The Challenges of the Ottoman Diplomatic Corps in Iran during World War I (With Emphasis on the Reports of Asim Bey, the Ottoman Ambassador in Tehran)

During the First World War, Mustafa Asim Bey was appointed as the Ottoman ambassador in Tehran. The Ottoman diplomatic apparatus in Iran was responsible for persuading Iranians to join forces with the Ottomans, to cut off the Russians from Azerbaijan, and to help advance Ottoman military goals in Afghanistan and India. In order to achieve these goals, Asim Bey and his associates believed in soft politics with influence among the constitutionalist men and tribes of western Iran. But the Turkish military, led by Rauf Bey, believed in an aggressive policy with violence in order to neutralize the propaganda of the Allies. Two policies that led to a serious challenge between the Ottoman military and diplomats in Iran and put the policies of the Great Turks under the spotlight, including the Islamic Union plan. Despite Asim Bey's efforts, Iran did not join the alliance plan with the Ottomans, Akbar's jihad did not achieve its goals in Iran, and the subversive policies against the Russians and the British in the west and southwest of Iran did not succeed.

During the two years that Asim Bey was the Ottoman ambassador in Tehran, he had various correspondences with the Highness in Istanbul and the Ottoman and German political and military officials. This article has been compiled according to the documents left by Asim Bey, which are kept in the Records Organization of the Republic of Turkey, and aims to analyze the challenges of the Ottoman Turks' diplomatic system in Iran from the point of