Gümülcineli İsmail Hakkı

Bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

(1877–1942) was a liberal politician in the late

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 ...

, who was a member of the

Freedom and Accord Party The Freedom and Accord Party (, French: ''Entente Libérale'') was a liberal Ottoman political party active between 1911–1913 and 1918–1919, during the Second Constitutional Era. It was the most significant opposition to Committee of Union a ...

Biography

Early years

He completed his primary, secondary and five-year Sanjak İdadîsı education in

Gümülcine Komotini (, , ), is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece and its capital. It is also the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-prefecture until its abolition in 2010 ...

(Komotini). He completed the rest of his İdadîsi education at Edirne Leyli İdadîsi and graduated in 1899. He graduated from Mekteb-i Hukuk in 1904. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer in Komotini and was involved in agriculture. In 1906-1907, he joined the

Committee of Union and Progress The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...

and worked for the spread of the society in the region. During the

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

, he was the president of the CUP Komotini branch. Since he was twenty-four years old, it was not possible for him to be elected as a deputy in the

1908 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1908. Africa *1908 Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council election Australia * 1908 Adelaide by-election * 1908 Queensland state election Europe *1908 Bulgarian parliamentary election *1908 Croatian ...

. For this reason, his age was increased by eight years and he was unanimously elected as a deputy for Komotini.

His political life

He was a member of the Constitutional Council 'Kanun-ı Esasi encümeni''in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

; he was the chairman of the Layiha and İstid'â Council. He was also a member of the board of directors and the vice chairman of the CUP. He was also elected as a member of the Extraordinary Council 'Encümen-i Fevkalâde''established after the

31 March Incident The 31 March incident () was an uprising in the Ottoman Empire in April 1909, during the Second Constitutional Era. The incident broke out during the night of 30–31 Mart 1325 in Rumi calendar ( GC 12–13 April 1909), thus named after 31 Mar ...

. He advocated for İsmail Kemal Bey's innocence, asserting that he was not involved in the incident. He also opposed the death sentences given by the Martial Court due to the

Adana Massacre The Adana massacres (, ) occurred in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in April 1909. Many Armenians were slain by Ottoman Muslims in the city of Adana as the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 triggered a series of pogroms throughout the prov ...

. These and similar incidents lead to İsmail Hakkı's disassociation from the CUP. He had now begun to harshly criticize the policies followed by the Union and Progress Society. On 21 February 1910, he resigned as the vice president of the CUP and became president of a new political formation: the People's Party 'Ahali Fırkası'' As the party president, he continued his harsh criticisms of the Unionists. He and his party joined the

, which was founded on 21 November 1911. After the invasion of Tripoli by Italy, he proposed the impeachment of

İbrahim Hakkı Pasha Ibrahim Hakki Pasha (, 1862–1918) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman statesman, who served as Grand vizier, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire between 1910 and 1911. He also served as the Minister of Education and Ministry of the Interior (Ottoman E ...

, Mahmud Şevket Pasha, and all the CUP-supported cabinets. He was elected president of the congress at the Freedom and Accord Party congress on June 7, 1912. He was among the politicians who supported the Saviour Officer intervention, which resulted in the fall of the Union and Progress-supported government of

Mehmed Said Pasha Mehmed Said Pasha (‎; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha (; "Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkâtibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman Turkish monarchist, senator, statesman and editor of the ...

. İsmail was arrested following the Bab-ı Ali Raid; however, he was released after giving assurances that he would stay away from politics. When the Mahmud Şevket Pasha government was established, he also took part in the Taklib-i Hükümet attempt to eliminate this government. After the assassination of Mahmud Şevket Pasha, he was sentenced to death in absentia. During World War I, he continued his opposition to the CUP dictatorship by publishing in newspapers such as ''

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

'' in Egypt and ''Beyanü'l Hak'' and ''Mücahade'' in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. Following the signing of the

Armistice of Mudros The Armistice of Mudros () ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between Ottoman Turkey and the Allies of World War I. It was signed on 30 October 1918 by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and British Admiral Somerset ...

, he returned to Istanbul on 24 February 1919. He was appointed as the Governor of

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

by the Damat Ferit Pasha government. With the conclusion of the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

, he was included in the list of 150. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on August 22, 1945.

References

1877 births 1942 deaths 20th-century Turkish politicians Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni People from Komotini Politicians from the Ottoman Empire {{turkey-politician-stub