Statesman and writer (b. 1863, Cairo / Egypt – d. 6 December 1921, Rome
/ Italy). He was the grandchild of the Governor of the Province of Egypt,
Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Paşa and son of Vizier Halim Paşa. He was raised with
private tutoring. He learnt Arabic, Persian, French and English in his youth.
He received undergraduate education in political science in Switzerland. He was
appointed as a member with the rank of military governor to the State Council
in 1888. He became the Governor of the Province of Rumelia (1900). He escaped
to Egypt because he couldn’t bear the continual scrutiny and repression in the
reign of Abdülhamit II. He helped the Young Turks, with whom he had had a
connection before, both financially and intellectually when he went to Europe.
On the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy, he returned to İstanbul and
firstly, was appointed as the Mayor of Yeniköy, then as Vice President of the
State Council. In 1912 in the cabinet of Mahmut Şevket Paşa he became the
President of the State Council and three days later he became the Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
He was appointed Grand Vizier on the assassination of Mahmut Şevket Paşa
in 1913. He then became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet he
established. During his time in this office, Edirne was taken back from
Bulgaria and peace treaties were signed with the Balkan countries. He opposed
the participation of Turkey in World War I. For this reason, tension with the
members of the Progress and Union Party increased. Although at first he
withdrew his resignation from parliament due to the insistence of others, he
later resigned as he was dismissed from his duty as Minister of Foreign Affairs
and he was not included in the consultation process of the government in 1917.
After the armistice, he was exiled to Malta by the English (1919). He wanted to
return to İstanbul when he was released in 1921 but went to Rome via Sicily
when permission was not granted. He was assassinated by an Armenian terrorist
in Rome. His body was brought to İstanbul and buried in the garden of the
Sultan Mahmut Tomb.
WORKS:
Buhranlarımız (Our Crisis, this work was compiled from seven sections that had been serialized in the review Sebilürreşad: Meşrutiyet (Constitutional Monarchy), Mukallitlerimiz (Our Imitations), Buhran-ı Fikrimiz (Crisis of Our Idea), Buhran-ı İçtimalimiz (Crisis of Our Society), Taassub (Bigotry), İnhitat-ı İslâm Hakkında Bir Tecrübe-i Kalemiyye (A Writer’s Experience Regarding the Decline of Islam), İslâmlaşmak (Becoming Islamic), 1919. Simplified by M. Ertuğrul Düzdağ with the title Buhranlarımız (Our Crisis) in Tercüman 1001 Temel Serisi (1001 Principal Works Series No: 9). Simplified by Ahmet Özalp with the title Toplumsal Çözülme (Social Disintegration, 1983), İslâm'da Teşkilat-ı Siyasiyye (The Political Organization in Islam, translation by Mehmed Akif, serialized by Mehmed Akif in the review Sebilürreşad).
