Abbas Gharabaghi

Timsar
Abbas Gharabaghi
عباس قره‌باغی
General Gharabaghi, c. 1970s
Member of Regency Council
In office
13 January 1979 – 22 January 1979
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Chief of the Joint Staff
In office
22 December 1978 – 11 February 1979
Prime MinisterGholam Reza Azhari
Shapour Bakhtiar
DeputyHoushang Hatem
Preceded byGholam Reza Azhari
Succeeded byMohammad-Vali Gharani
Minister of Interior
In office
28 August 1978 – 6 January 1979
Prime MinisterJafar Sharif-Emami
Gholam Reza Azhari
Preceded byAsadollah Nasr Esfahani
Succeeded byShapour Bakhtiar
Commander of the Iranian Gendarmerie
In office
3 May 1978 – 26 August 1978
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterJamshid Amouzegar
Jafar Sharif-Emami
Preceded byFereydoun Farrokhnia
Succeeded byAhmadali Mohagheghi
Commandant of the War College
In office
1963–1964
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterAsadollah Alam
Personal details
BornAbbas Karim Gharabaghi
(1918-02-09)9 February 1918
Tabriz, Qajar Iran
Died13 October 2000(2000-10-13) (aged 82)
Paris, France
Alma materOfficers' School
Military service
Allegiance Pahlavi Iran
Branch/serviceImperial Iranian Ground Forces
Years of service
1936–1979
Rank General
Unit22nd Infantry Regiment (Mounted)
Commands
Battles/wars

Abbas Karim Gharabaghi (Persian: عباس کریم قره‌باغی; 9 February 1918 – 13 October 2000)[1] was an Iranian general who was the last chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces as well as deputy commander-in-chief of the Iranian Imperial Army under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Gharabaghi was one of two senior military officials who were not detained and executed by the Islamic Revolutionary Council. With Fardoost, he convinced the army to get a neutral position as he was linked with the Revolutionary and foreign intelligence forces. [2]

Early life

Born in Tabriz, Gharabaghi was of Azerbaijani origin.[3][4] His father, Mirza Karim Khan, was a merchant whose family had emigrated to Iran following the Russo-Persian Wars and settled in Tabriz.

After completing his primary education, Gharabaghi attended Roshdieh High School, where he studied until the fourth year. He then transferred to the Tabriz Military High School, graduating with a military diploma in 1936 before entering the Officers' Academy.

In October 1936, he enrolled in the Officers' Academy, coinciding with the period when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was Crown prince. During this time, Gharabaghi was appointed as the Crown Prince's secretary.

Military education

Gharabaghi was sent to France to complete the advanced infantry officers' course. While there, he also studied at the University of Paris, earning a doctorate in law in 1954.

After returning to Iran, he served in the Operations Department (Third Bureau) of the Army General Staff. In 1955, he returned to France to attend the advanced course at the French War College. During this period, he completed:

  • the Ninth General Staff Course at the War College (1956),
  • the Joint Services Advanced Course (1960), and
  • the Advanced Diploma of the French War College (1961).

Career

In March 1963, Gharabaghi was appointed Commandant of the War Collage. While holding that position, he was also entrusted in 1963 with:

That same year, he was appointed President of the Special Military Court of Appeal, which reviewed the convictions of Mahmoud Taleghani, Mehdi Bazargan, Yadollah Sahabi, and several members of the Freedom Movement of Iran. The court ultimately upheld the original convictions.

In August 1964, Gharabaghi was appointed commander of the Gorgan Infantry Division and in September 1967, he was appointed commander of the 1st Guards Division. In October 1968, he became the Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces and held this position until May 1972. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on March 10 of the same year. From May 1972 to October 1973, Gharabaghi was the deputy commander of the Ground Forces, but due to a disagreement between him and General Gholam Ali Oveissi, who was the commander of the Ground Forces at the time, he was dismissed from his position and appointed the commander of the Western Corps in Kermanshah.

He served as the gendarmerie commander until 1979.[5] When the Iranian Revolution broke out in 1978, both Hassan Toufanian and Amir Hossein Rabii planned to carry out a coup to stabilize the turmoil in the country. However, the idea failed as it was not backed by other senior military officials, including Gharabaghi.[6]

Gharabaghi was appointed chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces on 7 January 1979. His job entailed defending the monarchy until the Shah left Iran and then supporting the new civilian government led by Shapour Bakhtiar. However, on 11 February 1979, after much strife on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere, Gharabaghi and with twenty-two other senior military leaders withdrew support of Bakhtiar, thus tacitly giving approval to the revolutionary Islamic Republic.[7][8]

Gharabaghi was then assigned as a prosecutor to the Islamic Revolutionary Court, which ordered the killing of many senior Iranian officials who served under the Shah.[3][9] However, as a result of tensions in Azerbaijan, in 1979 Gharabaghi's relations with Ayatollah Khomeini became tense and he fled from Tehran.[3] The revolutionary authorities sought him, but did not manage to arrest him.[3]

In December 1979, a report outlined the exiled Shah's belief that the covert meetings earlier in January of that year between U.S. General Robert E. Huyser and Khomeini representative Mehdi Bazargan were organized by Gharabaghi.[10] He further accused Gharabaghi of being a traitor.[11]

Works

Gharabaghi published his account of the revolution in his books Haghayegh Darbareye Bohran-e Iran ("Facts About the Iran Crisis", 1983), and Che Shod Ke Chonan Shod? (translated as "Why did it happen?", 1999).[12] He argued that his decision to declare the army's "neutrality" was the main reason for the final triumph of the Islamic Revolution.

In his first book, Gharabaghi expresses his strong support for and loyalty to the Shah and paints a detailed picture of the chaos within the military ranks during the final days of the government, placing the blame on Prime Minister Bakhtiar for its collapse.[13] He justifies his decision to declare the army's "neutrality" as the only reasonable solution given the circumstances in order to prevent further bloodshed, calling Bakhtiar a traitor.

Death

The tomb of Gharabaghi in Père Lachaise Cemetery

Gharabaghi died on October 13, 2000 in Paris. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Fichier des personnes décédées (Décès) - data.gouv.fr". www.data.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  2. ↑ John M. Smith (June 1980). Where was the Shah's Army? (PDF) (Master of Military Art and Science thesis). US Army Command and General Staff College. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Khosrow Fatemi (Winter 1982). "Leadership by Distrust: The Shah's Modus Operandi". Middle East Journal. 36 (1): 59. JSTOR 4326355.
  4. ↑ Rubin, Barry (1981). Paved with Good Intentions (PDF). New York: Penguin Books. p. 239. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Mark J. Roberts (January 1996). "Khomenei's incorporation of the Iranian military" (McNair Paper 48). National Defense University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Rebecca Cann; Constantine Danopoulos (Winter 1997). "The Military and Politics in a Theocratic State: Iran as Case Study". Armed Forces & Society. 24 (2): 274. doi:10.1177/0095327X9702400204. S2CID 145350433.
  7. ↑ Bakhtiar Quits After Losing Army Backing The Guardian, 12 February 1979
  8. ↑ Memory Lane: Looking Back At The Road To Revolution The Iranian, 11 February 2001
  9. ↑ Sepehr Zabir (27 April 2012). The Iranian Military in Revolution and War (RLE Iran D). Taylor & Francis. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-136-81270-5.
  10. ↑ Leonard Downie Jr. (8 December 1979). "Shah Says U.S. Worked Actively for His Ouster". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  11. ↑ Tariq M. Mir (30 November 2017). "A Diplomat's Diary". Hilal. 54 (5).
  12. ↑ Che Shod Ke Chonan Shod? [Why did it happen?]. ISBN 0967019915.
  13. ↑ Abbas Gharabaghi (1983). Haghayegh Dar Bareye Bohran-e Iran (in Persian). Paris: Sāzmān-i Chāp va Intishārāt-i Suhayl.
  14. ↑ Amis et Passionnés du Père Lachaise (APPL) (12 March 2016). "GHARABAGHI Abbas (1918-2000)". Cimetière du Père Lachaise – APPL. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
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