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DEFENDERS
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Although considering the conditions of
the time and lack of extensive control
of the borders, this was impossible.
Secondly those who were arrested by
the police in view of the point that it
was evident that they had come to Iran
without having a choice, the government
refrained from deporting them out of
humanitarian grounds. This situation
also put pressure on the government,
and raised cross border tensions with
the Soviet Union. According to the
statistics department of the police
in February 1929 alone, 173 Soviet
citizens sought refuge in Azerbaijan
province, most of which were looked
after in Tabriz and some in Ardebil, and
these numbers were expected to rise.
Moscow viewed this as denting the
reputation of the Soviet Union, and put
pressure on the Iranian government to
increase security at its borders. To put
pressure on Iran, Moscow conducted
a number of unofficial attacks inside
the Iranian borders under the guise
of highway robbers etc. to prove that
the Iranians were not controlling their
borders. In view of these pressures
and the seriousness of the situation
the government was forced to order
Soviet Union bordering provinces to
keep the refugees near the borders
and not to transfer them further inside
the country. Also there was a notable
number of Iranian nationals residing in
the Soviet Union for whom the Iranian
government had to think of ways to
facilitate their commuting, because the
Soviet government was very strict on
the exit of properties of the immigrants
from the country.
Although following talks that were
conducted between Iranian and Soviet
officials at the time, particularly
following the signing of the 21 May
1928 “the passage of nationals who
live on bordering villages” treaty,
some of these problems were reduced.
Nevertheless, the main problem, which
was the identification of refugees from
the usual illegal commuters, and the
procedure that needed adopting for
refugees remained unresolved.
Also there are no accurate statistics for
the number of refugees and the numbers
who repatriated for the period, but
according to British consular officials
in Mashhad, out of the 280 Soviet and
European nationals who had sought
refuge in Khorasan province, between
June and December 1930,179 were
deported back and out of the remaining
101 only 19 were allowed to remain
in the region, the rest were sent to the
more southern parts of the country.
Although later on with the setting up
of the Migrants Commission at end of
June 1938 the refugees and migrants
issue was better organized. According
to available statistics by September, 3
the same year 33,244 individuals had
entered Iran as asylum seekers.
Following the creationof international
mechanisms in support of refugees, for
the first time in 1963, Iran gave the
following definition for asylum seeker
within domestic laws as, "an individual
who due to political, religious or racial
and or membership in a particular social
group, is in fear of persecution or threat
to life against the self and or members
of his or her family, and seeks asylum
in Iran." In 1976, Iran joined the 1972
UN Convention on the Situation of
Refugees.
A glance at playing host to foreign
migrants and refugees following the
Islamic Revolution of ‘79
With the occurrence of the Iranian
Islamic Revolution, the country's
regional and international policies also
saw some changes. With the support for