Historian
and statesman (b. 1891, İstanbul - d. 1980). He was the grandchild of Kamil
Paşa, one of the last Ottoman grand viziers. He graduated from Galatasaray High
School and Paris University, Faculty of Science. After working as a teacher at
Galatasaray High School for a while (1914-20), he went to Anatolia and joined
to the National Forces at the Salihli front.
With the foundation of the
Republic he became General Director of Political Affairs (1920-22) in the
Foreign Affairs Department and advisor to the Turkish committee at the Lausanne
Treaty Conference (1922). Later on he worked as the Under Secretary at the
Embassy in London (1923-25), at the Belgrade Consulate (1925-27) and the
Secretary General of the Presidency (1927-28). In the same year he worked at
the Kabul Embassy for a short time and afterwards came back to be the Secretary
General of the Presidency (1932). His was the parliamentary deputy of Manisa
one year later, a post that continued until 1942. Within this period he became
the Minister of Public Education (1933-34). In 1942 he retired as a ordinary
professor.
In 1948 he was one of the
founders of the Nation Party with Marshal Fevzi Çakmak. In the elections of
1954 and 1957, he was elected as the Manisa parliamentary deputy for the
Democrat Party, which he joined in 1952 after leaving the Nation Party. Upon
the revolution of 27 May he was put on trial with other members of the Democrat
Party and was sentenced to four years and two months imprisonment. Although he
regained his freedom with an amnesty in 1963, he did not carry on with his
political life but studied in the field of history. For a long time, he
published political articles in the newspaper Kudret, which was published by the Nation Party. He is buried in
Edirnekapı Graveyard.
WORKS:
Yeni
Türkiye Devletinin Harici Siyaseti (External Politics of the New
Turkish Republic, 1934), Ahval-i Hazıra (States
of a Settled Country, 1940), Türk
İnkılabı Tarihi (History of the Turkish Revolution, 10 books, 3 volumes,
1940-67), Hindistan Tarihi (History
of India, 3 volumes, 1946-50), Atatürk
Hayatı ve Eseri (Life and Works of Atatürk, 1963), XX. Yüzyılda Türklüğün Tarih ve Acun Siyasası Üzerindeki Etkileri (History of Turkism in the 20th
Century and Its Effects on World Politics, 1974).
REFERENCE: Mehmet Zeki / Türkiye Teracimi Ahval
Ansiklopedisi (c. II, 1929), Afşin Oktay - Kemal Bağlum / Biyografiler
Ansiklopedisi (1959), Hilmi Kâmil Bayur / Kaybettiğimiz Değerli Bilim Adamı
Hikmet Bayur (Tarih ve Edebiyat Mecmuası, 1981), M. Orhan Bayrak / 1920 -1984 -
Türkiye’yi Kimler Yönetti (1984), Ord. Prof. Yusuf Hikmet Bayur’a Armağan
(1985), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar
Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli
ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006,
gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri
Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013), Mahmut
H. Şakiroğlu / TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 5, 1992).
