Mustafa Mümin Aksoy Paşa, also known as Gavûr Mümin, (b. 1892,

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

, d. 24 January 1948,

) was a member of the ''

Kuva-yi Milliye The Kuva-yi Milliye ( ota, قواى مليه; 'National Forces' or 'Nationalist Forces') were irregular Turkish militia forces active in the early period of the Turkish War of Independence. These irregular forces emerged after the occupation of ...

'', the irregular

Turkish nationalist Turkish nationalism ( tr, Türk milliyetçiliği) is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic, or linguistic group. The term "ultranationalism" is often used to describe Turkish nationalis ...

forces that fought in the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

. He was also part of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

. Aksoy was the son of Osmanzade İbrahim Bey', a nephew of Izimir's mayor Hacı Hasan Bey.

Military career

In 1911, he graduated from the Beylerbeyi Reserve Officer School (''Beylerbeyi Yedek Subay Okulu'') as a lieutenant, after he served in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

. He was stationed in

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

and

Çatalca Çatalca (Metrae; ) is a city and a rural district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the largest district in Istanbul by area. It is in East Thrace, on the ridge between the Marmara and the Black Sea. Most people living in Çatalca are either farmers or ...

. He later served in the Gallipoli Campaign, called ''Çanakkale Savaşı'' in Turkish, and along the eastern front of the Turkish War of Independence. Prior to the

Occupation of Izmir The city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir) and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna ( el, Ζώνη Σμύρν� ...

, Aksoy served as commander of the Izmir Gendermarie Regiment until 1920. During Greece's occupation of Turkey, he was part of the Turkish intelligence organization that formed in the Izmir region. While Mümin was director of the intelligence services, his uncle Hacı Hasan Paşa worked with the Greek administration. Mümin continued his duties in Izmir with the aid of his uncle and presented himself as a Turkish officer working on behalf of the Greek administration. He gained the trust of the Greek commander Zafirios. He was given the nicknames ''Gavûr Kirye'' and ''Hain Mümin'' by the Turkish population of Izmir, who did not know the truth of his activities. Mümin passed intelligence reports from the Greek occupation headquarters to the Ankara government. Mümin Paşa's activities were discovered by the Greek force and he was arrested before the

Great Offensive The Great Offensive ( tr, Büyük Taarruz; ) was the largest and final military operation of the Turkish War of Independence, fought between the Turkish Armed Forces loyal to the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the Kin ...

and taken to the Palamadi prison. After the

Armistice of Mudanya The Armistice of Mudanya (in Turkish language, Turkish: ''Mudanya Mütarekesi'') was an agreement between Turkey (the Government of the Grand National Assembly, Grand National Assembly of Turkey) on the one hand, and Italy, France, and United Kin ...

he was sent to Palya İstratona prison, and eventually he went moved to the Lusiya Esir Camp. He was released after the Turkish War of Independence as part of the prisoner exchange agreements between Turkey and Greece. He returned to Turkey on April 5, 1923.

Death

He took the name "Aksoy" after the

Surname law Surname law can refer to any law regulating the use of surnames. Canada From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued disc numbers to identify Inuit in their records. In the mid-1960s Project Surname began, and, headed by Abe Okpik, Inuit w ...

was enacted. Mustafa Mümin Aksoy Paşa. He was engaged to ''Muhsine'' but died of tuberculosis en route to

Hakkâri Province Hakkâri Province (, tr, Hakkâri ili, ku, Parêzgeha Colemêrgê), is a province in the southeast of Turkey. The administrative centre is the city of Hakkâri. The province covers an area of 7,121 km² and had a population of 286,470 in ...

on 25 January 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aksoy, Mustafa Mümin 1892 births 1948 deaths Muslims from the Ottoman Empire Ottoman military personnel of the Balkan Wars Ottoman military personnel of World War I Turkish military personnel of the Turkish War of Independence Turkish military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Turkish spies 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Turkey