Amir Nezam Garussi

Nahid Keshtmand

 

A reputable and capable man of Nasseri period, HassanAli Khan AmirNezam Garussi of Kabudvand a Kurdish tribe of Garuss was born about 1821 in Bijar. His mother was of Armenian descent, and his father Mohammad Sadeq Khan was one of the great statesmen of FathAli Shah's court. Due to his competence and talent, he acquired the knowledge of his time much sooner than its due time. He became a colonel, and was commandant of Garuss forces, 1837. In the next year, he joined Mohammad Shah's camp in the Herat siege and showed great ability and efficiency. From 1839 to 1841, he was commissioned to guard Tabriz citadel and then to protect the frontiers of Kermanshah against the Ottomans.   

 

He was removed with the charge of patricide. Simultaneous with this, Mohammad Shah's premier, Haj Mirza Aghassi, due to his enmity with HassanAli Khan's family, took the hereditary governorship from him and ceded it to Ebrahim Khan Salmassi.

 

When in 1847 Nasseraddin Shah came to the throne and appointed Amir Kabir as his grand vizier, through his help, HassanAli Khan managed to restore the power to his family in the Garuss tribe.

 

He set off for Khorassan to deal with Salar's revolt in 1848 with some success. Later on he was commissioned to suppress the movement of Bab's follower, Molla Mohammad Zanjani. He was successful and so was promoted aide-de-camp of the Shah.

 

He accompanied Nasser_addin Shah in his visit to Isfahan, 1850, and apparently during this visit, he wrote Pandnameye Yahyavieh for his son Yahya Khan.

 

Accompanied by the governor general of Khorassan, Hessam-os-Saltaneh, he set off to get control of Herat. On his return, he was favored by the Shah because of his worthy services.

 

In protest to the occupation of Herat, the British government recalled Sir Charles Murray to Baghdad. When the Paris treaty of peace was concluded between Iran and the British, he was on mission to get Murrey back to Iran.

 

He was appointed Iranian minister to Paris, 1858-1859 and became the guardian of forty two Iranian students leaving for Europe to get Modern European education. He became the plenipotentiary and extraordinary minister of Iran to France, 1859-1860 and received many orders from European rulers. He mourned the loss of his elder son, Yahya Khan, 1870.

 

 He was Iranian minister to Istanbul for fourteen months during which he defended Iranian interests deliberately.

 

He succeeded to do with the revolting Kurds of Azerbaijan, 1880-1881, became commandant of Azerbaijan forces in 1882, promoted Salar Lashkar and helped Mirza Hassan Roshdieh to found his school of Roshdieh in Tabriz.

 

He refused to follow the orders of the central government to shoot to the people protesting against the Tobacco concession; he was removed from his office and was recalled to Tehran. Again became the governor of Kurdestan, Kermanshahan, Garuss, Hamedan and the neighboring districts. He was the crown prince, MohammadAli Mirza's agent in Azerbaijan. A learned man of letters, honest, honorable, and at the same time a very influential notable, following some other appointments in Kerman and Baluchestan, he died in 1899, and was buried in Mahan of Kerman.