Süleyman Askerî Bey, also known as Suleyman Askeri, Sulayman Askari, Sulaiman al-Askari (;
Turkish: ''Süleyman Askeri'') and unofficially known as Suleyman Askeri Pasha (1884 in
Prizren
)
, settlement_type = Municipality and city
, image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg
, imagesize = 290px
, image_caption = View of Prizren
, image_alt = View of Prizren
, image_flag ...
,
Kosovo Vilayet – 14 April 1915 in
Berjasiya) was a military officer who served in the
Ottoman Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
. Askerî was of
Circassian descent and co founder of the
Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa (Special Organisation), a group involved in guerilla warfare.
Life
Süleyman Askerî was born to General Vehbi Pasha, who served as military staff at Edirne in 1898 and then in Anatolia, in 1884 in Prizren. He graduated from the
Ottoman Military Academy
The Turkish Military Academy ( tr, Kara Harp Okulu) is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defence University. It is located in the center of Ankara, Turkey. Its mission is to develop cadets mentally and ph ...
in 1902 and graduated from the
Ottoman Military College
The Ottoman Military College or Imperial Military Staff College or Ottoman Army War College ( ota, مكتب اركان حربيه شاهانه, Mekteb-i Erkân-ı Harbiyye-i Şâhâne or
اركان حربيه مكتب, romanized: ''Erkân-ı Har ...
on 5 November 1905 as Distinguished
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
(''Mümtaz Yüzbaşı'' ).
He was assigned to Monastir (present-day
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
) under the command of the
Third Army stationed at Salonica (present-day
Thessaloniki
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 ...
). During the days he stayed in Monastir, he joined 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 ...
and he married Fadime Hanım, who was an aristocrat of Filibe (present-day
Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
). They had two daughters, Fatma and Dilek. During 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 ...
(1908), First Lieutenant
Atıf Kamçıl stated that he asked the CUP Monastir branch for a gun and had talks with Süleyman Askerî, the branch's guide about the assassination of
Shemsi Pasha.
Askerî was closest friend of
Kuşçubaşzade Eşref (Sencer). According to Philip Hendrick Stoddard, he was a brother-in-law of
Mehmed Nuri (Conker), who was the oldest friend of
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).
In 1909, he was promoted to the rank of ''
Kolağası'' and appointed to the gendarmerie regiment in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. In 1911, after the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
invaded the
vilayet of Tripoli
The coastal region of what is today Libya was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1912. First, from 1551 to 1864, as the Eyalet of Tripolitania ( ota, ایالت طرابلس غرب ''Eyālet-i Trâblus Gârb'') or ''Bey and Subjects of Tri ...
(present-day
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
), he went there and participated in operations in
Benghazi
Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
. In 1912, he took part in the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
as the chief of staff of Trabzon Redif Division and then became the Chief of the General Staff of the
provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
(31 August 1913 – 25 October 1913) established in
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or West Thrace ( el, υτικήΘράκη, '' ytikíThráki'' ; tr, Batı Trakya; bg, Западна/Беломорска Тракия, ''Zapadna/Belomorska Trakiya''), also known as Greek Thrace, is a Geography, geograp ...
. On 13 November 1913, he was appointed to the chief of the
Ottoman Special Organisation when it was officially formed.
He took his own life in 1915 during a series of devastating Ottoman military defeats, in the middle of a British Ambush on the outskirts of Kut, Iraq.
See also
Battle of Shaiba
The Battle of Shaiba (12–14 April 1915) was a battle of World War I fought between British and Ottoman forces, the latter trying to retake the city of Basra from the British.
Background
By capturing Basra, the British had taken an important ...
Sources
External links
* Fortna, Benjamin C.
Askerî Bey, Süleymân in
{{DEFAULTSORT:Askeri, Suleyman
1884 births
1915 deaths
People from Prizren
People from Kosovo vilayet
Committee of Union and Progress politicians
Ottoman Army officers
Members of the Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)
Ottoman military personnel of the Italo-Turkish War
Ottoman military personnel of the Balkan Wars
Ottoman military personnel killed in World War I
Ottoman Military Academy alumni
Ottoman Military College alumni
Ottoman military personnel who committed suicide
People from the Ottoman Empire of Circassian descent