Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi by the English painter Thomas Lawrence, dated 1810 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 1823–1834 | |
| Monarch | Fath-Ali Shah Qajar |
| Preceded by | Neshat Esfahani |
| Succeeded by | Mirza Ali Farahani |
| In office 1838–1845 | |
| Monarch | Mohammad Shah Qajar |
| Preceded by | Mirza Mas'ud Khan Ansari |
| Succeeded by | Mirza Mas'ud Khan Ansari |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1776 Shiraz, Zand Iran |
| Died | 1845 (aged 68–69) Qajar Iran |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Hajji Ebrahim Shirazi (uncle) Ali Akbar Qavam ol-Molk (cousin) Mirza Mohammad-Ali Khan Shirazi (nephew) |
Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi (Persian: میرزا ابوالحسن خان ایلچی; 1776 – 1845) was an Iranian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs twice, first from 1824 to 1834, and then again from 1838 until his death in 1845. He also served as the ambassador to Russia and Britain, and was the main Iranian delegate at the signing of the Golestan and Turkmenchay treaties with Russia in 1813 and 1828 respectively.
Born in Shiraz, Mirza Abolhassan was the nephew of Hajji Ebrahim Shirazi, the minister of the two Qajar shahs (kings) of Iran, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789–1797) and Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834). When Hajji Ebrahim Shirazi fell out of favor and was executed in 1801, all of his relatives either escaped, were executed, or were blinded. Mirza Abolhassan, who held the governorship of Shushtar at the time, fled to India, where he served in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He was granted a royal amnesty after two and a half years, at which point he went back to Iran and entered Fath-Ali Shah's court.
Between 1809 and 1810, Mirza Abolhassan served as the Iranian ambassador to Britain, finalizing the "Preliminary Treaty of Friendship and Alliance" between the two countries, and also unsuccessfully tried to receive British assistance in getting Russia to hand over the occupied Iranian territories in the Caucasus to Iran. He documented his journey in the Hayratnameh ("Book of Wonder"). During his stay, the British East India Company started paying him a salary of 1,000 rupees per year, which they continued to do until his death. Many later historians regarded this as evidence of his betrayal, or at the minimum, that he was a strong advocate for the British. In March 1813, Mirza Abolhassan signed the Treaty of Golestan on behalf of Iran, thus concluding the Russo-Iranian War of 1804–1813 and leading to the loss of most of the Iranian holdings in the Caucasus. Following the treaty, Mirza Abolhassan served as the Iranian ambassador to Russia between 1814 and 1816 to discuss the recovery of some of the lost territory, which failed.
In 1823, he was made the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. He kept this position and participated in the majority of significant Iranian foreign policy decisions until Fath-Ali Shah's death in 1834. Mirza Abolhassan was part of the faction that opposed another war with Russia, fearing the capability of the Russian Empire and wanted armed conflict to be avoided at all costs. However, they were outmanoeuvred by the faction that advocated for war, leading to the second Russo-Iranian War in 1826. The Iranians eventually lost the second war with the Russians, and were thus forced to sign the Treaty of Turkmenchay on 28 February 1828, in which they agreed to cede Erivan and Nakhichevan. It was Mirza Abolhassan and the crown prince Abbas Mirza who signed the treaty on behalf of Iran.
Following Fath-Ali Shah's death in 1834, Mirza Abolhassan supported the prince Ali Shah Mirza as his successor, since the other prince Mohammad Shah Qajar had appointed Abol-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam as his minister. Mohammad Shah eventually defeated Ali Shah and entered Tehran, which led Mirza Abolhassan to seek refuge in the Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine in February 1835. There he stayed until 26 June 1835, when the now disgraced Abol-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam was executed. The latter was succeeded by Haji Mirza Aqasi, who restored Mirza Abolhassan as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1838, which he held until his death in 1845.
Mirza Abolhassan is viewed in a positive light by the majority of contemporary British travelers. However, the majority of Iranian academics' assessments of his personality are negative.