Ahmed Izzet
احمد عزت پاشا
Pasha
Ahmed İzzet, c. 1915
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
14 October 1918 – 8 November 1918
MonarchMehmed VI
Preceded byTalaat Pasha
Succeeded byAhmet Tevfik Pasha
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
13 June 1921 – 4 November 1922[1]
MonarchMehmed VI
Prime MinisterAhmet Tevfik Pasha
Preceded byAbdüllatif Safa Bey
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Minister of War
In office
14 October 1918 – 8 November 1918
MonarchMehmed VI
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byEnver Pasha
Succeeded byKölemen Abdullah Pasha
In office
11 June 1913 – 3 January 1914
MonarchMehmed V
Prime MinisterSaid Halim Pasha
Preceded byMahmud Şevket Pasha
Succeeded byEnver Pasha
Personal details
Born1864
Nasliç, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died31 March 1937 (aged 72–73)
Istanbul, Turkey
NationalityOttoman (until 1923)
Turkish (after 1923)
Political partyCommittee of Union and Progress
Alma materOttoman Military Academy (Class of 1884) Cav. 1st
ProfessionSoldier
Military service
Allegiance Ottoman Empire
Branch/service Ottoman Army
Years of service1884–1922
RankField marshal
CommandsSecond Army
Eastern Army Group
Battles/warsYemeni–Ottoman conflicts
Balkan Wars
World War I

Ahmed Izzet Pasha (1864 – 31 March 1937), known as Ahmet İzzet Furgaç after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was an Ottoman general during World War I. He was also one of the last Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire (14 October 1918 – 8 November 1918) and its last Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Early life and career

Ahmed Izzet Pasha and Jamal Pasha arriving in Jerusalem, 1917

Ahmed Izzet was born in Nasliç, Manastir Vilayet, into an Albanian family.[2][3] His father was a prominent civil servant of the area. From 1887 to 1890 he was educated in strategy and military geography in the Ottoman Military College,[4] while later until 1894 he studied in Germany under Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz.[3] As a result of his participation in the Greco-Turkish War he was promoted to the rank of Miralay (colonel). In 1908 after the Young Turk Revolution Izzet became chief of the Ottoman general staff. During that period (under the Young Turk Government) he was opposed to the military actions of the Ottoman army under Mahmud Shevket Pasha against Albanian nationalists during the Albanian revolts of 1910. His strong opposition to Shevket Pasha's policies led to his dismissal and reappointment in Yemen in February 1911.[3]

In 1916, he was appointed commander of the Second Army which fought in the Caucasus alongside the Third Army.[2] In 1917, he was appointed to command the Anatolian Army Group, which comprised the Second and Third Armies.[5] The highest rank he held was that of marshal.

Grand Vizierate

After the war, and with the support from Mustafa Kemal Pasha,[6] he was called upon to lead the government that signed the Armistice of Mudros on behalf of the Ottoman Empire,[2] thus putting an end to the First World War for the Ottomans. He also served concurrently as the Minister of Foreign Affairs during his premiership. His government consisted mainly of the anti-war faction of the CUP, which dissolved itself during his short premiership. It did not have any minorities represented, though he recalled offering some ministries to two well respected Greek and Armenian bureaucrats.[7]

İzzet Pasha issued a proclamation allowing deportees the right to return to their homes. Before his resignation he endorsed plans to form dozens of commissions that would return or compensate the losses of homes and businesses to Ottoman Greek and Armenian deportees. However these commissions often resulted in a returned property being inaccurately appraised, already looted, or occupied by resettled muhacirs. Local officials also complicated the process of return by refusing service. By 1920, 335,000 Ottoman Greek and Armenians returned to their homes, according to Ottoman press.[8] İzzet spent much of his 25 day premiership bedridden after catching the Spanish flu.

He was dismissed on 8 November 1918. Afterwards, he was criticized for allowing all three of the Three Pashas to escape abroad on the night of 2–3 November before they could be put on trial in the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–20 for crimes including atrocities against the Armenians of the Empire. Izzet Pasha gave a lukewarm promise of safety to Talat:[7]

"As long as I am in the cabinet, I will never turn you over to the enemy. But who knows how long I will remain in the cabinet?"

Republic

After the dissolution of the Turkish Empire and the subsequent loss of the title of pasha after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, Ahmed Izzet adopted the surname Furgaç in 1934. He died on 31 March 1937 in Istanbul.

Legacy

Ahmed Izzet Pasha's decisions during the Caucasus campaign have also been criticized and are regarded as one of the factors of its failure, while his subsequent high reputation in Turkey has been attributed to his successful activity during the Turkish War of Independence.[9]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Atatürk Research Center – Halâs-I Vatan Cemiyeti Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 W.E.D. Allen and Paul Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, A History of Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828-1921, 376, n 1. ISBN 0-89839-296-9
  3. 1 2 3 Handan, Akmeşe (2005). The Birth of Modern Turkey: The Ottoman Military and the March to WWI. I.B.Tauris. pp. 25–98. ISBN 1-85043-797-1.
  4. ↑ Harp Akademileri Komutanlığı, Harp Akademilerinin 120 Yılı, İstanbul, 1968, p. 19. (in Turkish)
  5. ↑ W.E.D. Allen and Paul Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, A History of Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828-1921, 437. ISBN 0-89839-296-9
  6. ↑ Jäschke, Gotthard (1957). "Beiträge zur Geschichte des Kampfes der Türkei um ihre Unabhängigkeit". Die Welt des Islams. 5 (1/2): 28. doi:10.2307/1570253. ISSN 0043-2539.
  7. 1 2 Gingeras 2022, p. 92.
  8. ↑ Gingeras 2022, p. 104.
  9. ↑ Erickson, Edward (2001). Ordered to die: a history of the Ottoman army in the First World War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 220. ISBN 1-85043-797-1.

Bibliography

Gingeras, Ryan (2022). The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain: Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-241-44432-0.

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