First Inspectorate-General (Turkey)

The First Inspectorate-General (Turkish: Birinci Umumi Müfettişlik) refers to a former regional administrative area in Turkey. The First Inspectorate-General span over the provinces Hakkari, Siirt, Şırnak, Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Bitlis, Elazığ and Van.[1]

First Inspectorate-General
Inspectorate-General
Birinci Umumi Müfettişlik
CountryTurkey
ProvincesMardin
Siirt
Hakkari
Elazığ
Bitlis
Şanlıurfa
Van
Ağrı
Şırnak
Establishment1 January 1928
Disestablishment1952
SeatDiyarbakır
Government
 • Inspector-GeneralsIbrahim Tali Öngören
Hilmi Ergenli
Abidin Özmen

Background

After the suppression of the Sheikh Said revolt in spring 1925, Kemal Atatürk established the Reform Council for the East (Turkish: Şark İslahat Encümeni)[2]which prepared the Report for Reform in the East (Turkish: Şark İslahat Raporu) encouraging the creation of Inspectorates-Generals (Turkish: Umumi Müfettişlikler, UMs) in the areas comprising a majority Kurdish population.[3]

History

The First Inspectorate-General was created on the 1 January 1928[4] and based on the Law 1164, passed in June 1927.[5] The headquarters of the Inspectorate General was to be in the city of Diyarbakır[6][7] and İbrahim Tali Öngören was appointed its Inspector-General.[4] He had extended authority over military, juridical and civilian matters.[1] An infrastructure program including railways, schools, and a land reform was elaborated for the region.[6] As a result of the land reform, the possessions of the Kurdish elite were divided and a British traveler noted in 1930 that there was no wealthy Kurd left in the region.[6] An efficient turkification policy was carried out in the Inspectorate General, meant to teach the Kurds of their alleged Turkish heritage.[7] The assimilation policy was perceived such a success,[8] that in an attempt to curb the Ararat rebellion,[9] the province of Ağrı (then named Karaköse province) was included in the Inspectorate General.[8] In April 1932, a new Five-Year plan for Security and Disarmament was announced in which the soldiers of the Seventh Army of Turkey were involved due to expected battles. By the end of the year, Tali Öngören reported thousands of weapons confiscated in the campaign. The Ministry of the Interior reported that by September the Districts of Siverek, Derik and Viranşehir were disarmed. Sükrü Kaya, the Minister of the Interior at the time, elaborated detailed reports about the weapons confiscated.[10] In January 1933 Öngören resigned from the post as Inspector-General[11] and was succeeded by Hilmi Ergeneli who served until 1935.[12]During Ergenelis term as Inspector General, a Resettlement Law was enacted in 1934 which provided the guidelines where Turks and Kurds were to be allowed to settle and enabled the Kemalists to Turkefy the rebellious regions. People of Turkish heritage, specially those of Turkish race, were encouraged to live along the rail tracks and the paved roads in the province Diyarbakır. Anyone who was classified as related to the Kurdish tribal leaders by Inspector Generals office, was to be deported from Diyarbakir.[13] Abidin Özmen succeeded Ergeneli, and attended the conference of all the Governors of the Inspectorates-General with the Minister of the Interior Şükrü Kaya in December 1936 in Ankara.[14] Özmen served until 1943.[15] The idea of governing the region within Inspectorate-Generals was left behind in 1948, but the First Inspectorate-Generals legal status was only abolished in 1952,[1] during the Government of the Democrat Party.[16]

References
  1. Bayir, Derya (2016-04-22). Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law. Routledge. pp. 139–141. ISBN 978-1-317-09579-8.
  2. Suny, Ronald Grigor; Göçek, Fatma Müge; Gocek, Fatma Muge; Naimark, Norman M.; Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies Norman M. (2011-02-23). A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-539374-3.
  3. Üngör, Umut. "Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950" (PDF). University of Amsterdam. p. 247. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. Üngör, Umut. "Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950" (PDF). University of Amsterdam. p. 258. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. Aydoğan, Erdal. "Üçüncü Umumi Müfettişliği'nin Kurulması ve III. Umumî Müfettiş Tahsin Uzer'in Bazı Önemli Faaliyetleri".
  6. Cagaptay (2006), p.23
  7. Üngör, Uğur (2011), The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 182. ISBN 0-19-960360-X.
  8. Cagaptay (2006), p.24
  9. Strohmeier, Martin (2003). Crucial Images in the Presentation of a Kurdish National Identity: Heroes and Patriots, Traitors and Foes. Brill. pp. 95–99. ISBN 978-90-04-12584-1.
  10. Üngör, Ugur Ümit (2012). "Rethinking the Violence of Pacification: State Formation and Bandits in Turkey, 1914-1937". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 54 (4): 759–769. doi:10.1017/S0010417512000400. JSTOR 23274550 – via JSTOR.
  11. Koçak, Cemil (2003). Umumi müfettişlikler: (1927-1952) (in Turkish). İletişim. p. 83. ISBN 978-975-05-0129-6.
  12. Cagaptay, Soner (2006-05-02). Islam, Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who is a Turk?. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-134-17448-5.
  13. Üngör, Ugur Ümit (2012-03-01). The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950. OUP Oxford. pp. 152–154. ISBN 978-0-19-164076-6.
  14. Üngör, Ugur Ümit (2012), p.160
  15. "Zeynel Abidin Özmen". Yasam Öküşü. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  16. Fleet, Kate; Kunt, I. Metin; Kasaba, Reşat; Faroqhi, Suraiya (2008-04-17). The Cambridge History of Turkey. Cambridge University Press. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-521-62096-3.


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