Who is Talaat Pasha? So, his full name is Mehmed Talaat Pasha, and he is a Turkish politician who has left a bright mark in world history.
Biography
The future Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire was born in 1874, in the seedy provincial town of Kardzhali (Edirne), which is currently located in the Kardzhali region of Bulgaria. Talaat Pasha was born into the family of an Ataman military leader (investigator). By its origin, Mehmed Talaat Pasha was a pomak. Pomaki is a Bulgarian-speaking religious group practicing Islam. It is important to note that the Pomaks were a mixed group of origin. Pasha converted to Islam in his youth to advance through the ranks in the Ottoman Empire.
Interesting fact: Talaat Pasha had rather dark skin, for which he was often called a gypsy at work.
The future politician graduated from high school in Edirne. And then he began to build his career. As you know, this figure during his short life, long at 47 years, managed to prove himself in many industries as a worker. He managed to occupy high posts in government, however, because of his strong convictions and criminal activities towards the Armenians and their direct destruction, Talaat was killed. Due to his political actions, 1-1.5 million people became victims.
Beginning of Pasha’s career
The famous politician Mehmed Talaat Pasha began his career as a clerk in a telegraph office. But over time, he began to become actively interested in political activities. While still a clerk in the office, Pasha also actively fought against the abdulgamidoy tyranny, and decided to become a member of the Young Turkish movement. However, in order to understand this topic more deeply, it is necessary to explain what the Young Turkish movement is and what its goals were.
Young Turkish movement
So, the Young Turkish movement (members of this movement is often called the "Young Turks") is a political movement in the Ottoman Empire, which began to exist in 1876. Its purpose was to carry out certain reforms in the state and create directly a constitutional state system. In fact, the achievements of the Young Turkish movement are very important, because the Young Turks were able to overthrow Abdul Hamid the 2nd and carry out a number of specific reforms. However, it is important to note that the power in the hands of this political movement did not last long. After all, after the fall of Turkey in the First World War, the Young Turks lost all control of the state.
Young Pasha was such an ardent revolutionary that he was arrested and punished for political crimes: two years in prison. However, after the arrest and serving the sentence, Mehmed continued to work, only the first time he worked only as a postman. But after 1908, when the political situation in the state completely changed (after the Young Turkish coup in 1908), Mehmed Talaat Pasha was elected to the parliament.
He was a member of the party "Unity and Progress", which advocated the removal of the Sultan.
Minister of the Interior
Not much time passed, as already in 1909, Mehmed Pasha received a high-ranking post in the government, namely the post of Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire. And it is important to note that by 1909, Mehmed became one of the most influential people in the Ottoman Empire. And, taking this post, the nationalist takes brutal measures against ethnic minorities, and this was especially evident in relation to the Armenian nation, which was regularly exterminated by the order of the Pasha. A politician of the Ottoman Empire once wrote in his memoirs that he was very afraid that the Armenian nation would proclaim an independent state.
After receiving this position, Pasha takes up the organization of a campaign of forced "abstention" and conducts ideological work, imposing the ideas of pan-Turkism. Pan-Turkism is a political and cultural movement that embodies the idea of the need to consolidate Turkic peoples, based on the cultural, ethnic and linguistic norms of these peoples. The nationalist Talaat Pasha believed that the Armenians - this is a big obstacle to oturivanie population. Therefore, he decided that the best way out of the situation would be to get rid of the Armenians. He was convinced that the Armenians needed to end forever.
The post of Minister of the Interior was the last step on the career ladder of Mehmed Talaat Pasha, because he was killed.
The main reason for the assassination of the Minister of the Interior. Armenian Genocide
As the story goes, in 1915, Talaat Pasha set the goal for the extermination of the Armenian population throughout the Ottoman Empire. He also initiated a program in which many Armenians were deported to the desert, where poor people died of hunger and thirst. And sometimes they became victims of cruel marauders who, not sparing, killed them. Already in June of the same 1915, an order was received that absolutely all Armenians living in the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire should be exiled to the desert.
The plan was as follows: at the end of the Armenian Genocide, their number in the country should be no more than 10 percent of the Muslim population.
It is important to note that the Armenian Genocide was carried out in several stages:
- Disarmament of Armenian soldiers.
- Selective deportation of Armenians.
- Adoption of a law on their expulsion.
- Mass deportation of Armenians.
- Mass destruction of the Armenian population.
However, the main instigator of hard genocide is not only Talaat. The main organizers are the leaders of the Young Turk movement Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Jemal Pasha.
Enver and Jemal Pasha
Enver is from Istanbul. Born in 1881 in the family of an ordinary railway worker. The family was large enough, consisting of five children. Enver was a senior. From childhood he knew that he wanted to be a military man, and in his youth he went to a military school. He then graduated from the academy with the rank of captain. But over time, he received the rank of major.
Then Enver became one of the members of the military movement "Homeland and Freedom."
Enver Pasha actively participated in many wars, such as the Italo-Turkish War, the Balkan War and the First World War.
He had a special dislike for the Greeks and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, who professed Christianity. Therefore, he became an active accomplice in the genocide of these nationalities.
Ahmed Jemal Pasha was born in 1872 in Mytilene, in the family of a military doctor. He also studied at a military school, and then at a military academy. He was, like Jemal, Talaat, an active participant in the movement "Unity and Progress." He also participated in many wars, and was a politician in the Ottoman Empire.
Background of the Armenian Genocide
As it is already known, at that time in the Ottoman Empire all power was concentrated in the hands of the Young Turks, who were disliked by Armenians and Greeks. And the reason was that these peoples professed Christianity. But the act of genocide was carried out by representatives of the Young Turks not only because of their sadism and cruelty. Naturally, there were some reasons and premises for these terrible events.
History says that Armenians lived on the territory of the Ottoman Empire for many centuries. And they built most of the economy of the empire. It is important to note that Armenians have always been discriminated against because of their religion.
However, the true reason lies in the fact that at the end of the 19th century, Armenians began to organize underground organizations whose goal was to create an independent Armenian state on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The government, of course, did not like such organizations. Therefore, they took brutal measures against the entire Armenian people, fearing that the Armenians would seize power.
The death of Talaat Pasha
On March 15, the Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed Talaat Pasha, at the age of 47, was shot dead in Germany in Berlin. Witnesses say that it was a sunny day and Pasha walked along the alley, and an unknown person came to the meeting, who suddenly shot at the Minister of the Interior. But who killed Talaat Pasha? History has it that a political figure in the Ottoman Empire was killed as part of Operation Nemesis, which punished the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide. And number 1 on the kill list was exactly the name of Talaat Pasha. The murder of Mehmed was not a big surprise, because at that time everyone who was massacring the Armenians was executed for their criminal cases. And Mehmed was the direct organizer and ideological inspirer of the Armenian genocide.
Executioner
How was Talaat Pasha killed and by whom?
The Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire on March 15, 1921 in Berlin, was shot dead by Soghomon Tyleryan. It is important to note that in the end, the pasha killer was acquitted in a German court.
Soghomon Tyleryan was born in the village of Nerkin-Bagari, which was located on the outskirts of the Ottoman Empire. He was an Armenian and the only survivor of his family. Soghomon lost all his relatives as a result of the Armenian genocide, headed by the nationalist Talaat Pasha. The killer acted as part of the vengeful Operation Nemesis and avenged his family, which was completely destroyed as a result of brutal genocide.
Dönme sect
As the story goes, Talaat Pasha is a Jew from the Denme sect. But what is this sect? And how did she influence the fate of Mehmed?
Dönme is a Kabbalistic sect founded in the distant 1683. As you know, this sect began to support the Young Turkish movement, so Talaat Pasha became a member of it. It is known that the sect led a closed lifestyle throughout its existence, and therefore various rumors and speculations laced around it. However, in the 20th century, it infiltrated the secular elite and became more open. Now in Turkey it still exists, however, the number of its members is not so great: only 2,500 people.