|
No: |
Turkish
Personalities / Leaders |
Photos: |
Title / Stature, Comments: |
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1. |
Atatürk
(Mustafa Kemal Pasha),
(1881 - 1938)
 |
 |
Mustafa Kemal was an
intelligent
and extremely capable military personality. He was the first President of
modern Turkey (1923-1938) and
its first
Premier from
1920 until 1921. He also
founded the
Republican People's
Party - R.P.P. (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi or CHP)
in
1919, which he led until his death in 1938. During WWI he participated
at the Battle of Gallipoli
(The Dardanelles
Campaign)
against
the British and French armies, as well as in
the eastern Asia Minor Front
making a name for himself.
Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire he led the
Turkish national movement (Young Turks) in what would be
named as the "Turkish War of Independence". After
establishing a provisional government in Ankara, he
defeated the Hellenic Army and established the Republic
of Turkey.
As a first
President he formed the political foundation of the
modern Turkish nation by embarking upon a major
programme of political, economic and cultural reforms,
which transformed the ruins of the Ottoman Empire into a
secular state.
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|
2. |
Said Halim Pasha,
(1863-1921) |
 |
Ottoman Grand
Vizier (1913-1916). In 1888, Said became a member of the state judicial
council. He entered Mahmud Sevket's Cabinet in 1911 as Foreign Minister
and, following Sevket's death two years later, was made Grand Vizier.
Despite his opposition to Ottoman involvement in WWI he
nevertheless signed the Turkish treaty of alliance with Germany in 1914.
Pondering resignation once war began in November 1914 he was persuaded to
remain at the insistence of the Young Turks administration. He finally
resigned as Grand Vizier in 1916 and was replaced by Talaat Pasha. He
subsequently took up a seat in the Senate. Writing extensively, Said
produced essays on the monarchy, Islam and the problems within the
Ottoman Empire. Following the Turkish armistice of 30 October 1918 at Mudros
(Is. Lemnos), Said was exiled to Malta. Following his release and subsequent
travel to Rome he was
assassinated by an Armenian on 6
December 1921. |
|
3. |
Talaat Pasha,
(1874-1921) |
 |
One of
leaders of the Young Turks, Ottoman statesman, Grand Vizier (1917-18), and
leading member of the Ottoman Government from 1913 to 1918.
At an early stage Talaat
developed a political restlessness that saw him arrested for subversive
activity in 1893. With the success of the Young Turk revolution of 1908 he
was appointed deputy for Edirne in Parliament and the following year,
elevated to the Cabinet as Minister of the Interior. He was subsequently
appointed Minister of Post and then elected Secretary General of the
Committee of Union and Progress in 1912, further boosting his power base
within the party. Unusually among the Young Turk leadership, Talaat
favoured allying with the
Entente
Powers prior to war in 1914, notably with Russia. With his diplomatic
overtures to the Allies ignored however he eventually sided with his rival
Enver Pasha in proposing an alliance with the Central Powers led by
Germany. War with the Entente Powers consequently followed in November
1914. Unlike his colleagues Talaat faced the prospect of war with some
apprehension, uncertain of the Ottoman Empire's likelihood of success in
the coming conflict. At best he viewed participation as a sizeable
gamble. As Minister of the Interior Talaat was faced
with the responsibility of ensuring Turkey's domestic ability to conduct
war, consequently subordinating Ottoman society to support the army's
requirements. Controversially his office oversaw the deportation of the
Armenians from the Ottoman Empire's eastern provinces (and therefore
susceptible to Russian influence) to Syria and Mesopotamia (present-day
Iraq) in April 1915 following the rebels' capture of the city of Van. Some
600,000 Armenians perished in the twentieth century's first case of mass
genocide. Talaat's subsequent denials of knowledge or involvement were
generally disregarded by most observers both at the time and more
recently. In February 1917 Talaat was made Grand Vizier. He held this
position until his resignation on 14 October 1918, immediately prior to
Turkey's unconditional surrender to the Allies. Having fled, along with Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha, to Germany aboard a German ship, he was
subsequently murdered in Berlin on 15 March 1921 in an act of revenge by
an Armenian assassin. |
|
4. |
Sultan Abdül-Hamid
II,
Osman
dynasty,
(1842-1918) |
 |
34th Sultan
of the Ottoman Empire
(1882-1909) and leader of
Ottomans during WWI.
Abdülhamid II was known to some as "Great Khan" and in the West as "The
Red Sultan", "Abdul the Damned" or "The Great Assassin" for the
massacres of Armenians which occurred throughout his tenure. His
deposition following the Young Turk Revolution was hailed by most
Ottoman citizens. |
|
5. |
Mehmed Djaved Bey,
(1875-1926) |
n/a |
The first Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)
member to serve at Cabinet rank,
serving as Finance Minister in 1909-11, 1914 and 1917-1918. M. Djaved's
tenure in the Ministry during 1914 was very brief, resigning in November
of the same year in protest at the Ottoman decision to ally itself with
the Central Powers and declare war with the Entente Powers. However, his
political and economic skills kept him strong, both towards the Neo Turks
movement and the management of the Ottoman financial administration.
During WWI he managed to secure continued packages of fresh funding from
Germany - without making Turkey in any way economically dependent upon
them. He declined to give way to German demands intended upon post-war
economic concessions, periodically using the threat of loan non-repayment
to silence German pressure. In December 1918 he was forced into exile by
the revolutionary Government. He returned to Turkey in 1922. Finally, he
was executed for subversion by the Mustafa Kemal regime in 1926. |
|
6. |
Enver
Pasha,
(1881-1922) |
 |
Turkish Military Attaché at
Berlin, 1909, 1912, 1913; served in the Italo-Turkish War, 1912;
Lieutenant-Colonel, 1913; Major-General and Minister of War from 1914;
commanded the Turkish Army in the Caucasus, 1914-5.
Minister
of War (2/1914-1918).
One of
the
leaders
of the Young Turks. Turned the Turkish army over to Germany.
Served
in the dual capacity of War Minister and Ottoman Commander-in-Chief
during WWI, and was instrumental in bringing Turkey into the war
on the side of the Central Powers. Born in
Constantinople, he was commissioned into the
Turkish army at a young age. Undergoing part of his training in Germany
he absorbed (and was impressed with) much of its culture, particularly
with regard to military training. He consequently determined upon various
means of improving the efficiency of the Ottoman armed forces along German
lines. In 1908 Enver was one of three leaders of the so-called 'Young
Turk' movement that rebelled against Sultan Abdul Hamid, joining General
M.
Sevket's
"Army of Deliverance"
in marching upon Constantinople.
From 1909-11 he served as military attaché to Berlin. In the latter year,
with Turkey at war with Italy, Enver organised Ottoman resistance in
Libya. The following year (1912) he was appointed Governor of Banghazi.
In 23/1/1913,
Enver lead
"the
Coup
d'
Etat"
organised by the
Committee of Union and Progress, bringing full power to the Young Turks.
With the success of this movement Enver remained an influential member of
the Ottoman government until 1918, along with Talaat and Djemal. During
the Second Balkan War
(1913)
he
served as Chief of General Staff and,
on 22 July, seized Adrianople from Bulgaria, earning himself national
renown. In 1914,
as
Minister of War,
after
conducting
a purge of senior officers unsympathetic to
the Young Turks,
he begun
secret negotiations with both Germany and
Russia aimed at constructing military alliances with each. Of these only
the former came to fruition, leading to Turkey's entrance into the
WWI
on
the side of the Central Powers in November that year. Among Enver's war
aims was a plan directed at uniting the Turkic peoples of Russian Central
Asia with the Ottoman Turks. Unfortunately these same plans led to a
calamitous defeat on 29/12/1914 at Sarikamis, where much of the
Third Army directly under his command was lost through casualties or
capture. The Russians, under Yudenich, continued to inflict severe
reverses upon Ottoman forces throughout the following year. With his
credibility battered at home Enver nevertheless recovered ground with the
defeat of the Allied expedition to the Dardanelles in 1915-16. Russia's
withdrawal from the war, and the February Revolution of 1917, presented
Enver with the opportunity to lead the Ottoman forces that occupied Baku
in 1918. The arrival of the armistice and the end of the war - and with it
the fall of the Young Turk administration in October 1918 - caused Enver
to flee in exile to Germany. While there he met Bolshevik leader Karl
Radek and subsequently travelled to Moscow. Regarded with suspicion by
the Bolsheviks his plan to overthrow Mustafa Kemal's Turkish regime found
little support. Disappointed, Enver left for Turkestan with the aim of
assisting the organisation of the Central Asian republics. Instead
however he joined the 1921 revolt by the Basmachi against the Bolsheviks,
in the course of which he was killed during fighting with the Red Army on
4/8/1922.
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7. |
Ahmed
Izzet Pasha,
(1864-1937) |
 |
Commander
General of the 2d
Army
during WWI
and
Grand Vizier
(14/10/1918-8/11/1918)
in the Ottoman Empire.
Minister of War
(-2/1914).
Foreign Minister
(13/6/1921-28/10-1922). Experienced as a military
campaigner Izzet's political moderation endeared him to new Sultan Mehmed
VI on the latter's ascension to the throne on 3/7/1918. Despite the
ultimate crashing failure of Izzet's field career in the wake of disaster
in the Caucasus
(1916), the new Sultan promptly dismissed the
Young Turk administration led by Enver
Pasha
and Talaat
Pasha and installed Izzet as
his new Grand Vizier. Izzet had earlier served as Minister of War prior to
the outbreak of war before being ousted by Enver. It was Izzet who
negotiated the Ottoman armistice with the British at Moudros (having first
released the interned British General Townshend for the purpose) on
30/10/1918. Subsequently Izzet served as Minister of Internal Affairs in
Ahmed Tevfik Pasha's post-war government
(1922). Despite
Sultanate's
official abolition
in 1924 at the hands of Kemal Izzet remained a firm supporter of the
"Caliphate" until his eventual death in 1937.
|
|
8. |
Mohamed (Mehmet) V,
"Gazi",
(1844-1918) |
 |
Sultan, (1909-1918) |
|
9. |
Mohamed VI,
(1861-1926) |
 |
Sultan, (1918-1922).
Mehmed VI,
original name Mehmed Vahdettin
or Mehmed Vahideddin was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The brother of Mehmed V
Resad, he succeeded to the throne due to the suicide of Yusuf Izzetin, the
heir to the throne. He was crowned in 4/7/1918, as the thirty-sixth
"Padishah"
until his overthrow in 1922. |
|
10. |
Halil Bey |
 |
President
of the Turkish Parliament and a leader of the Young Turks, later Foreign
Minister. |
|
11. |
Khalil Pasha,
(1864-1923) |
n/a |
Commander of the Turkish 6th Army during WWI (Mesopotamia), military
Governor of Baghdad (1916-1917) - under Sultan
Mohamed V. Khalil's policy
during the extended Anglo-Indian advance of 1915 appeared simple: he
consistently permitted his field Commanders to retreat under fire. This
approach was reversed at the Battle of Ctesiphon (after an initial
withdrawal by the Turks) with a counter-attack launched at the retreating
British force under Sir Charles Townshend. After successfully conducting
the conclusion of the siege of Kut, when Townshend finally surrendered
unconditionally on 30/4/1916, Khalil was inclined to support a more
aggressive policy, proposing a Turkish sweep into Persia. In the event
this never came to pass as a renewed British offensive in Mesopotamia
towards the close of 1916 under new British Commander-in-Chief Sir
Frederick Maude tied up Turkish forces in the region, culminating in the
fall of Baghdad itself. With Baghdad's fall Khalil significantly weakened
Sixth Army's strength by throwing them into costly, inadvisable defensive
actions, leading to its eventual collapse. |
|
12. |
Djemal Pasha,
(1872-1922) |
 |
Vali of Adana
(1909)
and
Baghdad (1911).
Military Governor of Constantinople
(1913)
& Ottoman Syria & Palestine.
Minister of Public Works
(1914).
Minister of Marine
(1914),
(1917-1918).
Commander
of the 4th
Army in Syria
(1914-17).
Also he headed the Police Department and was a leading
member of the
CUP Central
Committee
prior to and throughout WWI. Noted for his ruthlessness in provincial
government (one of the main incendiaries of the Armenian Genocide) he was
appointed Head of security forces in Constantinople and then given the
Minister of Public Works portfolio. During the Balkans Wars (1912-1913)
he held numerous
senior command positions.
He made diplomatic approaches to the Entente Powers during 1914 but was
rebuffed by the Allies, who were not willing to endanger Russian
cooperation by colluding with the Turks. Thus, as a manoeuvre he switched
his attentions to an alliance with the Central Powers. After
his defeat in
Suez Canal
(1915),
he
avoided taking direct military command, preferring instead to concentrate
upon his governorship of
Ottoman
Syria.
Wielding
ruthless control he suppressed an early Arab revolt there, meanwhile
persecuting the Armenian minority and refusing permission to successive
Fourth Army commanders who wished to withdraw from southern Arabia. He subsequently fled Constantinople along with other ministers
aboard a German ship. Djemal thereafter served as liaison officer in talks
between the newly-established Soviet Union and the post-war Turkish
government. He was murdered by an Armenian at Tbilisi in 21/7/1922. |
|
13. |
Nureddin Bey |
n/a |
The Turkish Vali
of Smyrna, a war hero, who undertook action against the Greeks from the
very beginning.
Already
from the beginning of 1919 he was organizing resistance bands against the
Greeks and advocated resistance. He founded in Smyrna a league of
reservist officers and in the countryside armed bands in charge of
exterminating the Greeks. He has been replaced then by the moderate
ex-diplomat Izzet Bey. He undertook the administration of the city on the
day of the entrance of the Turks in Smyrna. The burning of Smyrna that
began in 31 August is considered to be his own making. He issued orders on
3 and 10 September according to which a notice of ten days was granted for
the evacuation of Asia Minor and the captivity of adult men in the
interior was decided. He had surrendered Metropolitan Chrysostomos to the
Turkish mob in the hands of which the latter met a tragic death.
|
|
14. |
Fevzi Pasha
(Çakmak),
(1876 - 1950)
|
 |
General,
Military "P.M." (3/3/1920- 21/10/1920), (24/1/1921-12/7/1922).
A
lieutenant in 1895, he was made lieutenant colonel and appointed chief of
staff of an army corps in 1910. He fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 as
commander of a division, and in WWI as commander of an army (1917-18).
War minister in 1920, he resigned the commission and office granted him by
the sultan and joined Kemal Atatürk's
"rebellion" in Ankara. There he was made prime minister and minister of
defence. Promoted to the rank of General
during the Minor Asia Campaign,
he resigned his premiership in 1922 and became deputy to Ismet Inönü,
then chief of staff. After the victorious conclusion of the
"War of
Independence", he was
promoted as the new republic's first marshal and appointed chief of staff,
holding this position for 20 years. With Atatürk
and Inönü,
he was one of the three statesmen who created modern Turkey. In the 1946
elections he stood as an independent and was elected with a great
majority. In 1948 he accepted the honorary leadership of the Nation's
(conservative) Party. |
|
15. |
Ahmed Tewfik Pasha,
(1845-1936) |
 |
Grand Vizier (31/3/1909
- 5/1909)- under
Sultan Abdul-Hamid
II, (11/11/1918 - 10/3/1919),
(21/10/1920
- 17/11/1922), "P.M."
(10/1920-6/1922) - under Sultan
Mohamed VI. |
|
16. |
Orbay
- (Raouf Hüseyin
Bey), (1881-1964) |
 |
P.M. (12/6/1922-14/8/1923)
|
|
17. |
Ismet
Inönü
(Mustapha
Ismet Pasha),
(1884 - 1973) |
 |
Colonel (1915),
War Minister Advisor
(1918), Foreign Minister (29/10/1922-14/8-1923),
PM
(10/1923-22/11/1924),
(5/1925-1937),
Second President of modern Turkey (1938-1950). He was also
elected as Prime Minister again, 3 times between
1961-1965, total of 10 times and governed for a total of 16 years and 10
months. On October 1972 he resigned from his party
and became a member of the Republics Senate. |
|
18. |
Okyar (Ali
Fethi Bey),
(1880 - 1943). |
 |
P.M.
(15/8/1923-10/1923), (22/11/1924-5/1925) |
