Tehran, July 05: A senior Iranian commander says much of the groundwork has been laid to retain the ownership of the Qolhak Garden in Tehran which is now ‘illegally’ under British control.
“Effective measures have been taken to materialize this legitimate right of the Iranian nation and retake the compound,” Head of the Foundation for the Remembrance of the Holy Defense, Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh, commented on Saturday according to the Fars news agency.
The senior Iranian military official went on to state that five years after the Iranian government’s attested entitlement to the possession of the garden, the British government continues to occupy the site and refuses to respond to the legitimate right of the Iranian nation over the garden.
Iran has called on the British Council in Tehran to return the Qolhak Garden which has been possessed illegally since the Qajar Dynasty.
Iran argues that the Qolhak Garden belonged to the Iranian Qajar King Nassereddin Shah and was given to British diplomats for temporary residence.
The commander further stated that the disputes over the 200,000 sq/m Qolhak Garden and 3,000 sq/m Manchester Garden are basically different issues.
Tehran is insisting that Iran’s properties in London, specially the Manchester Garden, have been purchased in full abidance of the law.
Some 162 members of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) wrote a letter in 2006 to the then speaker, Golam Ali Haddad-Adel, demanding an investigation over the ownership of the Qolhak Garden.
A meeting was organized in July 2007 to address the ownership of the compound. However the British side did not attend.
—–Agencies