TNT History Archives: Americans Were Confused by Multiple "Kâzım"s in Turkish Army (1923)

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 17 January 2021)

The year was 1923 and the new Turkish Republic was taking its first

steps as a nation.  On 1 November, Fethi Okyar was elected as the head

of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBBM), as new laws were 

promulgated and the army remained on alert, salving its wounds after 

years of war.

Ankara, the new capital, was filled with foreign diplomats and 

intelligence agents but for the American agents the most daunting 

matter was figuring out all the officers in the army named "Kâzım".

Diplomatic relations with the U.S. had been cut off since 1917 but now

American agents of the forerunner of the CIA were busy in both Ankara

and Istanbul. Surnames were nonexistent in Turkey until 1935, adding

to the confusion over the plethora of "Kâzım"s.

One of the U.S. military intelligence agents in Ankara prepared a report 

about the 10 "Kâzım"s in the army, which had bewildered him, so he

tried to sort out the "Kâzım"s for Washington with his report dated 

16 November 1923.

"Here are some notes about the different "Kâzım"s currently in the 

Turkish Army:

Kâzım Karabekir Paşa: General Inspector of the First Army

Köprülü Kâzım Paşa: Minister of Defense (later he adopted the surname

Özalp and served as TBMM chief.) 

Diyarbakırlı Kâzım Paşa: Commander of the Sixth Army Corps ( he took

the surname İnanç and later served as army chief, as a governor and a 

parliamentarian.)

Benli Kâzım Paşa: Commander of the 12th Division ( he took the surname

Sevüktekin and also served as a parliamentarian.)

İzmirli Kâzım Paşa: Commander of the 8th Division and the brother-in-law

of Enver Paşa (he took the surname Orbay and served as chief of the 

general staff.)

Manastırlı Kâzım Paşa: Commander of the 2nd Division, with the 

Albanian nickname "Kiasko". (he took the surname Dirik and served as

army commander and as a governor.)"

NOTE: Information in parenthesis added by Hürriyet.

After listing these "paşa"s, the report continued: "There are two other

"Kâzım"s in the army, with the rank of colonel but they will probably

be promoted to "paşa" soon: Kemahlı Kâzım Bey and Musa Kâzım Bey,

both of whom serve on the staff on the eastern front.  There is also another

Musa Kâzım Bey, who is a parliamentarian from Afyonkarahisar."

Colonel Kemahlı Kâzım Bey was later promoted to general and took the

surname Kıvılcım.  The report was posted social media by war history

researcher Erhan Çifci.