Refik Saydam

İbrahim Refik Saydam with his independence medal, which he received for his services during the Turkish Liberation War.

İbrahim Refik Saydam (born September 8, 1881 in the Çırçır Mahalle , Fatih district , İstanbul ; † July 8, 1942 ibid) was an Ottoman and Turkish military doctor, politician and Prime Minister of Turkey .

education

Saydam graduated from elementary school in his Mahalle and in 1892 from military secondary school ( Rüştiye ) in Fatih. In 1896 he attended the Kuleli High School . On October 22, 1905, Saydam graduated from the military medical school as a physician-captain . He then worked at the Gülhâne Medical Military Academy in the field of embryology and histology . In 1910 he went to Germany, where he received further training in Berlin at the hospitals in Brandenburg, Danzig, St. Hedwig Hospital and the Charité . After the beginning of the Balkan Wars, he returned to İstanbul in 1912.

Balkan Wars

During the Balkan Wars , Saydam worked to prevent and fight cholera on the Antalya and Çatalca fronts .

First World War

In 1914 Saydam was appointed inspector general for field health. During this time he organized the Institute for Bacteriologists , which covered the vaccine needs of the Ottoman Army against typhus , dysentery , plague , cholera and tetanus during the First World War . He took part in the front line operation in Hasankale . Saydam succeeded in producing a vaccine against typhus, which also found its way into the literature. This vaccine was also used by German troops during the First World War, and it was also used in the Turkish Liberation War.

Turkish Liberation War

In 1919 Saydam was promoted to assistant health inspector in the 9th Corps as a medical major. In this capacity, Saydam came to Samsun with Mustafa Kemal Pascha . After Kemal Pasha's headquarters in Erzurum was closed, Saydam was appointed head of infectious diseases at the Erzurum military hospital. Saydam did not accept this post and resigned from the army. He then took part in the Congress of Erzurum and the Congress of Sivas .

Political career

1920 Saydam was a deputy for Doğubeyazıt in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey elected. At the same time, he became President of the Department of Health in the Ministry of National Defense. In the 2nd legislative period he was elected from the province of İstanbul . In the same year he became Minister for Health and People's Aid. Saydam was Turkey's first health minister and was to remain in this post for 14 years.

In 1924 Saydam founded hospitals and other health care institutions in Ankara and subsequently in Erzurum, Diyarbakır and Sivas . In addition, under his leadership, the training of specialists for these institutions began. In 1928 he founded the Hygiene Center (today: National Refik Saydam Hygiene Center) and the Hygiene School. He founded Pest Dispensaires in İstanbul and Ankara .

After the naming law came into effect, Ataturk gave him the surname Saydam. In August 1933 Saydam took over the provisional representation of the resigned Minister of Education Reşit Galip . After Ataturk's death, Saydam became Minister of the Interior, General Secretary of the CHP and President of the Turkish Red Crescent for 15 years . Saydam was Prime Minister between 1939 and 1942. Saydam died on July 8, 1942 during a research trip to Turkey about the nutritional problem.

Web links

Commons : Refik Saydam  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Refik Saydam Hygiene Center
• Newspaper article about Refik Saydam in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ali Vicdani Doyum: Alfred Kantorowicz with special reference to his work in İstanbul (A contribution to the history of modern dentistry). Medical dissertation, Würzburg 1985, p. 47.

predecessor	Office	successor
Celâl Bayar	Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey January 25, 1939 - July 8, 1942	Ahmet Fikri Tüzer