Haydar Khan Amo-oghli
Haydar Khan Amo-oghli 'Tariverdi' was an Iranian left-wing revolutionary, key figure during the Persian Constitutional Revolution and among the founders of the Communist Party of Persia.
Early years
A member of the Iranian Tariverdiev family, Haydar was the son of a certain Ali-Akbar. He was generally referred to as "Amo-oghli", a nickname he later in his life received by the workers in Baku. It is uncertain where he was born. Some sources consider Urmia in northwestern Iran to have been his birthplace, while the Iranian historian Abdul-Hadi Hairi consider him to have been born in Russian Armenia. He was raised in Alexandropol in Russian Armenia, where his family had resettled.It was in Alexandropol that Haydar started his education, continuing his studies in higher institutions in Yerevan and then Tbilisi, where he graduated in 1899 with a degree in electrical engineering. In his memoirs, Haydar claimed to have been politically active since the age of 12. He was introduced to the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and a group of socialists in 1898 while he was still a student in Tbilisi. In 1901, he became a member of the Baku branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
In Mashhad
Haydar Khan arrived in Iran as an inexperienced young man with no knowledge of Persian and was unfamiliar with Iranian society and culture, but was driven to action by his restlessness, his sense of mission, and a belief in his exceptional love for Iran and the Iranians. Upon humiliating an official in Khorasan, he comments in his memoirs, "I had only one purpose in mind, which was to show the people of Khorasan who had little or no education and understanding thatIn Tehran
He arrived in Tehran in 1903, where the Persian Constitutional Revolution was about to unfold. He may have exaggerated his role in the Constitutional Revolution when he claimed that he was the one who sent the first group of people to take refuge on the grounds of the British Embassy. However, upon the death of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah and the accession of Mohammad Ali Shah, Haydar Khan, now more experienced and knowledgeable, played a significant role in moving Iranian politics in a radical direction.On the very day that the Anglo-Russian Agreement was signed in St. Petersburg in 1907, bisecting Iran into two spheres of influence, [Mirza Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan|Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan|Ali Asghar Khan], the powerful Iranian premier, was shot in front of the Majles. Haydar Khan admitted that he had masterminded the assassination, and this was confirmed by Hassan Taqizadeh, who, however, denies that there had existed a Terror Committee on whose orders Haydar Khan committed the act. Ali Asghar Khan had just persuaded the Shah to work with Parliament, where he had a strong enough base to guarantee its cooperation. As a result of his death, the parliamentary coalition he had constructed quickly evaporated. Moreover, the Shah became more suspicious of Parliament, and, as the politicized crowd saw the revolutionary potential of prime minister's removal, Parliament became less willing to accommodate the Shah. The lines became sharply drawn, increasing the likelihood of violent conflict.
Other members of the political elite who attempted to bridge the gap between the Shah and the Constitutionalists were also the targets of Haydar Khan's political terrorism. These included Mirza Ahmad Khan Ala-al-Dawla and the Khedmat Society, which included members of the old regime who professed Constitutionalist sympathies. However, the most radical attack by Haydar Khan took place on 28 February 1908, when a bomb was thrown at the Shah's motorcade. Haydar Khan who by that time became known under the pseudonym "Bombist" for his terrorist activities, was found responsible for the plot and was arrested, but he was soon released at the insistence of his parliamentary Social Democrat comrades. This single act of violence was followed by the Shah's closing of Parliament. The Shah and the Constitutionalists now stood against each other, and both sides were armed. Consequently, in 1909, for the first time in the Middle East, a monarch was dethroned in the name of the people.
During this conflict, Haydar Khan first escaped to Caucasia, where he helped in the provision of men and material for the revolutionaries, before returning to fight them. Once the Shah had been dethroned, he joined the radical Democratic Party and organized the assassination in January 1910 of Ayatollah Mirza Sayyed Abdullah Behbahani, who led the conservative wing of the Constitutionalists.
Later, Haydar Khan, in support of the Democrats and the governmental forces during the government of the popular Mirza Hasan Khan Mostawfi-al-Mamalek, participated in attacks against the Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan and Mojahed groups, veterans of the armed struggle during the Constitutional revolution who were now providing military support for the Conservatives. Haydar Khan and the Democrats supported Yeprem Khan, the Armenian head of the police force, and succeeded in disarming them. Sattar Khan died soon afterwards as a consequence of an injury he sustained in action.
In March 1911, Haydar Khan was forced to leave Iran. The Conservatives had regrouped, and the Russians, who invaded Iran and occupied Azerbaijan, did not wish to permit a revolutionary neighbor on their border. After obtaining money from the deposed Shah in Russia, Haydar Khan left for Europe.