Turkey

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1874–1921 ✕ Assassinated in Berlin

Leader of the Committee of Union and Progress who seized power by a coup during the Balkan Wars and directed the Armenian genocide

Born in Kırcaali in the vilayet of Adrianople, a postal clerk, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress and was imprisoned for it. After the 1908 revolution he was elected deputy for Adrianople and in 1909 became interior minister. When rumours spread in the First Balkan War that Adrianople would be surrendered, he and Enver stormed the Sublime Porte on 23 January 1913 and brought down Kâmil Pasha's cabinet; back as interior minister, he led the rule of the Three Pashas with Enver and Cemal. On 24 April 1915 he ordered the arrest and deportation of Armenian intellectuals and on 30 May promulgated the deportation law, initiating the Armenian genocide. Grand Vizier from 1917, he negotiated the Brest-Litovsk treaty himself, fled to Germany in November 1918, was sentenced to death in absentia, and was shot in Berlin in 1921 by Soghomon Tehlirian, a Dashnak.

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1881–1922 ✕ Killed fighting the Red Army

War minister among the Three Pashas who took the Ottomans into the war and was a main perpetrator of the Armenian genocide

Born in Constantinople, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress and became a hero of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. After the 1913 coup he became war minister and ruled the empire with Talat and Djemal as the Three Pashas. He took the Ottomans into the First World War in alliance with Germany, and after losing most of his army at Sarıkamış in December 1914 blamed the defeat on the Armenians. He was a main perpetrator of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides. After the defeat he fled and was sentenced to death in absentia. He worked with the Bolsheviks, then in 1921 in Central Asia went over to the Basmachi rebels, and was killed fighting the Red Army in 1922.

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1881–1938 ○ Natural death

Gallipoli commander who led the national movement and founded the Republic of Turkey as its first president

Born in Salonica, he joined the Young Turk movement and made his name defending Gallipoli in the First World War. After the defeat he landed at Samsun in May 1919 to organise the national movement against occupation, and in 1920 convened the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. With gold and arms from the Bolshevik government he defeated the Greek army, and the Treaty of Lausanne recognised the victory. In these years the ethnic cleansing of Anatolia’s Armenians and Greeks was completed through massacres, deportations and population exchange. He abolished the sultanate in 1922 and in 1923 became the first president of the republic, pursuing secularising reforms and Turkification under one-party rule. He died in 1938.

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1874–1921 ✕ Assassinated in Berlin

Leader of the Committee of Union and Progress who seized power by a coup during the Balkan Wars and directed the Armenian genocide

Born in Kırcaali in the vilayet of Adrianople, a postal clerk, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress and was imprisoned for it. After the 1908 revolution he was elected deputy for Adrianople and in 1909 became interior minister. When rumours spread in the First Balkan War that Adrianople would be surrendered, he and Enver stormed the Sublime Porte on 23 January 1913 and brought down Kâmil Pasha's cabinet; back as interior minister, he led the rule of the Three Pashas with Enver and Cemal. On 24 April 1915 he ordered the arrest and deportation of Armenian intellectuals and on 30 May promulgated the deportation law, initiating the Armenian genocide. Grand Vizier from 1917, he negotiated the Brest-Litovsk treaty himself, fled to Germany in November 1918, was sentenced to death in absentia, and was shot in Berlin in 1921 by Soghomon Tehlirian, a Dashnak.

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1881–1922 ✕ Killed fighting the Red Army

War minister among the Three Pashas who took the Ottomans into the war and was a main perpetrator of the Armenian genocide

Born in Constantinople, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress and became a hero of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. After the 1913 coup he became war minister and ruled the empire with Talat and Djemal as the Three Pashas. He took the Ottomans into the First World War in alliance with Germany, and after losing most of his army at Sarıkamış in December 1914 blamed the defeat on the Armenians. He was a main perpetrator of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides. After the defeat he fled and was sentenced to death in absentia. He worked with the Bolsheviks, then in 1921 in Central Asia went over to the Basmachi rebels, and was killed fighting the Red Army in 1922.

Turkey state institutions Nationalism 1881–1938 ○ Natural death

Gallipoli commander who led the national movement and founded the Republic of Turkey as its first president

Born in Salonica, he joined the Young Turk movement and made his name defending Gallipoli in the First World War. After the defeat he landed at Samsun in May 1919 to organise the national movement against occupation, and in 1920 convened the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. With gold and arms from the Bolshevik government he defeated the Greek army, and the Treaty of Lausanne recognised the victory. In these years the ethnic cleansing of Anatolia’s Armenians and Greeks was completed through massacres, deportations and population exchange. He abolished the sultanate in 1922 and in 1923 became the first president of the republic, pursuing secularising reforms and Turkification under one-party rule. He died in 1938.