Biography of Mirza Kochuk Khan Jangli (Separatist or patriot?)

biography, diary

Mirza Yunus, known as Mirza Kochuk, the son of Mirza Bozor, from Rasht, was born in 1259 AD.. He spent the first years of his life in the Haji Hassan school located in Saleh Abad, Rasht, and the community school of that city, learning the basics of religious sciences..

In 1286, he joined the ranks of freedom fighters in Gilan and went to Tehran to suppress Mohammad Ali Shah.
At the same time as the rise of the constitutional movement in Tehran, a number of Rasht freedom seekers formed a focal point called "Majlis Attihad" and gathered people as devotees.. Mirza Kochuk Khan, who was a student at that time and had pro-liberation thoughts, joined Majlis Ittihad. In 1289 AD, he participated in the battle with the pro-Muhammad Ali Shah forces in Turkmen Sahara and was wounded in this battle and was admitted to a hospital in Badkoba for a while.. In 1294 A.H., instead of the "Council of the Union", the "Council of the Islamic Union" was formed from a group of seventeen people in Rasht.. Most of the people of this group were clerics, Mirza Kochch Khan was an influential member of it.

This delegation announced its goal to serve Islam and Iran, and soon Mirza Kochakh Khan took over the leadership of the delegation. After the occupation of the northern regions of Iran by the tsarist Russia, the delegation of the Islamic Union fought against the tsar's army and formed an armed group as a devotee and placed the village of Kasma in the Foman district as the center of its work, and there the administrative organization and He created a military. After some time, the Committee of the Islamic Union became the Committee of the Islamic Union, and its members increased to 27 people, and the leadership of the committee was assumed by Mirza, and by the end of 1296, a large part of Gilan and a part of Mazandaran, Tarem, Astara, Talesh, Kajur and Tankabon came under the influence of the committee. This committee is also called "Forest Movement" and "Forest Party"..

Military activities of the forest movement

In April 1297, after several skirmishes with the British forces, the devotees of the Jungle movement took over the important positions of the Rasht-Manjil road.. In June 1297, the force of "Colonel Pichra Khouf", a Russian officer who was planning to return from Iran, allied with the British "General Dunsterville" who also wanted to go to Badkoba via Anzali, and the Russian forces in Manjil with the loyalists of the "Union Committee" Islam" began to fight, while British armored personnel carriers and planes had moved to help him.

"Pichrakhov" opened the road from Manjil to Rasht and Anzali, and after this road was opened, British forces were stationed on both sides of the road.. In the meantime, the "Islamic Union Committee" force captured Rasht, but after ten days, the British forces captured Rasht with the help of armored personnel carriers and airplanes.. On August 27, 1297, an agreement was signed between the representatives of the Islamic Union Committee and the British representatives in Rasht.

The signing of this contract created such a difference of opinion that Mirza Kochch Khan had to announce the dissolution of the Islamic Union Committee and formed the Gilan Revolutionary Committee.. A number of heads of the Islamic Union Committee resigned and a number of extremists joined the Gilan Revolutionary Committee..

In order to destroy the jungle movement, in Bahman 1297, Wathuq al-Dawlah sent a peace message to Kochuk Khan, the leader of the movement, through Seyyed Mohammad Tadin, and asked him to provide his armed forces to the government, Mirza refused.. On March 18, 1997, Timur Tash was sent to Gilan Governorate with full authority, and in June 1998, Colonel Staruselsky, the commander of the Kazakh forces, was assigned to suppress the Gilan movement with full authority..

British artillery and military planes also took part in the operation to capture Rasht. Before the attack of "Colonel Tkachinkov" from Tehran, they wrote a letter of support for Mizra, but Mirza did not accept it, and after many clashes, some of the leaders of the movement, including Dr. Heshmat, who was a doctor and gained great popularity in Lahijan due to his medical services. and there he had gathered a group of several hundred people called "Nizam National" and surrendered to the government forces in Rasht..

The government forces decided to release him due to his closeness to Mirza, so that he could persuade Mirza to surrender and if he succeeds or fails, he would introduce himself after ten days, but Dr. Heshmat, after returning to Lahijan, had doubts. and when his return was delayed, a battalion was assigned to arrest him. He clashed with the government battalion and a number of people of the National Army were killed, and Dr. Heshmat was arrested and sentenced to death in a military court on May 4, 1298..

The forest movement and the leaders of the Russian October Revolution

During the time of the tsars, the jungles started their uprising and opposed them, but at the beginning of the victory of the October Revolution, the relations between the jungles and the Russians improved.. After some time, the Russians changed their policy and stopped supporting the forest movement and finally betrayed it.
On May 28, 1299, the Red Army entered the ports of Anzali and Ghazian under the name of suppressing the so-called anti-revolutionaries.. The Jangal Movement, which could not tolerate the presence of foreign forces in the country and saw their presence as detrimental to Iran's independence, sent Ismail Agha Jangali, Mirza's niece, as a representative to meet the commander of the Red Army.. Before any speech, he reached out to Mirza and expressed his strong desire to meet him. Therefore, Mirza went to Anzali at the head of a delegation, and there he met and negotiated with the commander of the Red Army, and a general agreement was reached on several issues..

Declaration of the republican government

After the agreement between the jungles and the Russians, the leaders of the movement came to Rasht and declared a republican government in this city. While publishing a declaration entitled "The cry of the oppressed people of Iran from the throats of the devotees of the forest", they pointed out the corruptions of the ruling system of Iran and the crimes of the British.. And at the end, they announced their views as follows:
۱- The Red Revolution Jamiat of Iran abolished the principles of monarchy and officially declared the republic.
۲- The interim government of the republic is responsible for protecting the lives and property of the general population.
۳- Any type of treaty and contract concluded with any government, old or new, is null and void..
۴- The interim government of the republic considers all human races as one, considers them to have equal rights, and considers the preservation of Islamic rituals as an obligation..

Adalat Party coup

After the Red Army entered Iran, several members of the Baku Justice Communist Party also entered Gilan from Russia. These people started to form a party called "Adalat" in Rasht and gradually, while holding meetings and speeches, they practically violated the agreed terms between Jangali and the Russians and started propaganda against Mirza.. In July 1299, Mirza left Rasht in protest and announced that he will not return to Rasht until the Adalat Party stops its wrongdoings and attacks on Islam and propaganda of communism.. Following this incident, the members of Adalat Party, some of whom, such as Ehsanullah Khan and Khalo Qurban, were close friends of Mirza, tried to carry out a coup that they had already planned.. The plan of the coup was that Mirza should either be killed or arrested and withdraw from the leadership of the revolution. Mirza, who was partially informed about the purpose of the party members and their treacherous plan, went to the jungle and many junglers were arrested or killed in these clashes..

The defeat of the movement and the martyrdom of Mirza Koch Khan Jangli

After the surrender of Khalo Gurban, the government forces entered Rasht and since the peace negotiations with the Janjali did not succeed, the government forces pursued the Janjali.. Some troops dispersed, some surrendered and some were killed. With such a difficult and painful situation, Mirza said goodbye to his wife in the extreme cold of winter and sat back deep in the forest so that he could gather and organize the scattered forces at the right time.. But due to the cold, death comes to him. Jangal newspaper, organ of Nahdat, wrote the following about the purpose of Nahdat:(۱)

"First of all, we are in favor of the independence of the Iranian country. Independence in the full sense of the word, that is, without the slightest interference from any foreign government. [and fan] The fundamental reforms of the country and the elimination of government organizational corruption, which everything that has happened to Iran is the result of organizational corruption. We support the unity of all Muslims. This is our opinion, which has invited all Iranians to join us and ask for help."
The leader of the forest movement was a cleric and religious man. He looked at the forest revolution and all its manifestations through the lens of political ideas that he learned from Islam.. He did not start an armed uprising all at once, he tried all the ways and after despair, he took action and entered the campaign scene like a man..
He witnessed the closing of the National Council by Muhammad Ali Shah and the sit-in of the Ulama in the Ottoman Embassy. He joined the Mujahideen in the hope of saving the constitution and participated in the conquest of Qazvin, and after observing the wrongdoings of some Mujahideen, he returned to his hometown of Rasht, but once again joined the Mujahideen and participated in the conquest of Tehran and fought against the authoritarian forces..

Despite the efforts made to distort Mizra's face, according to the testimony of history, he was one of the mujahideen of constitutionalism and one of the supporters of the moderate wing of the Majlis and loyal to Islam.. He loves the unity of the Islamic world. The invasion of foreigners in the country's political and economic scene and the politics of hypocritical and self-sold elements, the chaotic situation of Gilan and the incompetence of the statesmen were the motivations that brought this young, sensitive and passionate cleric to the political field and then to the campaign stage..
First, he stood against the tyranny of Muhammad Ali Shah, and then contacted influential figures, and in the last stage of his effort, he took up arms and fiercely resisted the foreign forces.. He repeatedly announced to the people of Gilan that the goal of his movement is to restore the laws of Islam, and he reminded that Mirza Kochuk would never take his weapon away from him, except when he was sure that the Iranian people would be safe from foreign aggressors and domestic oppressors and from security. and have prosperity.

PS:
1. Jangal newspaper, first year, number 28, quoted from the Islamic revolution and its roots, Abbas Ali Omid Zanjani, p. 370.

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Mirza's photo album