Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

An Analysis of the Challenges and Dilemmas of Some Ottoman Citizens in Mashhad from the Constitutional Period to the End of the Qajar Era

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Assistant Professor of the Departman of History, Payam-e Noor University, Mashhad, Iran
10.22034/nf.2026.500357.1382
Abstract
Traveling to the city of Mashhad and residing there for citizens of other countries, including Ottoman citizens, despite the availability of spiritual and tourist attractions, especially from the Constitutional Period to the end of the Qajar Era, was sometimes accompanied by some difficulties. These problems were due to the intensification of the fluctuations in political-religious relations between the two countries and the existence of some factors of cultural, economic and legal divergence. In this article, an attempt has been made, based on historical sources and documents and with a descriptive-analytical method, to identify and examine the types of problems and dilemmas of some Ottoman citizens who immigrated to the city of Mashhad during the Qajar Era and the ways they faced them to overcome these difficulties. Most of the findings of this research show that the tax policy of some local emirs of Khorasan in the Qajar era, the delay and obstacles to issuing ID cards for some Ottoman citizens on the way to Mashhad, legal and property lawsuits, trade obstacles for Ottoman citizens, and the failure to determine the fate of some Ottoman citizens imprisoned in this city were among the challenges and dilemmas that some Ottoman citizens were not immune to. Some of these dilemmas were resolved with the supportive efforts of local trustees with the assistance of relevant departments in the center, while others, due to the inadequate economic infrastructure of the late Qajar era and the lack of rapid and timely cooperation of relevant departments, resulting from the bureaucratic chaos of this period, remained unresolved and were transferred to the next period in other forms.
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2635) Letter from the ruler of Sistan and Qayenat to the British Consulate regarding the lack of evidence of Mir Ali Khan's cooperation with the Germans, her summons to Birjand for more investigation, and the British government's rejection of the Sunni Sistanis' support for the Ottomans, 1914.
104775) Complaint by Sayyid Jawad Zahir-ul-Islam to the provincial royal advisor of the Nazmiyyah administration regarding the confiscation of the deceased Minakhaqan's property and the arrest of the said son on charges of stealing part of the aforementioned furniture, 1916.
104641) Seyyed Javad Zahir al-Islam's request to the governor of Khorasan to release Amir Ali Khan Zia Khaqan from prison in Nazmiyyah..., 1916.
103217) Morteza Qoli Tabatabaei's requests to the Khorasan and Sistan Department of Immigration to issue travel permits for a number of employees of the Astan-i-quds for travel to Russian and Ottoman countries, 1913.
104125) The detention of a house in dispute between Sheikh Abbas, a citizen of the Ottoman Empire, and Mirza Mahmud- ziarat Name- khan, by the foreign agent of Khorasan, and the request of Sayyid Jawad Zahir al-Islam to this office to investigate on this matter, 1915.
61801) Request from the Ottoman government's merchant chief inhabit in Tehran to pay the remaining amount owned by Mirza Ali Agha Kurdistani to the citizens of the aforementioned country as soon as possible, 1906.
63005) A tribe of Arabs known as the "Bechara" complained about taking the tax being waived from them and the mediation of the trustee to support them, 1920.
104357) Seyyed Javad Zahir al-Islam's request to the head of the Khorasan army to send a representative to the Dar al-Tulayyah to deliver Zia Khaghan's estate to his Ottoman wife, 1915.
25319) Non-Iranian pilgrims requested assistance from the Holy Shrine of Jerusalem in Sha'ban 1914.
104376)  Zahir al-Islam's strictness in issuing opium permits from Khorasan's leased farms.
103924) Continuation of the document 104376.
 
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19/28/87) Description of various occupations of Ottoman citizens in Mashhad and their obligation to pay guild taxes to the city's agents, 1903.
19-28/26) Order from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Iranian Agency regarding the law on collecting guild taxes from Ottoman citizens, 1905.
1-2-85,97) Request from the Ottoman Embassy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate and pay compensation for the fire of the Timcheh of Monsieur Todori (an Ottoman merchant citizen in Mashhad), 1906.
21,15/5) The importance of the British Consul's approval for the Ottoman government regarding the affairs of Ottoman citizens in Mashhad until 1918.
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26-37/18) Complaint of Sayyid Hassan Tabataba'i (an Ottoman merchant) regarding the registration and seizure of her property in Mashhad, 1916.
Volume 24, Issue 5 - Serial Number 99
Nameh Farhangestan (Asia Minor Studies)
November and December 2025
Pages 114-136

  • Receive Date 20 January 2025
  • Revise Date 14 April 2025
  • Accept Date 25 May 2025