Historically, the Turkic people are believed to have arrived in Iran from
Central Asia from the 11th or 12th century onwards. Told to
Marie-Tèrése Ullens by the
Ilbeg Malek Mansur, brother of the
Ilkhan, Nasser Khan, Chief of the Qashqa'i, in 1953: The Qashqai were a significant political force in
Qajar Iran during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During
World War I, they were influenced by the German consular official
Wilhelm Wassmuss and sided with the
German Empire. During
World War II, the Qashgais attempted to organize resistance against the
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, receiving some ineffectual assistance from
Nazi Germany in 1943 by the means of
Operation Anton, which (along with
Operation François) proved a complete failure. In 1945–1946 there was a major rebellion of a number of tribal confederacies, including the Qashgais, who fought valiantly until the invading Russians were repelled. The Qashgais revolted during 1962–1964 due to the land reforms of the
White Revolution.
Gamal Abdel Nasser saw potential in the Qashqai tribe to undermine the Pahlavi government. In 1963, when the Qashqai protested against the Iranian government, the Iranian government used armed force, causing Qashqai leaders to seek support from Nasser. On 2 February 1963, the Qashqai leaders met with Al-Deeb in Switzerland, after which the Qashqai were issued Egyptian passports in 1963 and given training in Egypt in 1964. The revolt was put down and within a few years many Qashqais had settled. When anti-government protests began in 1978, Qashqai participated, although not in large numbers. However, towards the end of the year, Naser Khan and Khosrow Khan, the sons of Qashqai tribal chief Sawlat od-Dowleh, who were in exile in Europe, were contacted by the Qashqai leadership in Iran, seeking advice. They cautiously visited
Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris, who reminded them that their father embraced calls from the ulema for a jihad against the British in World War I, expressing hope that they would similarly embrace the call from the clergy if called upon. Although
Mohammad Reza Shah had personally attacked the exiled Qashqai leaders in one of the last speeches he delivered before fleeing Iran, Naser Khan returned to Iran before the Shah left. Naser Khan displaying a hesitance and reticence in his actions allowed him to be co-opted by the revolutionaries to act as a mediator between rival tribes, just as his father Sowlat-od-Dowleh had acted for
Reza Shah. Many Qashqai rearmed and sometimes forcibly captured land, particularly from non-tribal farmers, herders, and orchard owners. The optimism the Qashqai initially had about their place in a new Iran largely died in the summer of 1979, and the Qashqai leaders, who attempted to unite the tribal opposition in southern Iran, were shocked by the force used against the
1979 Kurdish revolt. Khomeini had only acknowledged the suffering of tribes under the Pahlavi government but never made solid assurances. When parliamentary elections took place in 1980, Khosrow Khan, who received 70% of the vote in the
Eqlid district, west of Shiraz, was rejected by the Majlis who accused him of
SAVAK and
CIA ties and a family history of landlordism. He was arrested by the
IRGC in
Tehran, before being released, arrested again, and then escaping and returning to Fars. There, he gathered Qashqai, Boyerahmadi Luri, and Basseri tribesmen, and he and Naser Khan resisted the Iranian forces for two years from June 1980 to July 1982. They were considered the only group in Iran effectively offering credible resistance. After a sham amnesty, Khosrow Khan was captured in Shiraz, sent to Tehran, and sentenced to death by an Islamic Revolutionary Court and hanged on 8 October 1982, in Shiraz. == Major tribes==