Malta exiles
Encyclopedia
Malta exiles (between March 1919 October 1920) is the term for politicians, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire
who were sent into exile on Malta
after the armistice of Mudros
during the Occupation of İstanbul
by the Allied
forces. Malta exiles become inmates in a British prison where various Committee of Union and Progress
(CUP
) officials were held in the hopes that Malta Tribunals would be held at a future date.
These Ottoman politicians, generals, and intellectuals were taken out of Istanbul jails and deported to Malta, where they were held for some three years, while searches were made of archives in Istanbul, London, Paris and Washington to find proof of their guilt.. Cooperation of the Sultan was seen necessary to prevent a harsher peace settlement for the Ottoman Empire (partition of territories).
At that time Turkey had two competing governments in Istanbul and Ankara.The government in Istanbul supported the inquiries with more or less seriousness depending on the current government. While grand vizir Damad Ferid Pasha (4 March - 2 October 1919 and again 5 April - 21 October 1920) stood behind the prosecuting body the government of grand vizir Ahmed Riza Pasha (2 October 1919 - 2 March 1920) made barely a mention of the legal proceedings against the war criminals. The trials helped the Liberal Union
party to expel the Committee of Union and Progress
from the political arena.
The competing Ankara government was strictly opposed to trials against war criminals. Mustafa Kemal
reasoned about the detainees in Malta on the occasion of the congress in Sivas 4 September 1919: "...should any of the detainees either already brought or yet to be brought to Istanbul be executed, even at the order of the vile Istanbul government, we would seriously consider executing all British prisoners in our custody." From February 1921 the military court in Istanbul begun releasing prisoners without trials.
during the First World War. Ali Ihsan Pasha organized mass killings of unarmed Christians soldiers in the Ottoman army as well as Christian civilians in the Iranian-Ottoman border region (Lake Urmiyeh). His orderly accompanied him to exile voluntarily. Both departed on 29 March 1919.
On 28 May 1919 was a large round-up of about thirty persons also covering, in absentia
, Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
On 2 June 1919 came the turn of the members of the Council of Kars (Kars Surası) The exiles from Kars to Malta comprised 11 persons, eight Turks, including the Republic's president Cihangirzade Ibrahim Bey
, two ethnic Greeks and one Russian
, all members of the Council.
On 21 September 1919, a dozen personalities who had been in utmost prominence during the Second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire were also exiled. The names included the former grand vizier
Said Halim Pasha
(who was at first sent to Moudros
), his brother Abbas Halim Pasha, the writer-ideologue Ziya Gökalp
and others.
Some of the arrests were directly related to British policy between 1918–1920 to become an effective force in Caucasia
. Besides the British military existence in the strategic points, it was necessary that 9th Ottoman Army was discharged/disarmed and the military and civil servants were to be taken away from their duties. Roundups connected to this policy were Yakup Sevki Subası
(# 120), Mehmet Rıfat (# 129), Mürsel Bakû
(# 137), from the 9th Army and Council of Kars of Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus (# 60-70).
was in the government. There were Committee of Union and Progress
secretary (#18) members (#40, #58, #75, #111)
which was linked to dynasty; Vizier
(#80), bookkeeper (#34).
following the departure of Ottoman troops from that city after the Armistice of Mudros
. After the British
occupation of Kars, the formation, in several stages and under successive names, of this short-lived republic, although viewed at first rather benignly by the British, had been discontinued abruptly in April 1919, and its prominent members were arrested, and sent to İstanbul and then to Malta, while the region of Kars was handed over to the First Republic of Armenia.
, Mustafa Kemal Pasha or Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu
. The trials had blurred the crime of participation in the National Movement with the crime of the genocide
and resulted in increasing support for Atatürk.
Outpost was mainly a resistance organization against the occupation forces. Most of the Outpost members belonged to or would in time turn to Turkish national movement
. However, at the initial stage, or during the establishment of Turkish national movement Outpost members were not members of this movement. Outpost members were ideologically connected to the Sultan rather than a national movement.
during the aftermath
of World War I
. Maulana Mehmud Hasan
was arrested in Makkah when details of Khilafat Movement
leaked. He was imprisoned for more than three years before his release in 1920.
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...
who were sent into exile on Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
after the armistice of Mudros
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
during the Occupation of İstanbul
Occupation of Istanbul
The Occupation of Constantinople was the occupation of the capital of the Ottoman Empire by the Triple Entente, following the Armistice of Mudros which ended Ottoman participation in the First World War. The first French troops entered the city on November 12, 1918, followed by British troops the...
by the Allied
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
forces. Malta exiles become inmates in a British prison where various 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
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...
) officials were held in the hopes that Malta Tribunals would be held at a future date.
These Ottoman politicians, generals, and intellectuals were taken out of Istanbul jails and deported to Malta, where they were held for some three years, while searches were made of archives in Istanbul, London, Paris and Washington to find proof of their guilt.. Cooperation of the Sultan was seen necessary to prevent a harsher peace settlement for the Ottoman Empire (partition of territories).
At that time Turkey had two competing governments in Istanbul and Ankara.The government in Istanbul supported the inquiries with more or less seriousness depending on the current government. While grand vizir Damad Ferid Pasha (4 March - 2 October 1919 and again 5 April - 21 October 1920) stood behind the prosecuting body the government of grand vizir Ahmed Riza Pasha (2 October 1919 - 2 March 1920) made barely a mention of the legal proceedings against the war criminals. The trials helped 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...
party to expel 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...
from the political arena.
The competing Ankara government was strictly opposed to trials against war criminals. Mustafa Kemal
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....
reasoned about the detainees in Malta on the occasion of the congress in Sivas 4 September 1919: "...should any of the detainees either already brought or yet to be brought to Istanbul be executed, even at the order of the vile Istanbul government, we would seriously consider executing all British prisoners in our custody." From February 1921 the military court in Istanbul begun releasing prisoners without trials.
Process of roundups
The first to be exiled was Ali İhsan Pasha, the successful commander at the Iraq frontMesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...
during the First World War. Ali Ihsan Pasha organized mass killings of unarmed Christians soldiers in the Ottoman army as well as Christian civilians in the Iranian-Ottoman border region (Lake Urmiyeh). His orderly accompanied him to exile voluntarily. Both departed on 29 March 1919.
On 28 May 1919 was a large round-up of about thirty persons also covering, in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
, Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
On 2 June 1919 came the turn of the members of the Council of Kars (Kars Surası) The exiles from Kars to Malta comprised 11 persons, eight Turks, including the Republic's president Cihangirzade Ibrahim Bey
Cihangirzade Ibrahim Bey
Cihangirzade İbrahim Bey was a Turkish military officer, statesman and administrator who served the Ottoman Empire and after its defeat in the World War I, became the leader of the Turkish revolutionaries in his native Kars and...
, two ethnic Greeks and one Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, all members of the Council.
On 21 September 1919, a dozen personalities who had been in utmost prominence during the Second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire were also exiled. The names included the former 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...
Said Halim Pasha
Said Halim Pasha
Said Halim Pasha , Ottoman Empire Grand Vizier from 1913-17. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he was the grandson of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, "founder of modern Egypt". The "Pasha" in his name is an honorific that translates in English to "Lord", or "Lord Said Halim".He was one of the signers in Ottoman-German...
(who was at first sent to Moudros
Moudros
Moudros is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the entire eastern peninsula of the island, with a land area of 185.127 km²,...
), his brother Abbas Halim Pasha, the writer-ideologue Ziya Gökalp
Ziya Gökalp
Ziya Gökalp was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and political activist. In 1908, after the Young Turk revolution, he adopted the pen name Gökalp , which he retained for the rest of his life...
and others.
Reasons for roundups
The 145 personalities arrested and exiled included people from with different backgrounds and causes. Some of the decisions for arrests involved personalities who were outside the reach of Allied authorities and were physically absent.Some of the arrests were directly related to British policy between 1918–1920 to become an effective force in Caucasia
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. Besides the British military existence in the strategic points, it was necessary that 9th Ottoman Army was discharged/disarmed and the military and civil servants were to be taken away from their duties. Roundups connected to this policy were Yakup Sevki Subası
Yakup Şevki Subaşı
Yakup Şevki Subaşı, also known as Yakub Shevki Pasha was a general of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army.-Sources:...
(# 120), Mehmet Rıfat (# 129), Mürsel Bakû
Mürsel Bakû
Mürsel Bakû was an officer of the Ottoman Army and the general of the Turkish Army.-Sources:...
(# 137), from the 9th Army and Council of Kars of Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus (# 60-70).
Government
The party Committee of Union and ProgressCommittee 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...
was in the government. There were 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...
secretary (#18) members (#40, #58, #75, #111)
House of Osman
There were members of the Ottoman DivanDivan
A divan was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official .-Etymology:...
which was linked to dynasty; Vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
(#80), bookkeeper (#34).
Council of Kars
Members of the Council of Kars (Kars Surası) who had set up the South West Caucasian Republic (Cenubî Garbî Kafkas Hükümet-i Cumhuriyesi) in KarsKars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
following the departure of Ottoman troops from that city after the Armistice of Mudros
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
. After the British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
occupation of Kars, the formation, in several stages and under successive names, of this short-lived republic, although viewed at first rather benignly by the British, had been discontinued abruptly in April 1919, and its prominent members were arrested, and sent to İstanbul and then to Malta, while the region of Kars was handed over to the First Republic of Armenia.
The resistance
Turkish National Movement was a threat to the allied administration. A large round-up of about thirty persons included, in absentiaIn absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
, Mustafa Kemal Pasha or Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu
Yunus Nadi Abalioglu
Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu was a renowned Turkish journalist and founder of the newspaper Cumhuriyet.Yunus Nadi was born in 1879 in the Seydiler village of the south Aegean town Fethiye. After primary school in Fethiye, he was schooled on Rhodes. Later on, Yunus Nadi moved to Istanbul, where he...
. The trials had blurred the crime of participation in the National Movement with the crime of the genocide
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...
and resulted in increasing support for Atatürk.
Outpost was mainly a resistance organization against the occupation forces. Most of the Outpost members belonged to or would in time turn to Turkish national movement
Turkish National Movement
The Turkish National Movement encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries which resulted in the creation and shaping of the Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I....
. However, at the initial stage, or during the establishment of Turkish national movement Outpost members were not members of this movement. Outpost members were ideologically connected to the Sultan rather than a national movement.
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement (1919-1924) was a political campaign launched mainly by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman EmpireOttoman 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...
during the aftermath
Aftermath of World War I
The fighting in World War I ended in western Europe when the Armistice took effect at 11:00 am GMT on November 11, 1918, and in eastern Europe by the early 1920s. During and in the aftermath of the war the political, cultural, and social order was drastically changed in Europe, Asia and Africa,...
of 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...
. Maulana Mehmud Hasan
Maulana Mehmud Hasan
Shaykh-ul-Hind Maulana Mehmud Al-Hasan was an eminent Islamic Scholar who made tireless efforts in the freedom struggle during the British Rule in India. He was conferred upon by the title 'Shaykh-ul-Hind' which means the leading scholar of India. -Early life:Mehmud Hasan was born in the town of...
was arrested in Makkah when details of Khilafat Movement
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement was a pan-Islamic, political campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I...
leaked. He was imprisoned for more than three years before his release in 1920.