Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Series Editor Other titles in Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East Becoming Turkish: Nationalist Reforms and Cultural Negotiations in Early Republican Turkey, 1923–1945 Hale Yilmaz Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter? Farhad Nomani and Sohrab Behdad The Essentials of Ibādī Islam ˙ Valerie J. Hoff man Globalization and the Muslim World: Culture, Religion, and Modernity Birgit Schaebler and Leif Stenberg, eds. God and Juggernaut: Iran’s Intellectual Encounter with Modernity Farzin Vahdat A Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and the Fadai Period of National Liberation in Iran, 1971–1979 Peyman Vahabzadeh International Politics of the Persian Gulf Mehran Kamrava, ed. Mirror for the Muslim Prince: Islam and the Theory of Statecraft Mehrzad Boroujerdi, ed. Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon Rola el-Husseini Raging against the Machine: Political Opposition under Authoritarianism in Egypt Holger Albrecht Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran DAVID N. YAGHOUBIAN syr acuse univer sit y press Copyright © 2014 by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5290 All Rights Reserved First Edition 2014 14 15 16 17 18 19 6 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press, visit www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu. ISBN: 978-0-8156-3359-4 (cloth) 978-0-8156-5272-4 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yaghoubian, David N. (David Nejde), 1967– Ethnicity, identity, and the development of nationalism in Iran / David N. Yaghoubian. — First edition. pages cm. — (Modern intellectual and political history of the Middle East) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8156-3359-4 (cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-0-8156-5272-4 (e-book) 1. Armenians—Iran—Social conditions—20th century. 2. Armenians—Iran—Ethnic identity. 3. Armenians—Iran—Biography. 4. Armenians—Iran—Politics and government—20th century. 5. Nationalism—Iran—History—20th century. 6. Iran— Politics and government—1941–1979. 7. Iran—Ethnic relations—History—20th century. 8. Iran—History—20th century—Biography. I. Title. DS269.A75Y24 2014 305.800955—dc23 2014011756 Manufactured in the United States of America For Terry David N. Yaghoubian is associate professor of history at California State Uni- versity, San Bernardino. He is coeditor, with Edmund Burke III, of Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East, second edition (2006). Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xiii Acknowledgments xxi Introduction xxiii 1. Nationalism, Theory, and Social Biography 1 PART I . Experiences with Iranian Nationalism 2. Iskandar Khan Setkhanian 47 3. Hagob Hagobian 89 4. Sevak Saginian 123 5. Lucik Moradiance 169 6. Nejde Hagobian 209 PART II. Experience and Theory 7. Learning from Theory and Social Biography 263 Conclusion 281 Notes 301 Bibliography 379 Index 395 Illustrations 1. Fourth of Aban parade, 1953 2 2. Funeral of Iskandar Khan Setkhanian, 1953 48 3. Set Khan Astvatsatourian, c. 1830 50 4. Sattur Khan Setkhanian, c. 1860 55 5. Setkhanian family portrait, c. 1890 57 6. Correspondence from Colonel Shneur, 1893 60 7. Sartip Iskandar Khan, 1895 62 8. Maryam Khanom, c. 1895 65 9. Setkhanian family portrait, c. 1905 66 10. Persian Cossack Brigade, 1908 67 11. Iskandar Khan Amir Panj, c. 1908 69 12. Letter from Russian embassy, 1909 73 13a. Persian Cossacks with Ahmad Shah Qajar, 1909 77 13b. Close-up of Persian Cossacks with Ahmad Shah Qajar, 1909 77 14. Iskandar Khan and Russian general, c. 1910 78 15. Iskandar Khan Amir Tuman, 1915 79 16. Iskandar Khan tours Cossack installations, c. 1915 80 17. Iskandar Khan tours Cossack installations, c. 1915 81 18. Jahangir Setkhanian and Setkhanian mansion, 1920 83 19. Iskandar Khan wearing the Kolah-e Pahlavi, 1927 84 20. Setkhanian family portrait, 1927 85 21. Fishing on the Caspian Sea, 1931 86 22. Relaxing after the hunt, March 1930 86 23. Iskandar Khan with members of Soviet legation, 1928 87 24. Iskandar Khan poses with granddaughters, 1952 88 ix x | Illustrations 25. Near East Relief Orphanage, 1924 90 26. Hagob and Arshalous Hagobian, 1933 93 27. Hagobian and Gorjian families, 1937 93 28. Armenian Iranian truck drivers, c. 1936 96 29. Overhaul of truck engines in Hamadan, mid-1930s 104 30. Trucks and buses at a former caravansary, 1937 113 31. Sadi Street, Shiraz, c. 1947 119 32. Sevak Saginian, 1946 124 33. Zohrab Saginian, 1910 127 34. Sandokht Saginian, c. 1920 129 35. Founding members of Ararat, 1946 142 36. Ararat board of directors, 1950 144 37. Sevak Saginian introduces shah to Ararat athletes, 1953 150 38. Sevak Saginian marches with Ararat scouts, 1955 151 39. Sevak and Nella Saginian’s wedding, 1955 152 40. Sevak Saginian with Pahlavis, c. 1968 155 41. Sevak Saginian with Armenian community leaders and bishops of Isfahan, 1966 157 42. Ararat scouts in construction competition, 1958 160 43. Sevak Saginian leading Ararat members in the Fourth of Aban parade, 1968 166 44. Engineering students depart from Tehran, 1954 170 45. Interns set out on the Arvand Rud, 1954 173 46. Lucik Moradiance with high school classmates, 1946 184 47. Engineering students inspect chemical facility, 1954 195 48. Abadan interns return from off shore tour, 1954 196 49. Lucik Moradiance and coworkers at Mowlem Soils Lab, 1957 198 50. Lucik Moradiance with her supervisor and the Plan Organization director at Mowlem Soils Lab, 1957 199 51. Lucik and Levon Melikian with Anahid Moradiance, 1965 200 52. Lucik Moradiance leads tour of lab facilities, 1961 201 53. Lucik Moradiance and colleagues at Abadan refi nery, 1968 203 54. NIPC conference delegate Lucik Moradiance meets Iraqi oil minister, 1975 205 55. NIPC conference delegates tour Japanese chemical plant, 1973 206 Illustrations | xi 56. Armenian engineers and architects portrait, 1976 207 57. Shah arrives at scouting encampment, 1954 210 58. Nejde Hagobian, 1937 212 59. Nejde Hagobian with fi rst Iranian scout, 1938 213 60. Hagob, Arshalous, and Nejde Hagobian, 1938 215 61. Nejde Hagobian at Dabirestan-e Firuz Bahram, 1952 229 62. Scout portrait at Manzarieh, 1952 235 63. Nejde Hagobian at Manzarieh, 1952 236 64. Ararat scouts lead parade, 1952 237 65. Counterdemonstrator Nejde Hagobian, 1953 240 66. Hokm awarding medal to Nejde Hagobian, 1953 243 67. Nejde Hagobian and Ararat scouts with shah, 1953 245 68. Armenian and American Boy Scouts, 1954 247 69. Nejde Hagobian and scouts with Sevak Saginian, 1954 249 70. Ararat scouts with Tabriz governor, 1955 250 71. Offi cials with Ararat scouts in Tabriz, 1955 252 72. Ararat scouts marching in Tehran, 1955 253 73. Hagobian family portrait, 1956 254 74. Nejde Hagobian with friend Andre at Mehrabad Airport, 1956 254 75. Nejde Hagobian in Los Angeles, 1956 256 76. Nella and Sevak Saginian, 1995 282 77. Hagob Hagobian and Arshak Gorjian, 1990 283 78. Nejde Hagobian with family, 1970 284 79. Headstone of Armenian martyr of Iran-Iraq War, 2005 287 80. Armenian Genocide commemoration march in Tehran, 2006 296 Preface t h r ough out t h e summer o f 2008, in the waning months of the George W. Bush presidency, it was open to question whether the United States would launch military strikes against Iran to destroy its nuclear facilities. At the same time, the extent of covert activities within the Islamic Republic to create dissent and possibly topple the governing regime remained obscure. Speculation regarding a potential escalation of covert operations in Iran was fueled by revelations that Congress had appropri- ated hundreds of millions of dollars the previous year to destabilize the Iranian government, forge internal alliances, and gather intelligence for a potential attack. The expected returns for such an investment included the spawning of antigovernment separatist activity, ethnic insurgency, a “fi fth column” of minorities or dissidents, and perhaps the initiation of a government crackdown that would legitimate American intervention to “protect” such groups. Nevertheless, no signifi cant violence or uprising occurred in Iran, and the specter of attack and foreign meddling bolstered Iranian nationalism, if anything. This left few options for a US admin- istration that had long eschewed diplomacy and worn its international alliances thin. As public debate emerged regarding the potential benefi ts and per- ils of destabilizing the Iranian government or of bombing nuclear facili- ties and infrastructure while American military forces were burdened by commitments simultaneously in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, a general consensus developed among scholars of Iranian history and politics that the destabilization of Iran would not come about by means of agitation among the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, whatever xiii xiv | Preface covert actions the United States might initiate. In a July 2008 New Yorker article by investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh that attempted to plot congressional appropriations for covert operations and gauge the potential for military strikes in the waning months of the Bush adminis- tration, Professor Vali Nasr succinctly stated why the strategy of attempt- ing to use ethnic minorities to undermine Iran’s government