Mahmut Esat Bozkurt

Mahmut Esat Bozkurt

Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (Ottoman محمود اسعد İA Maḥmūd Esʿad, * 1892 in Kuşadası ; † December 21, 1943 in Istanbul ) was a Turkish lawyer and politician. Bozkurt was Minister of Economic Affairs in 1922/23 and Minister of Justice from 1924 to 1930.

Life

Mahmut Esat was born in Kuşadası in 1892 as the son of Hasan Bey . The wealthy family owned lands there. his father was first mayor of the city and later a member of the Izmir Province Council. The grandparents had come from the Peloponnese as Muslim refugees .

education

Bozkurt attended primary school in his hometown and secondary schools in Izmir and Istanbul until 1908, and graduated from Darülfünun in 1912 with a law degree . He then studied law at the University of Friborg in Switzerland. There he completed his doctorate on the unilateral withdrawal of the surrender of the Ottoman Empire with summa cum laude . During this time he lived in Lausanne and soon became chairman of the Lausanne Foyer turc, a Turkish student association that was close to the Young Turkish movement . After the landing of Greek troops in Izmir in 1919, he returned to the Ottoman Empire and joined the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Liberation .

Political career

On April 23, 1920 he became a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly for Izmir and remained a member of the National Assembly until his death in 1943.

Bozkurt was on July 12, 1922 Minister of Economics in the 4th "Council of Execution Commissioners" and remained in this position in the 5th Council of Execution Commissioners until September 24, 1923. After the establishment of the republic on October 29, 1923, he became a member of the Izmir elected and from November 22, 1924 to September 27, 1930, Minister of Justice in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Governments of Turkey under Fethi Okyar and İsmet İnönü .

Bozkurt is considered the father of fundamental laws of the Republic of Turkey. As Minister of Justice, he was responsible for drafting the Turkish Civil Code of 1926, which was based on the Swiss Civil Code of 1907, and wrote the preamble. In addition, under his supervision the new Turkish Penal Code of 1926, the bankruptcy and enforcement laws, and the maritime trade and commerce laws were drawn up.

After his resignation as Minister of Justice, he became Professor of International Law at the Faculty of Law at Ankara University and of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Political Science. He retired in 1941, but remained a member of the National Assembly until his death.

Bozkurt died on December 21, 1943 of complications from an intracerebral hemorrhage . He was buried in his hometown of Kuşadası .

The Lotus case

Mahmut Esat Bozkurt is also known for his legal representation of the Republic of Turkey in the Lotus decision of the Permanent International Court of Justice . On August 2, 1926, the French steamer Lotus collided with the Turkish ship Bozkourt on the high seas . Eight Turkish seamen were killed in the process. The officer in charge of the French ship was then arrested and sentenced by Turkey. The French government then sued Turkey at the International Court of Justice on the grounds that it was believed that Turkey had no right to detain the French citizen. The French side was represented by the well-known law professor Jules Basdevant , Bozkurt represented the Turkish side and won: the court dismissed France's action.

Bozkurt's maiden name was Mahmut Esat. According to the naming law of 1934, he chose the surname Bozkurt , which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had given him based on Bozkurt's involvement in the Lotus case.

Works

As an author

• Lotus Davasında Türkiye-Fransa Müdafaaları . 1927
• Türk İhtilalinde Vatan Müdafaası . 1934
• Türk Köylü ve İşçilerinin Hakları . 1939
• Devletlerarası Hak . 1940
• Ataturk İhtilali . 1940
• Aksak Timur'un Devlet Politikası . 1943

As translator

• Avrupa ve Amerika Devletler Umumî Hukuk Mebdeleri . 1929

literature

• Hans-Lukas Kieser: An ethno-nationalist revolutionary an theorist of kemalism: Dr. Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (1892-1943) . In: Hans-Lukas Kieser (Ed.): Turkey Beyond Nationalism: Towards Post-Nationalist Identities . IB Tauris, London 2006, pp. 20-27

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Hans-Lukas Kieser: An ethno-nationalist revolutionary an theorist of kemalism: Dr. Mahmut ESat Bozkurt (1892-1943) . In: Hans-Lukas Kieser (Ed.): Turkey Beyond Nationalism: Towards Post-Nationalist Identities , IB Tauris, London 2006, pp. 20-27
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Mahmut Esat Bozkurt , Biyografya, accessed on April 18, 2018 (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Mahmut Esat Bozkurt kimdır , biyografi (Turkish)
4. ↑ Medeni Kanununun Kabul Edilmesi Nedir , Nedir, (Turkish)