martyred Sattar Khan, the martyred Khiyabani, and the martyred Pishevari,” he said. “Its purpose is to defend the identity and liberty of our country’s citizens.”
Lisani also strongly criticized the unlawful restrictions imposed on the most recent Babek Castle gathering and referred to the events at the Sarcheshmeh Mosque in Ardabil on June 22, 2004.
He said that a peaceful and lawful protest by Azerbaijanis in Ardabil against a visit by groups associated with Armenian Dashnaks and the government in Yerevan had been met with a violent police attack. According to Lisani, the sanctity of the Sarcheshmeh Mosque was violated, those inside—including a cleric present at the gathering—were subjected to severe verbal abuse, and all the protesters holding a sit-in inside the mosque were badly beaten.
The third speaker was Akbar Azad.
Referring to Azerbaijan’s long history of sacrifice for the freedom of Iran’s peoples and national communities, Azad stated:
“Unfortunately, despite the unparalleled sacrifices of the Turkish men and women of Azerbaijan—particularly during the great Constitutional Revolution—this region has received nothing but injustice, suffering, and humiliation in return for the justice for which it has always sacrificed its people.”
Azad then criticized the unlawful treatment of participants in the commemoration of Safar Khan, known as the “National Defender.” He also condemned what he described as insulting and defamatory coverage by state newspapers and certain non-governmental Pan-Aryanist publications.
He strongly criticized the Ministry of Education’s new policy of compulsory Persian-language instruction beginning at the preschool level in non-Persian regions, particularly Azerbaijan and Khuzestan. He described the policy as an overt form of apartheid directed against one of the most fundamental rights of Iran’s peoples and national communities: the internationally recognized right to education in one’s mother tongue.
An oath titled And Olsun—“Let It Be an Oath”—was then read from the podium and repeated by the participants. The microphone was subsequently handed to Hojjatoleslam Azimi Qadim.
Emphasizing what he regarded as the inevitable realization of the legitimate rights of all Iran’s peoples and national communities—including Azerbaijanis, Arabs, Turkmens, Qashqais, Baluch, Kurds, Gilaks, and Mazanderanis—Azimi Qadim offered a prayer. He also prayed for the liberation of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s territories then under Armenian occupation.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, a ten-point resolution was read aloud and approved by the crowd with chants of “Long live Azerbaijan!”
Standing hand in hand, participants collectively sang the well-known song:
“Azerbaijan, you are my identity, my honour and my glory.”
Between the speeches, impassioned articles and poems were recited by Manouchehri, Alma Moghani, Turan Beyoghlu, Mehdi Naeimi, Saeed Moghani, Atilla Kishizadeh, and Hedayat Zaker.
One of the poems that generated particular excitement among the crowd was titled Oyan, Sərdar—“Awaken, Commander.” It was recited by a seminary student named Zowqi on behalf of students from the Qom seminary.
The ceremony ended without confrontation or further demonstrations.
Notes From the Ceremony
Despite the rain, participants gathered around the grave of Sattar Khan to commemorate the anniversary of his death.
Some placards carried messages in Azerbaijani Turkish, including:
“Even if my cage were made of gold, I would still long for freedom.”
“May the memory of the people’s son, Sattar Khan, remain cherished.”
“The people’s son, the warrior of Islam, the martyred Sattar Khan.”
The presence of girls and women carrying small portraits of Sattar Khan and Baqir Khan was particularly noticeable.
During the ceremony, many visitors to the shrine joined the gathering. Some reportedly wept upon seeing the modest grave of what the article called “Azerbaijan’s lonely National Commander.”
Plainclothes security officers reportedly filmed participants less frequently than they had during the previous year’s ceremony.
Shrine attendants disconnected the sound system during the event.
Many participants had travelled in organized groups from Ardabil, Tabriz, Zanjan, Qazvin, Qom, Karaj, Hamadan, Arak, Khorasan, and the Qashqai-populated regions of Fars.
Participants also collectively recited the Fatiha at the grave of Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani.
Original report in Persian (archived)
Resolution of the Participants in the Commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Sattar Khan, the National Commander and the Lonely Commander of Azerbaijan
Beneath the hammer, humble iron is beaten for days,
so that a piece of steel may become a formidable sword!
Tevfik Fikret
November 15, 2004, marks the 90th anniversary of the martyrdom of Sattar Khan, the National Commander and the lonely commander of Azerbaijan.
The name of Sattar Khan, as the foremost symbol of the great and popular Constitutional Revolution, recalls the unparalleled courage and sacrifices of Azerbaijan’s constitutionalists in defence of their national dignity and the legitimate rights of all the peoples and national communities of our country.
The great Constitutional Revolution against the dark despotism of the monarchs, feudal lords, and reactionaries of its time constitutes a turning point in the awakening of the peoples of the East.
Without question, Turks—and Azerbaijanis in particular—played an unparalleled and decisive role in the great Constitutional Revolution.
Naturally, the emergence of a broad popular movement first requires a profound intellectual transformation among society’s elites, followed by the dissemination of its ideas among the people. In the development of this far-reaching cultural and social revolution, Azerbaijan was the most progressive of the Qajar Guarded Domains, while the royal city of Tabriz stood at the forefront of the cities of Iran—and, in some respects, of the world at that time.
Crown Prince Abbas Mirza was a reforming prince who, during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah, struggled courageously and resolutely to lead all the peoples of the Guarded Domains toward modernization and progress, sacrificing his life, wealth, and honour in the process. This great Qajar commander, despite his royal position, fought for many years like a humble and devoted soldier against the occupying Russian armies and Armenian groups he regarded as treacherous. He also worked tirelessly to open strong intellectual fronts against ignorance and isolation in the fields of science and technology.
Writers and thinkers such as the martyred Abdolrahim Talebof Tabrizi, Mirza Alakbar Sabir, Zeyn al-Abedin Maraghei, the martyred Seyyed Hasan Khan Sharifzadeh, Mohammad Amin Rasulzadeh, and Mirza Hasan Roshdieh—together with many other intellectuals, most of them Turks and particularly Azerbaijanis—rose in accordance with the principle that “life is belief and struggle.” They hoped that, following Azerbaijan’s uprising, the Qajar Guarded Domains would experience a rebirth appropriate to their time.
Through the sincere and effective efforts of the constitutionalist fighters, Mozaffar al-Din Shah issued the Constitutional Decree on 14 Jumada al-Thani 1324 AH, corresponding to August 5, 1906. With the participation of Azerbaijani freedom seekers, the first National Association was subsequently established in Tabriz, followed by the Consultative Assembly in Tehran. The first constitution in the country’s history was then drafted.
The joy of this great victory, however, quickly disappeared with the beginning of the despotic Mohammad Ali Shah’s reign. Determined to destroy every achievement of constitutionalism, the autocratic monarch enlisted the assistance of royal courtiers, reactionary clerics, oppressive feudal lords, and foreign powers. He prepared a frenzied assault on the National Consultative Assembly, which the freedom seekers regarded as the supreme embodiment of liberty.
The shah’s confrontation with the constitutionalists had already failed when he attempted to appoint Amin al-Sultan as prime minister—a plan brought to an end by the bullet of the martyred Abbas Aqa Sarraf Tabrizi. The confrontation then entered a new phase.
The attacks by the court’s supporters against the foundations of freedom and justice became so extensive and severe that the National Association of Tabriz, acting on behalf of all the peoples of the Qajar Guarded Domains, took the historic step of deposing Mohammad Ali Shah from the Qajar throne for betraying the nation and violating his promises and oath.
Supported by traitors, reactionaries, and foreign powers, however, the deposed shah continued his assault. On 23 Jumada al-Awwal 1326 AH, corresponding to June 23, 1908, the cannons of despotism opened fire on the home of liberty and the house of the nation. The attack was ordered by Mohammad Ali Shah and carried out by Russian officers such as Liakhov and Shapshal. Hundreds of freedom seekers and members of the National Consultative Assembly were killed.
History will never forget the heroic resistance of the fighters of the Association of Azerbaijanis in Tehran or that of Haji Mirza Ebrahim Aqa, the courageous representative of Tabriz in the Assembly. They fought the Cossacks until their final bullet, choosing martyrdom over captivity.
The blow struck by despotism against the palace of freedom and justice was so severe and devastating that no voice was heard from the capital until Tehran was liberated once again.
Silence and paralysis engulfed Iran so completely that most constitutionalists believed the Constitutional Revolution had been buried forever.
But Azerbaijan, as throughout its history, remained unconquerable.
Acting as the guardian of the rights of the peoples and national communities of Iran, the National Association of Tabriz immediately established a war commission. It educated, organized, and armed groups of Azerbaijani fighters, placing at their head such prominent figures as Sattar Khan, Baqir Khan, and Hossein Khan.
Astonished by Azerbaijan’s rapid and powerful uprising, the forces of despotism repeatedly dispatched large armies under commanders such as Ein al-Dowleh and Arshad al-Dowleh to suppress the constitutionalist fighters in Azerbaijan and Tabriz.
Mohammad Ali Shah also mobilized bloodthirsty supporters of despotism from within Azerbaijan—including Samad Khan Shoja al-Dowleh, Eqbal al-Saltaneh Makui, Rahim Khan Nosrat al-Saltaneh, and Mir Hashem Duachi—against the freedom seekers of Tabriz and Azerbaijan. At the same time, he obtained religious decrees from court-affiliated clerics declaring the constitutionalists apostates.
Despite being subjected to a complete and suffocating siege, Tabriz maintained an extraordinary resistance for nearly a year. Azerbaijan fought both despotism and the hunger imposed upon it.
To save the nation and stave off starvation, the people preferred to eat dried plants rather than consume food from the lavish tables of the despots.
And it was in this way that their resistance shook history and the world.
News of the legendary endurance of Tabriz’s self-sacrificing fighters crossed international borders. Progressive religious scholars and independent clerics in Najaf and Karbala repeatedly described Azerbaijan’s uprising as a divinely inspired struggle in their religious decrees. Prominent figures and newspapers in France bestowed upon Sattar Khan the title “Garibaldi of the East.”
International brigades travelled from the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and Europe to assist the devoted fighters of Tabriz, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation. The passion for freedom even inspired foreigners residing in Tabriz to rise in support of the movement. Howard Baskerville, an American, was killed while fighting in the trenches alongside the constitutionalists of Tabriz, becoming a symbol of the internationalist fighters of these brigades.
The year was now 1908.
All of Tabriz had become a battlefield. At certain moments, the assaults of the despotism’s mob-like forces became so intense that even a renowned champion of liberty such as Baqir Khan, the National Leader, appeared ready to concede defeat.
At precisely the moment when death was rushing toward him like a dagger, however, Sattar Khan rejected the Russian consul’s offer of protection. With a determination born of ten thousand years of Azerbaijani resistance, courage, and honour, he declared:
“I want the seven nations to come under the banner of the Commander of the Faithful and Azerbaijan. I will never place myself under a foreign flag!”
He therefore remained free and became an embodiment of courage and steadfastness for Tabriz, Azerbaijan, Iran, the East, and indeed the entire world.
Sattar Khan and Baqir Khan were not alone in this great and decisive struggle. Without question, all of Azerbaijan and all the freedom seekers of Iran stood beside them, fighting alongside their National Commander and National Leader on the fronts of honour and chivalry.
Among the celebrated fighters and freedom seekers who stood at the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of all Iran’s peoples and national communities from despotism—including freedom seekers from Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Rasht—were:
The martyred Ali Monsieur; the martyred Abolqasem Zia al-Olama; the martyred Sheikh Salim; the martyred Seqat al-Islam Tabrizi; the martyred Ali-Mohammad Khan Tarbiyat; the martyred Heydar Khan Amo-Oghli; the martyred Telli Zari Khanum; the martyred Saeed Salmasi; the martyred Hossein Khan Baghban, also known as El-Oghlu; the martyred Baba Khan Ardabili; the martyred Nourollah Khan Yekani; the martyred Haji Ali Davar-Farush; the martyred Mashhadi Abbas-Ali Qand-Farush; the martyred Ildirim Topchubashi; the martyred Yusef Khan Hokmavarli; the martyred Mohammad Aqa Khan Najjar; the martyred Mirza Mohammad Salmasi; the martyred Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani; Haji Mehdi Kuzekanani, known as Abu al-Melleh; Haji Seyyed Hossein Sham-Ghazani, known as Adl al-Molk; Ejlal al-Molk; Zeynalabdin Taghiyev; Mirza Hossein Vaez; and hundreds of others.
The magnificence of Azerbaijan’s struggle against the dark and merciless despotism of Mohammad Ali Shah inspired even the Muslim and non-Muslim peoples of Turkestan and the Caucasus living under tsarist rule. The Russian emperor therefore moved to prevent the flames of freedom from spreading north of the Aras River and east of the Caspian Sea.
In April 1909, heavily armed tsarist forces departed from Yerevan and Tbilisi for Azerbaijan, intending to extinguish the flames of the Azerbaijani people’s and Tabriz residents’ awakening in Odlar Yurdu—the Land of Fire.
The gallows erected by the occupying Russian forces in Tabriz during the mournful Ashura of 1330 AH to execute some of Azerbaijan’s finest and most devoted children will never be erased from the memory of the Muslim Azerbaijani nation.
It was under these circumstances that the National Association of Tabriz, seeking to prevent the occupation of Southern Azerbaijan by Russian soldiers, was compelled to take the strategic decision of ordering a ceasefire.
But can the far-reaching resonance of Azerbaijan’s and Tabriz’s historic epic ever be contained?
Azerbaijan’s uprising and Tabriz’s resistance had inspired all of Iran. When the country’s peoples and national communities learned of the extraordinary courage displayed by the Turkish men and women of Azerbaijan, centres of resistance emerged throughout Iran.
Unfortunately, however, while Azerbaijan’s sincere, knowledgeable, and Muslim constitutionalist fighters remained immobilized, figures such as Yeprem Khan, Sardar Asad, and Sepahsalar suddenly assembled forces drawn largely from Dashnak extremists, armed thugs, tribal groups, and nomadic forces. On 24 Jumada al-Thani 1327 AH, corresponding to July 16, 1909, they entered Tehran.
After deposing Mohammad Ali Shah—who, following Azerbaijan’s courageous struggle, had been reduced to little more than a figurehead—they greedily divided the country’s resources and political offices among themselves. Thus, after the collapse of Mohammad Ali Shah’s oppressive despotism, the disgraceful tyranny of opportunists came to dominate the Qajar Guarded Domains.
When Sattar Khan, Baqir Khan, and the other devout constitutionalist fighters travelled to the capital, they received one of the largest and most magnificent popular welcomes in Iranian history along their route. Shortly after they settled in Tehran, however, the newly empowered and anti-popular rulers became alarmed by the courage and freedom-seeking spirit of Azerbaijan’s Turkish fighters. They consequently orchestrated the infamous Atabak Park massacre on 30 Rajab 1328 AH.
During this tragic incident, Sattar Khan—the symbol of Iran’s uprising and freedom—was severely wounded in the leg by a bullet fired directly by the Armenian commander Yeprem Khan. Dozens of courageous Azerbaijani fighters were killed, while hundreds of others were unjustly taken captive by Armenian forces and armed thugs.
The injustice inflicted upon the lonely commander of Azerbaijan and his loyal comrades at Atabak Park was unquestionably the final shot fired by mobs and ruffians at the noble ideals of freedom and justice cherished by Iran’s Muslim peoples, particularly the people of Azerbaijan.
Ultimately, as the wound in the leg of liberty became incurable, the courageous and struggle-filled life of Azerbaijan’s lonely commander came to an end on 8 Dhu al-Hijjah 1332 AH, corresponding to Tuesday, November 17, 1914.
Far from the loving embrace of his homeland, in a corner of the inhospitable city of Tehran, Sattar Khan returned to God before reaching the age of forty-nine. His death plunged the Azerbaijani nation, Iran’s genuine constitutionalist fighters, and freedom seekers throughout the world into profound sorrow and despair.
Thus, the sun of Sattar Khan’s cherished existence set in painful exile, so that perhaps one day an even brighter sun might rise from Azerbaijan.
The killing of Sattar Khan and other self-sacrificing Azerbaijani fighters at the hands of deceitful claimants to liberty in Tehran was a grave and shameful crime. Neither its perpetrators at the time nor its present-day defenders will ever be forgiven.
Yet in our own time, the poisoned bullets of those who share the outlook of the murderers of the National Commander, the National Leader, and Azerbaijan’s other noble fighters continue to be fired at Sattar Khan’s nation.
Now, despite the passage of ninety years since those horrifying crimes, Pan-Aryanism—which considers itself the heir to the rule of the Sepahsalars, Sardar Asads, and Yeprem Khans—continues its determined efforts to deny the unparalleled role of Azerbaijan’s justice-seeking fighters and their noble aspirations for the freedom, independence, and dignity of all Iran’s peoples and national communities.
Through fabricated documents, disgraceful interpretations, and accusations such as separatism and foreign dependence directed against the constitutionalist fighters, it seeks by every possible means to erase their historical role and present today’s generations—who are searching for identity and sources of pride—with a distorted, fabricated, and, in a word, “demonic” version of history.
Declaration of the Participants in the Commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of Sattar Khan’s Death
We, the participants in the ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the martyrdom of Sattar Khan, the National Commander, reaffirm our commitment to the noble ideals of the martyrs of the Constitutional Revolution and all those who sacrificed their lives for the advancement of freedom and justice. We hereby declare:
We call for Sattar Khan’s birthday to be officially designated as the Day of Law and Freedom.
We call for the major events and struggles of the great Constitutional Revolution to be included in official calendars.
We call for statues honouring the martyrs of the Constitutional Revolution to be erected and public places to be named after them.
We call for a comprehensive, accurate, and detailed account of the great Constitutional Revolution to be included in school textbooks.
In accordance with Sattar Khan’s will, we call for his remains to be transferred to an appropriate location in Tabriz and for a mausoleum befitting the National Commander to be constructed there.
We condemn the recent measures adopted by state institutions to impose severe restrictions on the non-Persian-language press. We also condemn the campaign recently undertaken by state publications to present fabricated interpretations of the identity movements of Iran’s peoples and national communities, particularly that of Azerbaijan. We call upon the people to respond to these practices and schemes with vigilance and awareness.
We strongly condemn the efforts of Pan-Aryanist institutions to intensify the assimilation of Iran’s peoples by imposing Persian-language preschool education in non-Persian regions, particularly Turkish-populated territories. We declare that we will never remain silent in the face of such racist policies.
We strongly condemn the restrictions, intimidation, and surveillance imposed by state institutions and groups upon activists of the Azerbaijani National Movement and other identity-based movements in the country under such baseless labels as Pan-Turkism, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Kurdism, and separatism.
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Azerbaijani civil activists, including Amir-Ali Abbasian and Kamal Navidi, from the prisons of Tabriz and Qoshachay.
We firmly endorse the provisions of the resolution adopted by participants in the commemoration of the second anniversary of the death of Safar Khan, the National Defender. We consider the temporary detention of participants in that ceremony by the police to have been unlawful and contrary to the rights of the people enshrined in the Constitution.
Participants in the Commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Sattar Khan, the National Commander and the Lonely Commander of Azerbaijan
Original declaration in Persian (archived)
