Nationality Change of Iranian and Ottoman Citizens and Reaction of Iranian Government to it (during 1900 - 1922 AD / 1317-1341AH) Considering Iranian Documents and Resources

The adjacency of Iran and Ottoman and their cultural and historical commonalities made numerous citizens, who were facing difficulties in their own countries, immigrate to the neighboring country and change their nationalities during the Qajar dynasty. While living and working in the neighboring country, some immigrants preferred to be still identified as citizens of their own countries; however, they changed their nationality after a while. The question is what motivated them to change their nationalities, and what was the Iranian government’s reaction to the nationality change of its citizens? This paper investigated the issue through a library-oriented study and by referring to the available body of published and unpublished documents. The findings indicate that reasons such as religious conflicts, maltreatments by agents and governments, the citizens’ emancipation from the restrictions of their own countries, and the economic conditions made them change their own nationalities, though this was often accompanied by successive objections from the Iranian government.