Akhal-Khorasan Boundary Convention | |
---|---|
Location | Tehran |
Effective | 21 September, 1881 |
Signatories | Ivan Zinoviev Mirza Saeed Khan Ansari |
The Treaty of Akhal (Russian: Ахалский договор, Persian: پیمان آخال), also known as Akhal-Khorasan Boundary Convention, was an agreement signed between Qajar Iran and Imperial Russia on 21 September 1881 to mark Iran's official recognition of Khwarazm's (mostly the territory of present-day Turkmenistan) annexation by the Russian Empire.[1] The title of the treaty is derived from the name of the vast region north of Khorasan where the Turkmen tribe of Tekke lived - Akhal.[2]
Although Iran had won a clear victory in the last Ottoman–Persian War (1821–23) over their Ottoman arch rivals, it had been considerably weakened by years of ineffective rulers, the defeat against Russia in 1813 and 1828 in which they lost all of the Caucasus, and with the increasing occupation by the British Empire of Egypt, during the years of 1873 to 1881, and on top of that the decaying Ottoman Empire, Imperial Russia stepped up its campaign to wrest full control over Central Asia. Hence forces led by Generals Mikhail Skobelev, Ivan Lazarev, and Konstantin Kaufman spearheaded the campaign, with Iran unable to react. The immobilized Naser al-Din Shah Qajar sent foreign secretary Mirza Saeed Khan Ansari to meet Ivan Zinoviev and sign a treaty in Tehran.
By virtue of this treaty, Iran would henceforth cease any claim to all parts of Turkestan and Transoxiana, setting the Atrek River as the new boundary. Hence Merv, Sarakhs, Eshgh Abad, and the surrounding areas were transferred to Russian control under the command of General Alexander Komarov in 1884.
History
Towards the end of the 19th century, Russia had a task to prevent British expansion in Central Asia. To this end, it was necessary to conquer Turkestan. In this case, almost the entire basin of the Caspian Sea would be under the control of Russia.[3]
After the Akhal-Teke expedition and the capture of Geok Tepe by general Mikhail Skobelev, the Qajar ruler Naser al-Din Shah Qajar sent foreign secretary Mirza Saeed Khan Ansari to meet Ivan Zinoviev to prepare for the signing of a treaty that would regulate relations between Russia and Iran in Central Asia.
According to this treaty, Iran lost all of her territories in Central Asia and stopped claiming Turkestan and Mawarannahr. Under this treaty, in 1884 Merv, Sarakhs, Eshgh Abad and adjacent areas that nowadays incorporates most of the territory of Turkmenistan came under the control of Imperial Russia. Moreover, the treaty established the Atrek River as a new border between Russia and Iran. After becoming the southernmost part of the Russian Empire, the territory of modern Turkmenistan was named Transcaspian Oblast.[4]
References
- ^ Adle, Chahryar (2005). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Towards the contemporary period: from the mid-nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century. UNESCO. pp. 470–477.
- ^ The Country of the Turkomans. London: Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society. 1977. pp. 41–97.
- ^ Combat chronicle of the Russian fleet. Military publishing house of the Ministry of the Armed forces of the USSR. 1948. pp. 260–492.
- ^ Full collection of the laws of the Russian Empire, Vol. 1 (in Russian). St-Petersburgh: State Publishing House. 1916. p. 142.