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19 یهاگآ Fereydoun Farrokh (May 5, 1926 – October 27, 2019)
همان‌ Fereydoun Farrokh, a career diplomat, passed away on October 27, 2019. Born on May 5, 1926, Fereydoun Farrokh was

the son of Senator Mehdi Farrokh who was to become an active member in the Iranian political arena (he had also fought in
the Constitutional Movement) from the early twentieth century up to his passing in 1973. Mehdi Farrokh published his memories
in a 2-volume book entitled “خفر ی ایس تاطراخ -Khaterat e Siyasiye Farrokh [The Political Memoirs of Farrokh]“ in 1968.
س
Mehdi Farrokh was among those officials and military leaders who deeply resented Anglo-Russian interference in Iran and the negative
consequences this had upon the civilian population. The Farrokh’s family has had strong ties with the Caucasus which was largely part
of Iran until the Russian invasions of the early 19th century. Mehdi Farrokh’s father (or Fereydoun Farrokh’s grandfather) was Mir Seyyed
1398 آبان 17 هعمج - 1577 هربمش / 27 لبس daughter of Nasrollah (Haj Nasser Saltaneh) Tabatabai-Diba. The Diba family is one of the most long-standing families of Iran’s Azarbaijan
Mahd Khan who was one of the donors for the Dar ol Fonoon at the time. The Dar ol Fonoon was to become the University of Tehran,

Fereydoun Farrokh’s mother was Ezzat Saltaneh Tabatabai-Diba of the long-standing Diba family of northwest Iran. Ezzat Saltaneh was the

province with a long history of public service. The Dibas are also closely related to the long-standing Zolfaqari clan.
Fereydoun Farrokh entered the diplomatic service from his early 20s and obtained his law degree from the University of Freiburg in
Switzerland. His initial postings from the 1940s (after World War Two) as a career diplomat were in Brussels in Belgium and Bonn in
Germany where he was to serve as Premier Councillor (de-facto Ambassador). Fereydoun Farrokh then served as chargé d'affaires in
Athens, Greece. Much of Fereydoun Farrokh’s subsequent diplomatic career was to be spent in both West and East Germany before the
1978-1979 revolution. With the retirement of Ali-Gholi Ardalan as ambassador to West Germany shortly after 1965, Fereydoun Farrokh
became de-facto Ambassador, or more specifically, premier councillor. Fereydoun Farrokh's most important post was that of Iran’s first
ambassador to East Germany in 1973-1977. He was greeted with a military honor guard upon his arrival to East Berlin in September
1973. Germany had been divided in two as a consequence of the defeat of the Nazis in 1945. The country (and its capital Berlin) became
partitioned into Western and Eastern zones by the Western allies and the former Soviet Union respectively. The Berlin Wall finally came
down in late 1989 which quickly led to the re-unification of Germany. Fereydoun Farrokh’s final post before the 1979 revolution was to
engage in a supervisory tour of all of Iranian diplomatic missions in East Asia, notably Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. He was to pass away
on October 27, 2019.

Vol. 27 / No. 1577 - Friday, Nov. 8, 2019

Fereydoun Farrokh at his office in the Iranian Embassy in East Berlin in 1975 (www.kavehfarrokh.com).
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