Mohammad-Taqi Khan Pessian (; 1892 – 3 October 1921), more commonly known as Colonel Pessian, was an Iranian gendarme, fighter pilot and warlord who formed and led the short-lived Autonomous Government of Khorasan in 1921. He was killed in a battle with forces sent by Ahmad Qavam, the prime minister at the time. Biography Pessian was born into an aristocratic Azerbaijani family in Tabriz originating in the Caucasus. Pessian's family possessed strong military traditions, his uncle General Hamzeh Khan Pessian was a commander in the Persian Cossack Brigade, his cousins Heydar Qoli Khan Pessian – father of Iranian author and journalist, Mahtalat Pessian, – Ali Qoli Khan Pessian, Gholam Reza Khan Pessian and he himself served in Gendarmerie. In Tabriz Mohammad Taqi was educated in sciences, Turkish, Persian, Arabic and foreign languages. In 1907 he left for Tehran to continue his education. After 5 years he took up the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Gendarmerie, within two years he was promoted to captain. After that he held a variety of posts such as Second Commander in a battalion in Qazvin, served in Hamedan and Yazd and also was an instructor and interpreter at Gendarmerie school in Yusef Abad, Tehran. He was promoted to Major when World War I broke out. In November 1915 as commander of the Gendarmerie in Hamedan he launched an attack on the pro-Russian Persian Cossack Brigade at the Battle of Musalla. His gendarmes managed to disarm the Persian Cossacks and Mohammad Taqi managed to convince some of the cossacks to join his forces in a patriotic speech he made to them after their defeat. Mohammad Taqi and Major Azizollah Khan Zarghami as Gendarmerie commanders could not defend Hamedan against an advancing Russian Caucasus Army which was superior in numbers and weapons. The gendarmes retreated to Kermanshah where they were defeated by the Russians, with many fleeing to the Ottoman Empire. August 1916 saw the return of gendarmes to Kermanshah but again were defeated and this time many went to live in exile in Istanbul while Mohammad Taqi returned to live in exile in Berlin. During his time in Berlin, he was trained as a pilot in the German Airforce and was rewarded with the Eisernes Kreuz Medal for shooting down more than 25 enemy aircraft during World War I. He also translated many works from Persian to/from French, German and English, some of these included