Fereydoun Djam

Fereydoun Djam (1914 – 24 May 2008; Persian: فريدون جم‎‎) was a senior Iranian army official,^[1] and the son of former Iranian prime minister Mahmoud Djam.

Career

Djam served as head of the Iranian Imperial Army Corps from 1969 to 1971. He left the army because of professional conflicts with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and retired in 1973. After resignation from the army he became Iranian ambassador to Spain for a few years up to 1978. Then he moved to London. To the last government led by Shahpour Bakhtiar before revolution he was proposed to be defense minister, but according to his interview later on due to lack of authority he did not accept the position.^[2] He was believed that the declaration of impartiality by army core at the last day of revolution was a betrayal. Following the revolution he did not come back to the country but during the Iran-Iraq war he was supporting Iranian army.

Personal life

Fereydoun Djam born on 1914 in Tabriz, Iran. His father Mahmoud Djam was prime minister of Iran from 1935 to 1939. He attended in military schools in Tehran and Saint-Ciers. Later he graduated from military academy in UK. In an arranged marriage Fereydoun married to Princess Shams in 1937. The divorced after death of Rezā Shāh on 1944.^[3]

Legacy

In 2011, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) was awarded a gift of £2 million by the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust to promote Iranian studies. As part of this initiative, SOAS has introduced new scholarships in Iranian studies as well as an annual lecture series to promote diverse aspects of Iranian studies. The annual lectures are hosted by the Centre for Iranian Studies at SOAS and are named after Fereydoun’s son, Kamran Djam, who predeceased his parents in 1989.^[4]

References

1. Iran and Its Place Among Nations, Alidad Mafinezam, Aria Mehrabi, 2008, p. 57
2. "Defection delays presentation of Iranian cabinet". The Phoenix (Tehran). AP. 9 January 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
3. "Shams Pahlavi". Fouman. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
4. "The Kamran Djam Annual Lecture" (PDF). Tehran: SOAS. AP. 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2014.