Sailor hero (B. 1485,
Seroluz / Menteşe / Izmir – D. 1565, Malta). His father was a small farmer
named Veli. Thereby, Turgut, who was a poor peasant child, spent his youth by
shepherding. He had a burly and very robust body. Because he was very strong,
he developed passion for Turkish wrestling and beat everybody he competed with.
At that period, pehlivans (wrestlers) and archers were recorded as daredevil
(who undertakes risks and is not afraid of dying). Children of seashore became
the levent (T. N. Seaman) of pirate
ships. One day, Turgut quit being a shepherd and went to Izmir. While he was walking
around in the city, he heard a crier shouting loudly “Any pirate wishing to die of sweating, panting, get registered!”
and registered as a pirate.
He was employed as artillery
at a pirate ship. Thereby, the biggest desire of Turgut, who started pirating
in the Mediterranean Sea as a levent at an early age, was having a ship. In
time, he obtained his goal, owned a ship and rose to being captain. His first
victory was seizing two Venetian ships when he ran across with them at Cape
Matapan. After a while, he seized a larger pirate ship and replaced his wherry
with a galiot. This opened broad horizons of piracy to him. He travelled all
the coasts from Gibraltar to the Aegean Sea. In a little while, he owned a
fleet consisting of twenty galiots and smaller ships. Also, his fame slowly reached
through Mediterranean. After these achievements, he went to Algeria and recognized
Barbarossa Hayreddin as his master. Barbarossa loved Turgut so much. He praised
Turgut’s achievements, and even one day he complemented Turgut by saying “Turgut is ahead of me!”. Barbarossa
Hayreddin took Turgut Reis along as his assistant.
One day in
year 1540, the fleet commanded by Turgut Reis, which was anchored in a harbor
on the shore of Corsica, saw an enemy fleet getting closer to them. This
frightening fleet was a fleet sent by Emperor Charles V, who was the biggest
foe of Kanunî Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, in order to capture Turgut Reis.
The commander of the fleet was Jenatin Doria, who was the nephew of the famous
Venetian Admiral Andrea Doria. Turgut Reis felt himself trapped. In the battle
started between Turks and the fleet coming upon, Turks could not pass the
barrier in front of them. At the same time, soldiers from two enemy ships
edging in with the ship of Turgut Reis went aboard the ship and took him
captive.
After
hearing that Turgut Reis was taken as captive, Barbarossa Hayreddin took his
fleet and went to the shores of Italy and threatened everywhere, and then he bombarded
Genoa. Italians delivered Turgut Reis to Barbarossa. Thereafter, Turgut Reis joined
the Battle of Preveze with Barbarossa. After the war was won, Turgut Reis put
out to Mediterranean Sea and started striking all the shores. In 1548, he went
to Naples with his fleet and captured a castle. After this, he captured the
galiots of Knights of Malta, which were shipping money to Tripoli. Although
Europeans surrounded Island of Djerba, where Turgut Reis headquartered, to
entrap Turgut Reis, Turgut Reis went to the other side of the island by having
the ships carried over the land by using oiled sledges at the Djerba war (1560)
and sailed to the Mediterranean Sea. After, as stated by historian Hammer, “He made Christian shores and ships shiver.”
During the Siege
of Nice, when the fleet of Ottoman Empire was in Toulon in winter months of
1543-44, Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha went to Genoa fronts with his fleet and
discussed the conditions of release of Turgut Reis, who was a captive at that
time, with Andrea Doria. The Ottoman fleet left the city on May 23rd,
1544 after eight months of quartering. Francois I, King of France, paid 800
thousand francs to Barbarossa for his service and in addition, he released all
the Turkish captives in the French fleet. The Ottoman fleet, which was turning
back, was accompanied by five galleons and the French ships were commanded by
Antoine Escalin des Aimars. The French left Barbarossa, who attacked Italy on a
return trip, and came to Istanbul separately for a diplomatic mission. This
journey was the last sea voyage of Barbarossa, who died in Istanbul in 1546 two
years later. Turgut Reis stayed in Toulon for a few months in 1546 until he
escaped from Andrea Doria’s fleet.
When Kanunî
Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent heard about Turgut Reis’s fame, he employed
Turgut Reis in civil service and gave the Sanjak (T. N. District) of Karlıeli
to him. However, Grand Vizier Rüstem Pahsa, who was jealous of Turgut Reis, saw
Turgut Reis as a rival for his brother Chief Admiral Sinan Pasha. Turgut Reis
felt sad because of machinations and went to Tunisia. However, Kanunî Sultan
Süleyman the Magnificent sent him gifts and propitiated him. In addition, he
appraised that if Turgut Reis conquers Tripoli, he will appoint Turgut Reis as
governor of Tripoli. Turgut Reis fulfilled the request of the padishah. Upon
this, Turgut Reis was appointed as the Governor of Tripoli. Thereby, he attained
the rank of pasha. He governed Tripoli for eleven years.
When Turgut
Reis was governing Tripoli and Benghazi, the knights in Malta were causing
problems. This place became a place of pirates. One day, pirates of Malta
captured a Turkish ship coming from Egypt. Upon hearing this, Kanunî Sultan
Süleyman the Magnificent said “Frighten
these wasps away from Malta hive!” and had a fleet prepared (1564). Piyale
Pasha was appointed as the fleet commander. Kızıl Ahmetli Şemsi Pasha and his
brother Fourth Vizier Mustafa Pasha were selected as the commander in chief.
Turgut Reis, at the age of 80, also set out to Malta with his fleet. A bloody
war was fought in Malta when the fleet arrived. A piece of rock, which was
drawn apart by a cannonball coming from the enemy, hit Turgut Reis’s head and
martyred him. He was buried in a mausoleum built in Tripoli. Turgut Reis is the
biggest hero of the naval history after Barbarossa. By being one of the biggest
Turkish seamen, Turgut Reis gained a great fame due to his achievements in the Mediterranean
Sea. After Barbarossa, he made the whole Europe shiver by gaining great
victories against the Venetian and Spanish fleets. He decorated the pages of
history with his achievements. Southern Europeans called Turgut Reis as
“Dragut”. The fear and terror caused by Turgut Reis’s fearsome trips in the Mediterranean
Sea, which badgered the Christians, resulted in the creation of the word
“Dragut”; the word was created by using the audio similarity between Dragon and
Turgut. He is still mentioned in Western resources as “Dragut Reis”.
In the
republican period, the town dependent to the village Saoros, where he was born,
named Turgutreis. Today, there is a park bearing his name at the coast of the
town, and there is a sculpture in the park that represents Turgut Reis pointing
out the horizon with his sword on the nose of a galiot.
REFERENCE: İbrahim Alaeddin Gövsa / Türk Meşhurları (1946), Şerafettin Turan / “Barbaros Hayreddin” (Küçük Türk-İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 1981), Büyük Larousse Sözlük ve Ansiklopedisi (c. 4, s.11758, 1986), Fahir İz / Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa Gazavatnamesi Üzerinde Yeni Bir Araştırma (TDAY Belleten,1972), TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 5, 1992), Ana Britannica (c. 21, s. 229, 2005), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Devlet Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 1, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
