Hasan Tahsin Uzer

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Hasan Tahsin Bey

Hasan Tahsin Bey (born August 27, 1878 in Thessaloniki , died December 5, 1939 ) was an Ottoman bureaucrat and Turkish politician of Albanian descent from the Republican People's Party (CHP). He was governor of the Ottoman Vilayets (provinces) of Aydın , Erzurum , Van and Syria and a member of parliament for the constituencies of Ardahan , Erzurum and Konya . He was a contemporary witness of the Armenian genocide .

life and career

Hasan Tahsin was a descendant of the Albanian fighter Skanderbeg and was born to Ibarahim Agha and Hatice Hanim. He was also the childhood friend of the Turkish state founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk . After he attended the Ottoman School of Administration and thus graduated from the Mekteb-i Mülkiye school in 1897 , he became the director of the Pürsıçan (Protosani) sub-district, and later of Çiç and Alnus. From 1902 he was district governor of Razlık , Gevgeli , Florina and Kesendire until 1913 he became the governor ( Vali ) of Van . For his services in the war he received the Golden Liakat War Medal . However, Tahsin was removed from his post in 1914 and transferred to Erzurum , where he served as governor until September 12, 1916. He was then transferred to Syria ; he resigned from his office on June 18, 1918, but was reinstated a few months later. After the Turks lost the province of Syria in World War I at the end of 1918, Tahsin was transferred to Aydın , where he served as governor for a few weeks. Tahsin Bey was elected to represent Izmir in the Chamber of Deputies .

Genocide against the Armenians

The missionary doctor Clarence Ussher , who works in Van, describes in his memoir An American Physician in Turkey: A Narrative of Adventures in Peace and War that Hasan Tahsin, the province's "strong and liberal-minded" Wali, whose work was peaceful, carried out in February 1915 Cevdet Bey , brother-in-law of the Turkish army commander Enver Pasha , was replaced. Cevdet Bey was responsible for the massacre of the Armenians in and around Van. Ussher reported that 55,000 Armenians were killed in these massacres.

During his time as governor of Erzurum , the deportation of the Armenians began. After receiving orders to carry out the deportations, he hesitated. He turned to the 3rd Army , which was stationed near Erzurum, to stop the deportations, as he suspected that the lands, the property and the lives of the deportees were in danger. The historian Raymond Kévorkian describes that Tahsin “joined the Valis, Mutasarrifs and Kaymakams , who showed a certain degree of reluctance to carry out the deportation orders, as they were fully aware of what this meant for those involved.” Kévorkian adds, that Tahsin's response to the deportations shows that the military authorities were enforcing the deportation orders and that the politicians had no choice but to accept the fait accompli. According to Hasan Tahsin Bey, the military personnel were under the command of the central government and were directly involved in the “ cleansing ” of the Armenians around Erzurum. In the meantime he declared in a coded telegram to the central government on May 24, 1915 that the Armenians were not a threat. He tried to spare women, children and the elderly from deportation, but failed; the army deported all the Armenians. Tahsin Bey had to be obedient to deportation orders, albeit reluctantly, to prevent harsher measures. Tahsin explained to Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter , the German Vice Consul of Erzurum, his docility with the intention of "softening" the event. Scheubner-Richter confirmed that Tahsin "did what he could, but he had no power." The American missionary Robert Stapleton also confirmed that Tahsin refused all orders to massacre the Armenians, but was "rejected by force majeure".

After the war under Ataturk

The surname of Uzer, given and signed by Ataturk (July 10, 1934)

On August 2, 1919, towards the end of the Armenian genocide, Tahsin Bey testified during the Mamuretülaziz trials that the special organization Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa, under the command of Bahaettin Shakir, had been mobilized to kill Armenians . According to his testimony, when the orders for the deportation and the massacre were issued, he protested that the Armenians were innocent and that the local Armenian population was not planning a revolt. He also stated that the Van resistance would not have been declared if the Ottoman government had not provoked the Armenians. Tahsin also confirmed that he was trying to ensure the safety of the deportees under his jurisdiction. However, despite his efforts, many convoys in the vicinity of the city were "destroyed". Hasan Tahsin Bey summarized his experiences as follows:

“During the deportation of the Armenians I was in Erzurum ... The caravans were the target of attacks and murders as a result of the actions of those who gathered under the name Teş-ı Mahsusa [sic]. The Teskilat-ı Mahsusa consisted of two units. When I returned from Erzurum, the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa became a great force and was drawn into the war. The army knew. Then there was another Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, and it bore Bahaeddin Şakir's handwriting. In other words, as the head of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, he was sending telegrams around ... Bahaeddin Şakir had a code. He came to an understanding with the Sublime Porte and the Ministry of the Interior. During the deportation he also communicated with the army. Bahaeddin Şakir had two different codes to communicate with the Sublime Porte and the War Ministry "

Nevertheless, he was arrested by the British occupation forces and shipped to Malta . After his release, he was elected to the Grand National Assembly and represented the cities of Ardahan (1924), Erzurum (1927) and Konya (1933).

When the Family Name Act was introduced , Hasan Tahsin Bey took the surname Uzer at the urging of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in December 1934.

Hasan Tahsin Bey had two sons and two daughters.

bibliography

  • Clarence D. Ussher: An American Physician in Turkey: A Narrative of Adventures in Peace and War . Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York 1917 ( online [PDF]).
  • Raymond H. Kévorkian : The Armenian genocide: a complete history . Reprinted-. IB Tauris, London 2010, ISBN 1-84885-561-3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • JM Winter: America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915 . Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-511-16382-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Mustafa Sahin: Suriye'nin Son Osmanlı Valisi Tahsin (Uzer) Bey'in Suriye Valiliği ve Mustafa Kemal Paşa İle Buradaki Çalışmaları . In: Journal of Social Sciences . 1, No. 2, 2011, pp. 1–27.
  2. ↑ Hasan Tahsin Uzer. (No longer available online.) Erzurum Arastirmalari Web Sitesi, archived from the original on February 15, 2016 ; Retrieved February 14, 2016 (Turkish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erzurumluyum.net
  3. ↑ Kâmil Erdeha: Millî Mücadelede vilâyetler ve valiler . Remzi Kitabevi, 1975, p. 374 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu: Osmanlı'dan Cumhuriyet'e bir mimar Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu: anılar, yazılar, mektuplar, belgeler . Ed .: Nuri Akbayar. 1st edition. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, Constantinople 2008, ISBN 975-08-1487-8 , p. 163 (Turkish, limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Steven Leonard Jacobs (Ed.): Confronting genocide Judaism, Christianity, Islam . Lexington Books, Lanham, MD 2009, ISBN 0-7391-3590-2 , pp. 130 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ^ Richard L. Rubenstein : Jihad and genocide . 1. pbk. Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Md. 2010, ISBN 0-7425-6202-6 , pp. 51 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ a b Taner Akçam : A shameful act the armenian genocide and the question of turkish responsibility . Henry Holt and Company, New York 2013, ISBN 1-4668-3212-6 , pp. 167 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ^ Arnold Toynbee : The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire . Hodder and Stoughton, 1916, p. 223 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ a b Taner Akçam: The Ottoman Documents and the Genocidal Policies of the Committee for Union and Progress (Ittihat ve Terakki) towards the Armenians in 1915 . In: Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal . 1, No. 2, 2006, ISSN  1911-0359 , pp. 142-3.
  10. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian (Ed.): Armenian Karin / Erzurum . Mazda Publ., Costa Mesa, Calif. 2003, ISBN 1-56859-151-9 , pp. 352 .
  11. ↑ John Kirakossian: The Armenian genocide: the Young Turks before the judgment of history . Sphinx Press, Madison, Conn. 1992, ISBN 0-943071-14-3 , pp. 169 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  12. ↑ a b Ataturk'ün Hasan Tahsin Uzer'e Uzer Soyadını Vermesi. İşte Ataturk, accessed February 14, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Uzer, Hasan Tahsin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hasan Tahsin Bey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ottoman bureaucrat and Turkish politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Thessaloniki
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 1939