Mustafa Rahmi Arslan (1874 –1947) was a Turkish politician, who was a prominent member of the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

(CUP).. During the First World War, Rahmi Bey went to significant lengths to protect the Christian and European populations of Smyrna from deportation, exile and murder; often defying direct orders from the Ottoman Government in Istanbul.

Education and early life

Rahmi Arslan was born into a wealthy family in

Selanik Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

and attended primary school in his hometown. He studied law in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, but shortly before the completion of his studies, he was arrested and prosecuted for his membership in the CUP, following which he left the Ottoman Empire and went into exile in Europe.

Political career

It was in exile in Geneva, where got to know CUP co-founder

Abdullah Cevdet Abdullah Cevdet ( ota, عبدالله جودت‎; tr, Abdullah Cevdet Karlıdağ; 9 September 1869 – 29 November 1932) was a Kurdish intellectual and physician in the Ottoman Empire. He was one of the founders of the Committee of Union and ...

, with whom he tried to establish a

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

branch of the CUP in the 1890s. By 1906, together with Talaat Pasha and

Djemal Pasha Ahmed Djemal ( ota, احمد جمال پاشا, Ahmet Cemâl Paşa; 6 May 1872 – 21 July 1922), also known as Cemal Pasha, was an Ottoman military leader and one of the Three Pashas that ruled the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Djemal w ...

, he was one of the co-founders of the Ottoman Freedom Society in Selanik, society which supported the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Constit ...

. During World War I, he acted as the Governor of Izmir, and resisted attempts to

Turkify Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

the city, even at great risk to his own safety . He was arrested by the Allied forces in January 1919, and later one of the

Malta exiles The Malta exiles ( tr, Malta sürgünleri) were the purges of Ottoman intellectuals by the Allied forces. The exile to Malta occurred between March 1919 and October 1920 of politicians, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectual ...

prosecuted for crimes committed during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Following his return to Turkey, he was accused of having been involved in an assassination attempt against

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name ...

(Atatürk) in 1926. He then left Turkey an only returned in 1933. He died in 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arslan, Rahmi 1874 births 1947 deaths Place of death missing Politicians from Thessaloniki 20th-century Turkish politicians Turkish nationalists Committee of Union and Progress politicians Malta exiles Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni