.Tell us a little about yourself: Who are you? What are your occupations? What is your role?
I was born in Paris of a French mother and an Iranian Azerbaijani father. I grew up both in Paris and Switzerland.
My mother was a successful entrepreneur, and my father was the grandson of Ahmad Shah and was the first Iranian to ever win a prize at the Cannes film festival. He later worked as a journalist and writer.
I now live in London where I work as an entrepreneur.
2. Have you ever visited Iran? If yes – how did the regime receive you? Did they try to harm you in any way? If not – why haven’t you visited? Are you afraid?
No I’ve never visited Iran. The reason I never did is because I don’t trust the Islamic Republic with my security and never accepted them as the legitimate rulers of Iran.
3. To what extent are you involved in Iranian politics? Can you elaborate on that?
My role is mostly around identity politics. As the Qajar family is a strong symbol of Iranian history and is ethnically Turk from iran, I was often the target of attacks against my community. The Turks of Iran are the most important ethnic group of Iran representing approximately 40% of the population but somehow they are pushed to assimilate to the Persian culture. I decided to stand for them by joining the great awakening initiated by the Turks of iran 30 years ago .
4. Do members of the Qajar family hold joint discussion groups about Iran? If so – can you share how these discussions are conducted? What ideas arise?
We don’t hold formal joint discussion groups but we still discuss politics with each other’s. In recent years, great academic research was conducted by the Qajar family members highlighting our Turkic background in more details.
5. On the day the clerical regime falls, do you see yourself moving to live in Iran?
Yes absolutely, the Qajar built modern Iran by laying the foundations of its legal institutions- foundations that endure to this day. We also established Tehran as the capital, creating it from scratch when it was only just a village. If Iran isn’t our home where else could it be?
6. According to sources and the royal lineage of the Qajar dynasty, you are considered “the next in line.” Do you see yourself as such? Does this role appeal to you?
I accepted the responsibility of carrying the political heritage of the Qajar dynasty. After the coup by the Pahlavi against our dynasty, the Qajar have been limited to a cultural and artistic role thanks to our great contribution in this field. However, our main contribution is and has always been mostly political. It is now my duty to carry forward this political legacy.
7. What do you do to restore the Qajar monarchy to Iran? Are you working toward this? What are your methods of action?
We have just created a foundation that will have both a cultural, political and economic impact on the lives of Iranians.
The first goal of our foundation is to explain the real Qajar history as it happened. When Reza Shah reached power with a cup ,total lack of legitimacy among the Iranian population, the first target of the Pahlavi dynasty was to distort and belittle Qajar history so our dynasty wouldn’t represent a political threat to them.
The first target was the destruction of the cultural heritage of Iran through the burning of archives and destruction of buildings representing the glory of the Qajar, the second step was for the Pahlavi to write their own narrative of Iran’s history under the Qajar, Needless to say, this history as it is now written has only the goal of discrediting our dynasty so it fails to explain political and historical events of the past 200 years, which is a big loss for Iranians.
The Islamic Republic found it convenient to continue to spread a distorted image of the Qajar too. We are now trying to reverse this and explain Iranians where they come from and what we really have done.
Parallel to this, I’m working with the Azerbaijani National Movement and Pro-democracy groups who have a proven track record of members who fought against the Islamic republic.
8. Are you in contact with Iranian citizens of Azerbaijani Turkic origin? Do they express to you a desire for the return of the monarchy?
As I explained earlier, I am in close contact with the Azerbaijani National Movement and Iranian Azerbaijani journalists. We exchange political views and they recognize the Qajar family as a strong living symbol of their cultural heritage. Together, we are working towards a “third way” for an Iran of Nations-one where every ethnicity contribute equally to the country without losing its identity. In that sense, they see the Qajar as a representative of their cause.
9. Why is Reza Pahlavi seen by the regime as a symbol of incitement that must be feared and whose admiration must be suppressed, while your family’s symbol is not widely discussed in Iran? Does the regime have nothing to fear from you?
The Islamic Republic has never genuinely regarded the Pahlavi as a political or military threat, despite what pro Pahlavi media outlets abroad have claimed for decades. The two , are, in effect two sides of the same coin both share a vision of Iran built on aggressive centralized governance with power concentrated at the top and an imperialist foreign policy indifferent to the welfare of the population.
As I’ve explained, my family is the last legitimate royal house of Iran, and the Pahlavi who succeeded us were the first illegitimate rulers. By rewriting history textbooks and promoting a distorted account of Qajar history, the Pahlavi inflicted lasting damage to both Iran and the Turks. While the Pahlavi and later the Islamic Republic succeeded for a time in imposing a forced historical narrative and cultural homogenization on the Iranian population, this is changing. With the rise of social media and the emergence of political movements advocating a third way rooted in identity, Qajar history is being revived and the truth is finally coming to light. –
10. On the day the regime falls – and assuming Washington does not impose an external candidate to lead Iran, will you run head-to-head against Reza Pahlavi or accept his authority? What will happen?
Your question assumes Reza Pahlavi could still be a credible candidate, after championing the war on Iran and the disastrous result that followed. I think that’s an unrealistic assumption and one he’d struggle to justify to the Iranian people.
What I can say is this: I will fight for my ideas. If none of the candidates can satisfactorily represent my political positions, I’ll confront any of them and that includes Reza Pahlavi.
11. Finally: what is your opinion on what has been happening in Iran in recent years? What is your opinion on the military actions of Israel and the United States in Iran, including Khamenei?
The Islamic republic is, by its essence, an ideological regime. The severity of the principles it must uphold has caused it to slide into a corrupted system inside Iran bears little resemblance to what the Islamic revolution advocated. As a result, Iran has had to maintain a hardline political stance abroad to save face.
It is therefore impossible to negotiate with a regime committed to portraying itself as the representative of Islamic revolutionary values on the global stage. These anti-globalization principles and the imposed sanctions had isolated Iran to the point of near collapse. I don’t think a war was necessary at that stage.
The collapse was already underway before the war broke out. Eliminating Khamenei and top sepah commanders could have precipitated a regime change but due to the lack of serious alternatives to the regime, it instead reorganized itself. For the past decades, the alternatives proposed by the international community have amounted to little more than the Mujahedeen or the Pahlavi family-neither of which adequately represents the complexity and diversity of the Iranian society.
For instance, the Turks of Iran amounting to 40% of the overall society are labelled as Persians by the Pahlavi and the Mujahedeen and the international community refuses to acknowledge the importance of the different communities in the destiny of Iran.
The Islamic republic has always shown its strongest side in times of chaos-and this war has emboldened Iran on the global stage, revealing a level of resolve few expected: from bombing Israel to closing the strait of Hormuz as soon as things stopped going the way Iran wants. These were red lines Iran would never have crossed had war not broken out.
For instance, the Turks of Iran amounting to 40% of the overall society are labelled as Persians by the Pahlavi and the Mujahedeen and the international community refuses to acknowledge the importance of the different communities in the destiny of Iran.
The Islamic republic has always shown its strongest side in times of chaos-and this war has emboldened Iran on the global stage, revealing a level of resolve few expected: from bombing Israel to closing the strait of Hormuz as soon as things stopped going the way Iran wants. These were red lines Iran would never have crossed had war not broken out.