The Shah ordered Gholam Reza Azhari at 5 November 1978 to lead the military government at the time of growing protests in the country.[1] The selection of General Azhari was taken as an indirect signal to the revolutionaries that the regime had lost its resolve to resist and play it tough.[2] The cabinet was officially formed on 6 November.[3]
Military government of Gholam Reza Azhari | |
---|---|
Military cabinet of Imperial State of Iran | |
Prime Minister | |
Date formed | 6 November 1978 |
Date dissolved | 31 December 1978 |
People and organisations | |
Head of state | Mohammad Reza Pahlavi |
Head of government | Gholam Reza Azhari |
Deputy head of government | Ali Fardad |
No. of ministers | 18 |
History | |
Legislature term | 24th Iranian Majlis |
Predecessor | Government of Jafar Sharif-Emami |
Successor | Government of Shapour Bakhtiar |
Of the eleven cabinet ministers appointed by Azhari, only six were military, and even this number was whittled down in the following weeks. The military cabinet members, for the most part, had no experience in their respective areas of responsibility. In short, the hotly debated change to a military government was, in practice, more cosmetic than real.[1]
Among Azhari's first acts were the arrest and imprisonment of former Prime Minister Hoveida, the former head of SAVAK, the former head of the national police, the former mayor of Tehran and several more former ministers and high dignitaries. These wanton acts were again carried out in the hope of appeasing the revolutionaries.[2]
On the eve of 20 December, Prime Minister Gholam Reza Azhari suffered a massive heart attack. He tendered his resignation to the Shah on 31 December 1978.[4]
Cabinet
editCabinet members were as follows:[5][6]
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prime Minister | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Minister of Agriculture | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Commerce | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Culture and Art | (head of ministry) | 11 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | |||||||
Minister of Culture and Higher Education | (head of ministry) | 11 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | |||||||
Minister of Education | (head of ministry) | 11 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | |||||||
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance | (head of ministry) | 6 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | |||||||
Minister of Energy | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Minister of Foreign Affairs | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Health | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Housing | (head of ministry) | 6 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | |||||||
Minister of Industries and Mines | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Information and Tourism | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Minister of Interior | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Minister of Justice | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs | (head of ministry) | 6 November 1978 | 22 November 1978 | Military | |||||
22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | |||||||
Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of Roads and Transportation | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Minister of War | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Ministers without portfolio | |||||||||
Executive Affairs | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Parliamentary Affairs | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Political Affairs | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Endowment | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Plan and Budget | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Vice Prime Ministers | |||||||||
Deputy Prime Minister | 22 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
Director of the SAVAK | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
President of the Atomic Energy Organization | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
President of the Department of Environment | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
President of the Physical Education Organization | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Military | ||||||
Secretary-General of the ARAO | 6 November 1978 | 31 December 1978 | Nonpartisan | ||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Fardust, Hussein (1998). The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein Fardust. Translated by Dareini, Ali Akbar. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 392. ISBN 9788120816428.
- ^ a b Ganji, Manouchehr (2002). Defying the Iranian Revolution: From a Minister to the Shah to a Leader of Resistance. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 24–25. ISBN 9780275971878.
- ^ Misagh Parsa (1982). Social origins of the Iranian revolution (PhD thesis). University of Michigan. p. 127. ISBN 979-8-204-15323-3. ProQuest 303064421.
- ^ Phillips, Tomas B. (2012). Queer Sinister Things: The Hidden History of Iran. Lulu. p. 406. ISBN 9780557509294.
- ^ "Government of Azhari, from begging to end". Ebtekar (in Persian). 13 (3567). Tehran: 12. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ Zandi, Mohammad Ali (15 November 2014). "Gholam Reza Azhari" (in Persian). Baqir al-Ulum Research Institute. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
External links
edit- Media related to Military government of Gholam-Reza Azhari at Wikimedia Commons