Ali Kemal Bey
Encyclopedia
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
journalist, newspaper editor and poet who was briefly Minister of the Interior in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha
Damat Ferid Pasha
Damad Ferid Pasha was an Ottoman statesman who held the office of grand vizier during two periods under the reign of the last Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin, the first time between 4 March 1919 and 2 October 1919 and the second time between 5 April 1920 and 21 October 1920...
, Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. He was murdered during the Turkish War of Independence
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...
. He is paternal grandfather of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician Stanley Johnson, and great-grandfather of Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, Rachel Johnson
Rachel Johnson
Rachel Johnson is an English editor, journalist and author based in London.Johnson is the daughter of former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson and artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl , the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a prominent barrister and president of the European Commission of Human Rights...
and Jo Johnson
Jo Johnson
Joseph Edmund "Jo" Johnson is a Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Orpington since the general election in May 2010 .-Family, early life and schooling:...
.
Journalist and liberal
Ali Kemal early acquired strong liberal democratic convictions which caused him to be sent into exile under Abdulhamit II but immediately after the end of the sultan's personal rule in July 1908, he became one of the most prominent figures in Ottoman journalistic and political life, though because of his opposition to the Young TurksYoung Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
who had made the revolution, he spent most of the following decade in opposition.
He was at one time editor of the İkdâm newspaper and a leading member of the Liberal Union
Liberal Union (Ottoman Empire)
Liberal Union was the second biggest party in the Ottoman parliament of 1909. It had managed to organize covering most of the provinces of the Ottoman Empire...
.
In The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of 9 March 1909, on speculating that he would contest the seat of the late Minister of Justice Refik Bey, Ali Kemal was described as among the "leading men of letters in Turkey, an excellent speaker, and personally very popular". Ali Kemal was unanimously adopted as the candidate to represent the parliamentary constituency of Stambul at a meeting of the Liberal Union on 9 March 1909.
After the murder of the editor-in-chief of the Serbestî
Serbestî
Serbestî was an Ottoman newspaper. It was founded in 1908 by Mevlânzade Rıfat, who in 1924 would become one of the 150 personae non gratae of the newly established Republic of Turkey....
newspaper, Hasan Fehmi Bey
Hasan Fehmi Bey
Hasan Fehmi Bey was the editor-in-chief of Serbestî, an Ottoman newspaper, in which he wrote articles against the Committee of Union and Progress...
, in April 1909, Ali Kemal Bey stated that he had warned Ismail Kemal Bey and Rifsat, the assistant editor of Serbestî that they had been condemned by extremists in Salonika A media storm between the liberal paper İkdam and the conservative Tanin
Tanin
Tanin may refer to:* Gary Tanin , a veteran Milwaukee musician/producer/engineer* Yamaya Tanin , a Japanese admiral* Zahir Tanin , the Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Afghanistan...
followed, with İkdam accusing Ahmed Rıza Bey
Ahmed Riza
Ahmed Riza Bey was a prominent Young Turk, an activist, scientist and the minister of Education from the Liberal Union party during the second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire. In 1908, his name was among the possible Grand Viziers...
of having been in favour of enlightened absolutism
Enlightened absolutism
Enlightened absolutism is a form of absolute monarchy or despotism in which rulers were influenced by the Enlightenment. Enlightened monarchs embraced the principles of the Enlightenment, especially its emphasis upon rationality, and applied them to their territories...
, and Tanin, the organ of the Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Ali Hüseyinzade...
(CUP) accusing the Liberal Union of being a subversive body, conspiring with Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
. At that time Ali Kemal accused Rahmi Bey and Dr. Nâzım Bey of the Committee of Union and Progress of proposing his murder. These events became known as the 31 March Incident
31 March Incident
The 31 March Incident was a 1909 rebellion of reactionaries in İstanbul against the restoration of constitutional monarchy that had taken place in 1908. It took place on 13 April 1909...
and were followed by the countercoup of 1909
Countercoup (1909)
The Countercoup of 1909 was an attempt to dismantle the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire and replace it with a monarchy under Sultan Abdul Hamid II...
, an effort to dismantle the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire
Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)
The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The period established many political groups...
and replace it with a monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
under Sultan Abdul Hamid II
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
. Soldiers from Salonica deposed Abdul Hamid on 27 April 1909 and his brother Reshad Efendi was proclaimed as Sultan Mehmed V
Mehmed V
Mehmed V Reshad was the 35th Ottoman Sultan. He was the son of Sultan Abdülmecid I. He was succeeded by his half-brother Mehmed VI.-Birth:...
.
Exile in England
Ali Kemal fled to exile in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where in late 1909, his wife Winifred (née Brun) (daughter of ... Brunn and wife Margaret Johnson, an Anglo-Swiss lady whom Ali Kemal had married in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1903) gave birth to a son, Osman Wilfred Kemal, at Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. Shortly after giving birth his wife died of puerperal fever
Puerperal fever
Puerperal fever or childbed fever, is a bacterial infection contracted by women during childbirth or miscarriage. It can develop into puerperal sepsis, which is a serious form of septicaemia. If untreated, it is often fatal....
. Ali Kemal stayed with his son and daughter Selma with his mother-in-law Margaret Brun (née Johnson) first in Christchurch near Bournemouth and then in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
until 1912 when he returned to the Ottoman Empire, marrying again. His second wife was Sabiha Hanim, daughter of an Ottoman pasha. They had one son, Zeki
Zeki Kuneralp
Zeki Kuneralp was a Turkish diplomat, who rose to the highest offices in his country's foreign ministry despite having been brought up as an exile in Switzerland, after the murder of his father, a pro-British journalist and politician, during the Turkish War of Independence...
(Kuneralp), born in October 1914.
On his return from exile, Ali Kemal made a speech in favour of war with the Balkan League
Balkan League
The Balkan League was an alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Balkan states of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the time still controlled much of the Balkan peninsula...
in Stambul on 3 October 1912. Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
started the First Balkan War
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...
by declaring war against the Ottomans on 8 October 1912.
After World War I
On a report dated 11 November 1918, speculating on the successor to Ahmed İzzet PashaAhmed İzzet Pasha
Ahmed Izzet Pasha was an Ottoman general in World War I. He was also one of the last grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, and its last minister of Foreign Affairs.He was born in Bitola Macedonia into an Albanian family. His father was prominent civil servant of the area...
, The Times reported that Ali Kemal was backing Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
Ahmed Tevfik Pasha was the last Ottoman grand vizier. Ahmed Tevfik Pasha held office four times, from 13 April 1909 to 5 May 1909 under Abdulhamid II, and then under Mehmed V Reşad...
to be grand vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
with support of the Naval and Khoja parties. In a report in The Times dated 19 May 1919, it stated that Ali Kemal was appointed Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Damat Ferid Pasha
Damat Ferid Pasha
Damad Ferid Pasha was an Ottoman statesman who held the office of grand vizier during two periods under the reign of the last Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin, the first time between 4 March 1919 and 2 October 1919 and the second time between 5 April 1920 and 21 October 1920...
, replacing Mehmed Ali Bey who had retired. Ali Kemal was one of the delegates of the Ottoman delegation at the Paris peace conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
in June 1919. In a report dated 25 June 1919, The Times reported that Ali Kemal had accused agents of the Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Ali Hüseyinzade...
of impeding the restoration of order in the Ottoman provinces, specifically accusing Talat Pasha of organizing Albanian brigand bands in the Ismid and Enver Pasha of doing the same in the Panderma, Balikesir
Balikesir
Balıkesir is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 265,747 inhabitants. Old name is Karesi or Karasi.- History :...
and Karasi
Karasi
Karasi is a champion steeplechase horse bred in Ireland and based in Australia. The horse is best known for winning the world's richest steeplechase race, the Nakayama Grand Jump at Nakayama Racecourse, Japan for three consecutive years...
districts. He alleged that the CUP had £700,000 of party funds available for propaganda as well as numerous fortunes made by profiteering during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Ali Kemal had resigned between the filing of the report and its publication in The Times on 3 July 1919.
With unequalled passion, Ali Kemal condemned the attacks on and massacres of
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
the empire's Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and inveighed against the Ittihadist chieftains as the authors or that crime, relentlessly demanding their prosecution and punishment. In line with this attitude, he campaigned also against the Kemalist movement which then was being propped up by the clandestine partisans of the defunct Ittihad. Along with other conservatives serving under the Sultan in Istanbul, Ali Kemal also set up an organisation known as the İngiliz Muhipler Cemiyeti ("The Anglophile Society"), which advocated British protectorate status for Turkey. This, combined with his past opposition to the Committee of Union and Progress, made him anathema to the nationalist movement gathering strength in Ankara and fighting the Turkish War of Independence
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...
against the attempts to partition Turkey between Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and the Entente Powers.
Murder
On 4 November 1922, Ali Kemal was kidnapped from a barber shopBarber
A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
at Tokatliyan Hotel in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, and was carried to the Asiatic side of the city by a motor boat en route to Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
for a trial on charges of treason. On 6 November 1922, the party was intercepted at İzmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
by General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Nureddin Pasha
Nureddin Pasha
Nureddin Pasha , often called Bearded Nureddin , was a Turkish military officer, who served in the Ottoman Empire during World War I and in the Turkish army during the Greco-Turkish War...
, then the Commander of the First Army which was aligned with Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Ali Kemal was lynched by a mob set up by the General. His head was smashed by cudgels and he was stoned to death. As described by Nureddin personally to Dr. Riza Nur
Riza Nur
Riza Nur was a Turkish surgeon, politician and writer.-Early years:After graduating from the Military Medical School in 1901 Riza Nur went on to work as a surgeon at Gülhane Military Hospital before returning to the Military Medical School as an academic in 1907...
, who with Ismet Inönü was on his way to Lausanne to negotiate peace with the Allies, "his blood-covered body was subsequently hanged with an epitaph across his chest which read, "Artin Kemal"". This bestowal of a fictitious Armenian name administered a final indignity to the victim.
Descendants and legacy
His British son and daughter adopted their maternal grandmother's maiden name of Johnson during the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, his son Osman Ali taking his middle name Wilfred as his first name. Wilfred's son by wife Irene Williams (daughter of Stanley F. Williams of Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and wife Marie Luise, Freiin von Pfeffel (Paris, 15 August 1882 - ?)
Prince Paul of Württemberg
Prince Paul of Württemberg was a German prince and the fourth child and second son of Frederick I of Württemberg and Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.-Early life:...
) Stanley Johnson was a member of European Parliament for the Conservative Party and is a noted expert on the environment and population studies. His great-grandson Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
was editor of The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament for Henley on Thames and has held the office of Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
since 4 May 2008.
His daughter Selma returned to her Turkish maiden name of Kemal and took back her Turkish nationality after the First World War. Her son Anthony Battersby spent most of his career working as a public health consultant for various UN agencies.
Sabiha, Ali Kemal's second wife, went into exile in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with her son Zeki Kuneralp
Zeki Kuneralp
Zeki Kuneralp was a Turkish diplomat, who rose to the highest offices in his country's foreign ministry despite having been brought up as an exile in Switzerland, after the murder of his father, a pro-British journalist and politician, during the Turkish War of Independence...
. He returned to Turkey after the death of Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
and was admitted—with the personal approval of President İsmet İnönü
Ismet Inönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü was a Turkish Army General, Prime Minister and the second President of Turkey. In 1938, the Republican People's Party gave him the title of "Milli Şef" .-Family and early life:...
--into the Turkish Diplomatic Service, serving twice as its Permanent Undersecretary in the 1960s and serving as ambassador to London from 1964 to 1966 and again from 1966 to 1972. His wife and brother-in-law were killed when unidentified Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
terrorists opened fire on his car while he was serving as ambassador in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in 1978.
Zeki Kuneralp wrote an account of his father's life in English for the benefit of the British side of the family.
Zeki's sons Sinan and Selim both live in Turkey. The former is a publisher in Istanbul and the latter followed his father in to the diplomatic service
Primary sources
- M. Kayahan Özgül (ed.): Ali Kemâl, Ömrüm, Hece yayınları, Ankara 2004
- Zeki Kuneralp (ed.): Ali Kemal, Ömrüm, İsis Publications, Istanbul 1985
Secondary sources
- Osman Özsoy: Gazetecinin İnfazı [The Execution of a Journalist], Timaş Yayınları, Istanbul 1995 [Biography in Turkish]
External links
- Ali Kemal Bey, kultur.gov.tr
- My dream for Turkey, by Boris’s great-grandfather, The SpectatorThe SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, Norman Stone, April 23, 2008