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.
Also known as: Talaat Pasha · Mehmed Talât Pasha
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1896Imprisoned for membership of a CUP cell
- 1908Deputy for Adrianople in the Ottoman parliament
- 1909–1911Ottoman Minister of the Interior
- 1913Led the Raid on the Sublime Porte
- 1913–1918Ottoman Minister of the Interior
- 1917–1918Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
- 1918Fled to Germany
Related historical events
- 1912–1913The Balkan WarsLeader of the Committee of Union and Progress; Ottoman interior ministerTo prevent the surrender of Adrianople he and Enver stormed the government offices on 23 January 1913 and brought down Kâmil Pasha's cabinet. In the second war he pressed for the recapture of Adrianople and negotiated the peace with Bulgaria at the Constantinople conference.
- 1914–1918First World WarOttoman interior minister and Grand VizierWith Enver he concluded the secret alliance with Germany that brought the Ottoman Empire into the war, and in 1915 the arrests of Armenian intellectuals and the deportation law began the Armenian genocide. He became Grand Vizier in 1917.
- 1917.12–1918.11Brest-Litovsk and Germany’s eastern occupationOttoman Grand Vizier and peace negotiatorNegotiated the treaty for the Ottoman Empire himself, regaining Kars, Batumi and Ardahan, lost to Russia in 1878.