Қолбасшы Пессиян: Хорасан Автономиялық Үкіметінің тарихы

Iranian politician

Mohammad Taqi Khan Pessian (محمدتقی‌خان پسیان; 1892 – 3 October 1921), more commonly known as Colonel Pessian, was an Iranian gendarme, fighter pilot and warlord who formed and led the short lived Autonomous Government of Khorasan in 1921. He was killed in a battle with forces sent by Ahmad Qavam, the prime minister at the time.

Pessian was born into an aristocratic family in Tabriz. Pessian's family possessed strong military traditions, his uncle General Khan Pessian was a commander in the Persian Cossack Brigade, his cousins
Heydar Qoli Khan Pessian – father of Iranian author and journalist, Mahtalat Pessian, – Ali Qoli Khan Pessian, Gholam Reza Khan Pessian and he himself served in Gendarmerie. In Tabriz Mohammad Taqi was educated In 1907 he left for Tehran to continue his education. He was promoted to major when World War I broke out. He also translated many works from Persian to/from French, German and English, some of these included Alphonse de Lamartine and Rabindranath Tagore. He also wrote two books in Persian, Sargozasht e yek javan e vatandoust and Jang e Moqaddas az Baghdad ta Iran. His head was brought to Tehran to prove that he had been killed. For five continuous years after his death, on 3 October people of Khorasan mourned his death. He is buried in Mashhad, Khorasan in the same garden that contains Nader Shah's tomb.

In Germany, he continued his military training, first in the German air force and then in the infantry. He also engaged in a variety of intellectual, cultural and political activities. He wrote an account of his own life, Sargozasht e Yek Javān e Vatandust, and of his experiences in western during the war, Jang e Moqaddas Az Baghdād Tā Irān. He translated widely between Persian and various European languages, including German, French and English. His love of poetry, especially that which was politically committed, was particularly evident and his choice of works for translation, for example of Alphonse de Lamartine and Rabindranath Tagore, illustrated his own romantic nationalism. He studied European music, learning to play the piano, and transposed Persian national songs into German. On a more overtly political level he was in contact with the Iranian radicals led by Hassan Taqizadeh and grouped around the periodical Kavih, for which he occasionally wrote articles.