| Akhal-Khorasan Boundary Convention | |
|---|---|
 Qajar Iran's loss of territories across the 19th century | |
| Location | Tehran |
| Effective | 21 September 1881 |
| Signatories |
|
TheTreaty of Akhal (Russian:Ахалский договор,Persian:پیمان آخال), also known asAkhal-Khorasan Boundary Convention, was an agreement signed betweenQajar Iran andImperial Russia on 21 September 1881 to mark Iran's official recognition ofKhwarazm's (mostly the territory of present-dayTurkmenistan) annexation by the Russian Empire.
The title of the treaty is derived from the name of the vast region north of Khorasan where theTurkmen tribe ofTekke lived –Akhal.
In 1856, Russia was defeated in theCrimean War by the coalition ofBritish,French andOttoman forces, which altered the direction of Russian expansion fromEurope toCentral Asia. Pursuing their policy of territorial expansion, Russians first capturedTashkent in 1865 before establishing a protectorate over theEmirate of Bukhara in 1868. Russia also gainedSamarqand and was paid war reparations as a result of its victory over Bukhara. In 1869, Russia marked its presence in the south-east coast of theCaspian sea by founding a naval base inKrasnovodsk (present-day Turkmenbashy, Turkmenistan) and fortifying it.[1] Subsequently, Russian diplomats inTehran assured the Persian court that Russia recognized Iran's border along the entire length ofAtrek river and did not contemplate to establish military bases there.[2]
Russia's imperialistic ambitions soon led to the seizure ofKhiva andKhoqand in 1873 and 1876 respectively, and later to the capture of the fortress ofGeok-tepe[2] after two military expeditionsagainst Turkmens in 1879 and1881.[3] With the fall of the last stronghold of Turkmens, Russia enforced the Akhal Treaty on Qajar Iran.[2]
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar sent foreign secretaryMirza Saeed Khan Ansari to meet Russian envoyIvan Zinovyev [ru] and sign a treaty inTehran.[2]
Akhal Treaty, also known as Akhal-Khorasan Treaty,[4] was signed on 21 September 1881 and marked Persia's official recognition of Khwarazm's (mostly the territory of present-day Turkmenistan) annexation by the Imperial Russia.[5] The title of the treaty is derived from the name of the region north ofKopet Dag mountains in Khorasan where the Turkmen tribe of Tekke lived – Akhal.[6]
Akhal Treaty consisted of 9 Articles. However, the signatories also signed a separate document with 5 secret clauses in addition to the Treaty on the same day.[7] By virtue of the Treaty, Iran would henceforth cease any claim to all parts ofTurkestan andTransoxiana, setting theAtrek River as the new boundary. HenceMerv,Sarakhs,Eshgh Abad, and the surrounding areas comprising modern-day Turkmenistan were transferred to Russia, where they would be theTranscaspian Oblast.[8][9]
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