Mustafa Abdülhalik Renda (29 November 1881 – 1 October 1957) was a Turkish civil servant and politician of Tosk Albanian descent who was

acting President of Turkey The acting president of Turkey () is a temporary post provided by the Constitution of Turkey. The acting president is a person who fulfills the duties and powers of the president of Turkey when cases of incapacity and vacancy occur. In cases ...

for one day after Atatürk's death in November 1938.

Biography

Renda was born in Yanya, in the

Janina Vilayet The Vilayet of Janina, Yanya or Ioannina () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, established in 1867. In the late 19th century, it reportedly had an area of .

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(modern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

). Renda was of Albanian origin.. "(Renda). Bureaucrat of Albanian descent." From 1902 to 1918, he served in several towns and cities of the

as district governor and province governor. In 1918, he was exiled for six months to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Following his return, he was appointed undersecretary in the Ministry of Economy and then in the Ministry of Interior. He became

Governor of Konya Governor of Konya ( Turkish: ''Konya Valiliği'') is the civil service official responsible for both national government and state affairs in the Province of Konya. Similar to the Governors of the 80 other Provinces of Turkey, the Governor of ...

, before he was appointed the first Governor of İzmir after the Turkish forces re-captured the city from withdrawing Greek troops. During Renda's tenure as İzmir governor, politician Rıza Nur accused him on grounds of compatriot solidarity of encouraging Albanians (refugees and immigrants) to resettle from other Anatolian regions to İzmir, claims that Renda denied. From 1923 on, he was Deputy of

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

for five consecutive terms. Mustafa Abdülhalik served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence in several cabinets from 1923 to 1935, and later from 1946 to 1948. After the Surname Law of 1934, which required all Turkish citizens to adopt a surname, he took on the surname "Renda". He was elected Speaker of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

on 1 March 1935, and served until 5 August 1946. During the early one-party period he emphasized on the need to Turkify the

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

in the eastern provinces of Turkey. Abdülhalik Renda died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on 1 October 1957 in Erenköy,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He was laid to rest at the Cebeci Asri Cemetery in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Armenian genocide

During the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

Abdülhalik Renda was responsible for the deportations and murder of the Armenians of Bitlis Vilayet. He also organized the defense in the western mountain range against the Russian offensive in 1914, but to no avail, the Russians captured Saray as well as Başkale. In 1916, Renda became governor of Aleppo where he was instrumental in the deportations of Armenians to their deaths in Der Zor. Rossler, the German consul on Aleppo, was quoted as saying that Renda was "working with great energy for the destruction of Armenians". General Vehip Pasha, commander of the Third Army, mentioned that Renda in his testimony to the Mazhar Commission, claimed that he burned thousands of people alive in the province of Mush.A.A. Turkei 158, vol. 48, A34435 October 1917

References

External links

* Biyografi.info
''Biography of Mustafa Abdülhalik Renda''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renda, Mustafa Abdulhalik 1881 births 1957 deaths 20th-century presidents of Turkey Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire Politicians from Ioannina People from Janina vilayet Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Ministers of finance of Turkey Ministers of national defence of Turkey Speakers of the Parliament of Turkey Deputies of Çankırı Governors (Turkey) 20th-century civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Turkish civil servants Malta exiles Armenian genocide perpetrators Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery Members of the 1st government of Turkey Members of the 2nd government of Turkey Members of the 3rd government of Turkey Members of the 4th government of Turkey Members of the 5th government of Turkey Members of the 6th government of Turkey Members of the 7th government of Turkey Ottoman governors of Aleppo Members of the 2nd Parliament of Turkey Turkish nationalists Turkish people of Albanian descent Acting presidents of Turkey 20th-century presidents in Asia