türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 11 April 2021)
another 'mutasarrıf' hanged click here for a recent
TNT report about another Ottoman official hanged
in Istanbul a year later in 1920. A longer version
can be found on Academia.
Kemal Bey was a typical Ottoman bureaucrat, having been born,
educated and assigned to duty all over the wide expanse of the
empire's geography. He was born in Beirut in 1884 and his first
bureaucratic posting was to "Cezair-i Bahri Sefid" (the Aegean Islands)
in 1909. In August 1915, Kemal Bey became the acting "mutasarrıf"
(governor of a provincial subdivision) in Yozgat province.
Subsequently, Kemal Bey went to Damascus and then returned to
Yozgat in 1917. The trials that would determine his fate began here.
Responsibility for the Ottomans' defeat in World War I was ascribed to
the "İttihat Terakki Cemiyeti" (Committee of Union and Progress/CUP),
which was in power during the war years. All of the activities of the
CUP, whose senior leaders had fled the country, were brought under
examination and one of the matters under investigation was the 'tehcir'
(forced deportation) of Armenians in 1915.
The Ottoman Army was being attacked from behind by Armenian
gangs so the solution arrived at was to deport all Armenians. However,
many Armenians who were Ottoman citizens lost their lives during the
deportations.
Kemal Bey, who was the acting 'kaymakam' (district chief) of
Boğazlıyan in Yozgat province, was accused in this context for his
actions during his term of duty there in 1915. He was relieved of
duty and brought to Istanbul on 30 January 1919. The CUP had been
replaced in Istanbul by its archrival the 'Hürriyet ve İtilaf Parti'
(Freedom and Accord Party) and its leader Damat Ferit Paşa was
very much under the influence of the occupying English forces.
So the trials related to the Armenian deportations began in this
atmosphere. At the controversial 'Divan-ı Harbi Örfi' (Extrajudicial
Military Court Martial) trials, Kemal Bey asserted that dishonest
witnesses had misled the court. Nevertheless, nothing changed.
The 'Boğazliyan Kaymakam' became the first person convicted
in the Armenian deportation trials and was sentenced to death.
On 10 April 1919, Kemal Bey was hurriedly hanged in Beyazıt
Square to avoid a public outcry. A large funeral ceremony was
organized and he was buried under banners that read "The Great
Martyr Kemal Bey." On 14 October 1922, Kemal Bey was
declared a "National Martyr" by law.
Feti Yıldız, an Istanbul parliamentarian, who is also a deputy
chairman of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), has submitted
a law proposal to the Turkish Grand National Assembly to change
the current name of Boğazlıyan in Yozgat province to "Şehitkemal".
In a press release, Yıldız stated that "On the 102nd anniversary of
his martyrdom, a law proposal has been submitted to change the
name of Boğazlıyan, where Kemal Bey was the 'kaymakam', to
Şehitkemal. This way, the name of Şehit Kemal Bey will live
forever in the eternal Turkish nation of Anatolia."
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