Statesman, writer (B. 1892, Kuşadası- D. December 15, 1943,
Istanbul). Ataturk gave him Bozkurt surname after the Surname Act. He completed
his primary education in Kuşadası, secondary school in İzmir Yusufpasa Secondary School,
and high school in İzmir and Istanbul.
He completed Istanbul
law school in 1911. He went to Switzerland
in 1912 to further his law training. He received education in Lausanne and Fribourg universities. After
completing the lectures and courses for doctorate, he received the doctoral
degree in law. His main argument in his doctoral thesis was “The Unilateral Removal by the Turks of
Capitulations Which Were Imposed on Ottoman
State is not Against the
Law”. He was the president of Turkish Students’ Association established in Lausanne. In 1919, he
returned with some of his friends from Geneva to
Turkey
and joined the local resistance in Kuşadası-İzmir-Aydın to fight against the
occupiers.
He came to Ankara
on April 23, 1920 to join TGNA. He was elected as Izmir deputy in the First Term of TGNA. He
was the Minister of Economy in Rauf Orbay cabinet (1922-1923). After the War of
Independence, he gathered the “National Economy Congress” in Izmir upon the request of Ataturk. He was
appointed as the Minister of Justice in 1924. He has implemented the first
legal revolutions of the new system as the Minister of Justice. He contributed
to the preparation and acceptance of Civil Law, Penal Code, Bankruptcy and
Enforcement Law, Sea and Land Trade Laws, Hat Revolution Law; he reformed the
Legal System and opened the Ankara
Law School.
He represented Turkey in
“Bozkurt-Lotus Case” before the La Hague International Court of Justice and the
result was in favor of Turkey.
He worked as a professor of International Law at Ankara
law School and as a professor of Constitutional Law at the School of Political
Sciences. He resigned from his job in 1941. He
continued being the Izmir
deputy until his death. He had a brain hemorrhage at the hotel room in Istanbul while he was
writing his daily article for Yeni Sabah
newspaper. He was buried in Kuşadası.
WORKS:
RESEARCH: Lotüs-Bozkurt
Davasında Türkiye-Fransa Müdafaası (1927), Türk Köylü ve İşçilerinin
Hakları (1929), Devletlerarası Hak (1940), Atatürk İhtilâli
(1940, 1967), Aksak Timur’un Devlet Politikası (1943, 2005).
TRANSLATION:
Avrupa ve Amerika Devletler Umumî Hukuk Mebdeleri (from K. Strupp,
1929).
REFERENCE:
Mehmet Zeki / Türkiye Teracimi Ahval Ansiklopedisi (vol. II, 1929),
Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya / Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (vol. III,
1968), İhsan Işık (TEKAA, 2009).
