Khan MalekSāsāni is mostly known in Iran by his invaluable book The Hidden Hand of
British Policy in Iran. This book is regarded as one of the great works of this author in
which he discloses the secrecies of the English government in Iran and warns the Iranian
youths that a foreigner is a foreigner, no matter what. Khan Malek has written some other
valuable works too, some of which are published. When working in the Iranian Embassy
in the Ottoman Empire, he wrote a few books such as The Memories of Istanbul in two
volumes, The Hidden Hand of British Policy in Iran as well as some scattered notes
which are written in Lausanne, Switzerland; some of these notes are published here and
there and some, which were available to the author of this paper, were published in the
previous issue of Asnad-e Baharestan. The present paper is part of the three-volume book
The History of Iran-Ottoman Relations, written by Khan Malek; the author has been in
search of this book for several years but could get access only to part of Khan Malek's
manuscripts which concern the migration of Iranian people in 1915; it is about the
provisional government of Nezam al-Saltaneh who formed a new government with
SeyyedHasanModdares and others in Kermanshah. These notes illustrate how the
provisional government is formed in Kermanshah; they also show the role of
HeidarAmouOghli and his relation with SeyyedHasanTaqizadeh who was the head of the
Iranian Committee of National Defense and was living in Berlin. This part of Khan
Malek's three-volume book clearly illustrates the role of Taqizadeh. Khan Malek writes:
In the middle of April (Jamadi al-Thani), Heidar Khan, in Soltani clothes, which
are specific to Ottoman troops, entered Baghdad from Halab and stayed in the
residence for the representatives (of Berlin-Based National Defense Committee).
"The Committee of Germany and Democrat" in Ghasr-e Shirin was informed via
an encoded message of his arrival. Immediately Nezam al-Saltaneh, all moderators
and a part of democrats opposed to his return to Iran. This issue sparked off a
debate between the leaders of the democrats (i.e. Prince SoleimanMirza and
Seyyed Mohammad Reza Mosavat) and Nezam al-Saltaneh. This debate intensified
and was about to end in a fight. The migrants who were annoyed by these
deplorable conditions, gradually moved towards Baghdad.
This paper presents the available parts of this book (up to the point where Iran's
provisional government enters Baghdad). We hope to find the rest of this invaluable book
and present it to those interested in the history of Iran.