Fethi Okyar

Ali Fethi Okyar (29 April 1880 – 7 May 1943) was a Turkish diplomat and politician, who also served as a military officer and diplomat during the last decade of the Ottoman Empire. He was also the second Prime Minister of Turkey (1924–1925) and the second Speaker of the Turkish Parliament after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Ali Fethi Okyar
2nd Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 22 November 1924[1] – 3 March 1925[1]
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Preceded by	İsmet İnönü[2]
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü[3]
4th Prime Minister of the Government of the Grand National Assembly
In office 14 August 1923[4] – 27 October 1923[4]
Preceded by	Rauf Orbay[5]
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü[6] (As Prime Minister of Turkey)
3rd Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office 1 November 1923 – 22 November 1924
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Prime Minister	İsmet İnönü
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Kâzım Özalp
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 8 February 1935 – 7 May 1943
Constituency	Bolu (1935, 1939, 1943)
In office 28 June 1923 – 25 April 1931
Constituency	Istanbul (1923) Gümüşhane (1927)
Minister of Justice
In office 26 Mayıs 1939[7] – 12 Mart 1941[8]
President	İsmet İnönü
Prime Minister	Refik Saydam[7]
Preceded by	Tevfik Fikret Sılay[7]
Succeeded by	Hasan Menemencioğlu[7]
Minister of National Defense
In office 22 November 1924[1] – 3 March 1925[1]
Preceded by	Kâzım Fikri[2]
Succeeded by	Mehmet Recep[3]
Minister of the Interior of the Government of the Grand National Assembly
In office 5 November 1922 – 27 October 1923
Preceded by	İsmail Safa Özler[4]
Succeeded by	Ahmet Ferit Tek[6]
In office 10 October 1921 – 9 July 1922
Preceded by	Refet Bele[9]
Succeeded by	İsmail Safa[4]
Minister of the Interior (Ottoman Empire)
In office 14 October 1918[10][11] – 8 November 1918[12]
First Minister	Ahmet İzzet[10][11]
Preceded by	Mehmet Talaat (acting)[13]
Succeeded by	Mustafa Arif[14]
Personal details
Born	Ali Fethi 29 April 1880 Prilep, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	7 May 1943 (aged 63) Istanbul, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party (1923–1930) Liberal Republican Party (1930) Republican People's Party (1930–1943)
Military service
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire
Branch/service	Ottoman Army
Years of service	1898–1914
Rank	Lieutenant colonel
Battles/wars	Italo-Turkish War Balkan Wars

Biography

He was born in the Ottoman town of Prilep in Manastir Vilayet (present-day North Macedonia) to a Circassian family.[15] In 1913, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress (İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) and was elected as the secretary general. In 1924 he was appointed Prime Minister as the successor of İsmet Inönü. But only a few months later in March 1925 he was replaced again by Inönü as a more decisive policy was needed to suppress the Sheikh Said rebellion.[16] Following he was appointed the Turkish ambassador to France in Paris.[16] In 1930, he received the permission to establish the Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası (Liberal Republican Party), an early party of opposition.[17] However, when the government noticed the support of this opposition party among Islamists, it was declared illegal and closed down, a situation similar to that of the Progressive Republican Party, which had lasted for a few months in 1924. He later served as Justice Minister from 1939 to 1941.

• 
  Atatürk and Okyar, August 1930
• 
  Okyar in his early days
• 
  Okyar in the 1930s

References

1. Çay 2009, p. 11.
2. Çay 2009, p. 10.
3. Çay 2009, p. 13.
4. Çay 2009, p. 7.
5. Çay 2009, p. 6.
6. Çay 2009, p. 9.
7. Çay 2009, p. 24.
8. Çay 2009.
9. Çay 2009, p. 5.
10. Balkaya 2005, p. 74.
11. Güneş 2012, p. 216.
12. Balkaya 2005, p. 80.
13. Güneş 2012, p. 179.
14. Güneş 2012, p. 228.
15. Türkiye Kurtuluş Savaşı'nda Çerkes göçmenleri at Google Books
16. Üngör, Umut. "Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950" (PDF). University of Amsterdam. pp. 235–236. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
17. Weiker, Walter F. (1991). Heper, Metin; Landau, Jacob M. (eds.). Political Parties and Democracy in Turkey. I.B. Tauris. p. 84. ISBN 1-85043300-3.

Bibliography

• Balkaya, İhsan Sabri (2005). Ali Fethi Okyar (29 Nisan 1880-7 Mayıs 1943) (in Turkish) (I. ed.). Ankara: Turkish History Association. ISBN 9751617162.
• Çay, Abdulhaluk Mehmet (2009). Başlangıçtan Bugüne Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükümetleri (PDF) (in Turkish). Künüçen, Hale. Ankara: Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Culture Portal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
• Güneş, İhsan (August 2012). Özmel Akın, Nur; Güven, Pınar (eds.). Meşrutiyet'ten Cumhuriyet'e Türkiye'de Hükümetler: Programları ve Meclisteki Yankıları (1908-1923) (in Turkish) (I. ed.). Istanbul: Turkey İş Bank Cultural Publications. ISBN 9786053606512.

External links

• Works by or about Fethi Okyar at Internet Archive