Ahmet Refik Altınay

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Ahmet Refik Bey

Ahmet Refik Altınay (* 1881 in Beşiktaş , Istanbul ; † October 10, 1937 ibid) was a Turkish historian and Ottomanist , journalist , writer , poet , lecturer in history at the Darülfünun and captain . He has been referred to as " the man who brought history to the people ".

Life

In the Ottoman Empire

Ahmet Refik attended elementary school and military middle school. He then graduated from Harp Okulu and was raised to the rank of lieutenant at a young age. He taught geography in military middle schools for four years. From 1902 he taught French and history at the military academy and worked as editor-in-chief for various newspapers. In 1909 he worked in the press department of the General Staff. In 1913 he was retired with the rank of captain.

During the First World War , he accompanied a delegation of journalists from Western Europe who wanted to produce a report on the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. He wrote this trip through the cities of Trabzon , Kars , Ardahan , Artvin , Batumi , Erzincan and Erzurum in his book Kafkas Yollarında . In addition, the notes he made during his trip were sent to Western Europe by telegram.

After the First World War, Ahmet Refik wrote the book “Two Committees, Two Battles” ( İki Komite iki Kitâl ), an account of the massacres during the war. Refik's descriptions are considered extremely neutral and balanced. He came to the conclusion that the massacres in the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians were based on the intention of the Turkish government to "destroy all Armenians". He said:

"These criminal gangs released from the prisons, after a week of training on the training grounds of the Ministry of War, were sent to the Caucasian front as looters of the Special Organization and committed the worst crimes against the Armenians."

He also stated:

“In a situation like this, a just government, aware of its power, would punish those who rebelled against the government. But the Ittihadists wanted to wipe out the Armenians and get rid of the problems in the East in this way. "

During the armistice period , Ahmet Refik joined the Freedom and Unity Party ; he established contacts with the later caliph Abdülmecit II .

In the Republic of Turkey

Ahmet Refik Bey was awarded a medal by the Bulgarian government in 1925 for his efforts to improve relations between Turkey and Bulgaria .

When a legal dispute broke out in 1931 between the municipal administration of Istanbul and the Surp Agop cemetery , Ahmet Refik Bey was appointed as an appraiser. The community gave him a house on the Prince Island of Büyükada because he demonstrated with "historical evidence" that the land around Elmadağ-Harbiye did not belong to the Armenians , but to the Sultan Beyazit Veli Vakfı .

literature

  • Osmanlı Tarihi Yazarları , M. Orhan Bayrak, Istanbul 1982
  • Friedrich Schrader : Karl XII. in Turkey: Ottoman Lloyd , January 28, 1917 (book review of Ahmed Refik's book "Karl der Eisenkopf" (Demirbasch). Reprinted documents of the Imperial Divan and the records of contemporary historians. Stambul 1332. (Monographs of the History Commission I.) Turkish. ) OCLC 940621208

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ İbrahim Caner Türk, Osmanlı Son Dönem Tarihçi-Eğitimcisi Ahmet Refik (Altınay) ve Tarih Eğitimi , History studies, Cilt 3, Sayı 3 Kasım 2011 ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file)
  2. ^ Vahakn N. Dadrian : The history of the Armenian genocide: ethnic conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus. New York 2004, 384
  3. ↑ Tamar Nalcı, Emre Can Dağlıoğlu, Bir Gasp Hikayesi , Bianet İletişim Ağı, 27 Ağustos 2011
personal data
SURNAME Altınay, Ahmet Refik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Altınay, Ahmet Refik Bey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish historian and Ottomanist, journalist, writer, poet, history teacher at the Darülfünun and yüzbaşı (captain)
DATE OF BIRTH 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Beşiktaş , Istanbul
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1937
Place of death Beşiktaş , Istanbul