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Rıza Nur

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Rıza Nur
Born(1879-08-30)30 August 1879
Sinop,Ottoman Empire
Died8 September 1942(1942-09-08)(aged 63)
Istanbul,Turkey
Resting placeMerkezefendi Cemetery,Istanbul
OccupationSurgeon, politician, writer
NationalityTurkish
EducationMedicine
Alma materMilitary Medical School

Rıza Nur(30 August 1879 – 8 September 1942) was aTurkishsurgeon, politician and writer. He was prominent in the years immediately after theFirst World War,where he served as a cabinet minister but was subsequently marginalised, and became a critic ofAtatürk.His acclaimed autobiographyHayat ve Hatıratımwas written from exile in France and Egypt as an alternative narrative to Atatürk's famous speechNutukthat has dominated thehistoriography of Turkey.LikeHalide EdibandRauf Orbay,Rıza Nur's work is part of a body of early Republican literature that sought plurality in the increasinglyauthoritarianTurkish Republic.[1]

Early years

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Rıza Nur in the 1920s

Nur was born on 30 August 1879 inSinop.After graduating from the Military Medical School in 1901 Rıza Nur went on to work as asurgeonat Gülhane Military Hospital before returning to the Military Medical School as an academic in 1907.[2]Before this, an early posting had seen him serve on the border withBulgariawhere his job was to check if imported flour was contaminated with killer germs, after the Sultan had claimed this to be the case. The somewhat foolish nature of the work, as well as the refusal of his superiors to supply Rıza with amicroscopeand other basic scientific tools, helped to convince him thatAbdul Hamid II's rule was backward, corrupt and leading Turkey into severe decline.[3]

He had also engaged in what he called in his memoir a period of "philandering," during which he contracted gonorrhea twice, experiences that, along with his medical training, informed his 1907 bookProtection from Venereal Diseases.[4]

He entered politics following the adoption of aconstitutional monarchybut was imprisoned and later exiled for coming into conflict with theCommittee of Union and Progress(CUP) administration, remaining a dissenting voice from abroad.[2]Feeling that Turkey was too reliant onGermanybut accepting that the country needed a close relationship with a bigger power to prosper he toyed with the idea of aUnited Statesmandatein Turkey in the immediate aftermath ofWorld War I.[5]

In Government

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Returning to Turkey in 1919 he was a founder member of theGrand National Assembly of Turkeyand was appointed Minister of National Education in 1920 and Minister of Health and Public Assistance in 1921, as well as serving as the envoy at the1921 Treaty of Moscowand theConference of Lausanne.[2]ForKemal Atatürk,Rıza was an important appointment as his presence in government, along with that ofAhmet Ferit,lent weight to Atatürk's claims to being a uniting force, as both men had been opponents of the CUP which provided most government ministers.[6]

During the negotiations of theTreaty of LausanneRıza was sent as assistant to the head of the Turkish delegationİsmet İnönü.[7]He was in the subcommittee responsible for minority issues and he defended the view that a Muslim minority would not be acceptable for Turkey. He drew a comparison between theKizilbashand theMuslims,which he claimed are both ethnicTurks.He opposed the inclusion ofKurds,BosniaksorCircassiansas minorities in any agreement reached at Lausanne.[8]It was he who proposed the motions recognizing the Grand National Assembly as the legitimate government of Turkey, the end of the monarchy but the continuing control of theCaliphateby the Turkish government.[9]However whilst at Lausanne he also came to blows with the formerPrime Minister of GreeceEleftherios Venizelosover the issue of thePontic Greeks.[10]Indeed what theAlliessaw as Rıza's intransigence over both this issue and that of theArmeniansled to aYugoslaviandelegate claiming that Rıza was "beginning to show thecloven hoof".[11]

Rıza Nur had negative views ofAlbaniansas being inclined to banditry which formed his view to press for their exclusion from thepopulation exchange Between Greece and Turkey(1923) to whichGreeceagreed.[12]Nur expressed displeasure that Albanians had arrived asTurksfrom Greece contravening the exchange agreement and that they were resettled in areas such asKartal,PendikandErenköy,west ofİzmitconsidered to be high quality lands and in Ankara.[13]Nur also accusedAbdülhalik Renda,theGovernor of İzmir,of encouraging his Albanian compatriots (refugees and immigrants) to resettle from other Anatolian regions to İzmir, claims which Renda denied.[14]Nur also had negative views ofCircassians in Turkeyand along with the Albanians viewed them as a threat to the Turkish state due to developing rival nationalisms.[15]

Later years

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Turkish delegation after having signed theTreaty of Lausanne.The delegation was led byİsmet İnönü(in the middle) and Rıza Nur (on the left wearing the top hat)

Following the formation of the Turkish Republic, Rıza Nur fell out of favour and left Turkey in 1926 after the attempt on the life of Atatürk atİzmir.[2]Rıza condemned the executions ofMehmet Cavit Beyand the other alleged assassination conspirators arguing that, whilst he personally disliked the men who had been his own political opponents, he felt that they had not been involved in the plot and so were unjustly killed.[16]Embittered at the fall-out with his former ally, Rıza also wrote widely about Atatürk's allegedalcoholism.[17]Between 1931 and 1937 published theRevue de Turcologiein French and Turkish language, which founded inParis,was issued inAlexandria.[18]Returning from exile in Paris and Alexandria after Atatürk's death, in 1942 he published the journalTanrıdağı,which supportedTuranism[2]andpan-Turkism.[18]The journal's name refers to theCentral Asianmountain rangeTien Shan,a region inhabited by ancientTurkic tribes.[19]

Rıza Nur was also a noted writer on a number of topics, with his most well-known work being a history of Turkey in 14 volumes.[20]

He died at the age of 63 and was buried at theMerkezefendi Cemetery,Istanbul.[2]

Works

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  • Emrâz-ı Zühreviyeden Tahaffuz Belsoğukluğuna ve Frengiye Yakalanmamak Çaresi(Protection from Venereal Diseases: Prevention Methods for Syphilis and Gonorrhea) (1907)
  • Servet-i Şahane ve Hakk-ı Millet(Royal Wealth and the Right of the People) (1909)
  • Meclis-i Mebusan'dan Fırkalar(Partiesof theChamber of Deputies) (1910)
  • Tıbbiye Hayatından(Of Medical Life) (1911)
  • Cemiyet-i Hafiye(The Secret Organization) (1914)
  • Gurbet Dağarcığı(The Vocabulary of the Exile) (1919)
  • Hürriyet ve İtilaf Nasıl Doğdu, Nasıl Öldü(TheFreedom and Accord Party:How Was it Born and How Did it Die?) (1919)
  • Türk Tarihi(Turkic History, 14 vols) (1924–26)
  • Arab Şiir Biligi(The Arab Poetry) (1926)
  • Hilalin Tarihi(History of the Crescent) (1933)
  • Ali Şir Nevai(1935)
  • Namık Kemal(1936)
  • Hücumlara Cevaplar(Replies to the Attacks Made) (1941)
  • Hayat ve Hatıratım(My Life and Memoirs) (1968)

References

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  1. ^Wirtz, Philipp (2017).Depicting the Late Ottoman Empire in Turkish Autobiographies.Routledge. p. 26.
  2. ^abcdefProfile on Find a Grave
  3. ^Andrew Mango,Atatürk,London: John Murray, 2004, p. 18
  4. ^Yılmaz, Seçil (July 2017). "Threats to Public Order and Health: Mobile Men as Syphilis Vectors in Late Ottoman Medical Discourse and Practice".Journal of Middle East Women's Studies.13:222–223.doi:10.1215/15525864-3861301.S2CID149249373.
  5. ^Mango,Atatürk,p. 246
  6. ^Mango,Atatürk,pp. 323–4
  7. ^Mango,Atatürk,p. 357
  8. ^Bayar, Yesim (2016).Formation of the Turkish Nation-State, 1920–1938.Springer. pp. 113–114.ISBN978-1-137-38453-9.
  9. ^Mango,Atatürk,pp. 363–4
  10. ^"VENIZELOS AND RIZA CLASH AT LAUSANNE; Altercation Between Ex-Premier of Greece and Turk Envoy Disrupts a Session. ALARM IN THE NEAR EAST Conference Is Told of Massacres of Moslems and of Destitution of Christian Refugees. Alarming Reports From East. Conference on the Straits".New York Times.December 22, 1922.Retrieved2008-08-10.
  11. ^James, Edwin L. (December 23, 1922)."TURKS' ARROGANCE DAMPS PEACE HOPES; They Take Back Straits Concessions and Break Off Economic Parleys.ALLIES SHOW THEIR ANGER Call Rıza Nur Bey's Attitude Insolent and Say He is" Showing the Cloven Hoof. "".New York Times.Retrieved2008-08-10.
  12. ^Gingeras 2009,pp. 158–160.
  13. ^Gingeras 2009,pp. 160–161.
  14. ^Gingeras 2009,p. 160.
  15. ^Gingeras 2009,p. 159.
  16. ^Mango,Atatürk,p. 452
  17. ^Mango,Atatürk,p. 274
  18. ^abLandau, Jacob M. (1981).Pan-Turkism in Turkey.London: C. Hurst & Company. p. 94.ISBN0905838572.
  19. ^Jacob M. Landau,Radical Politics in Modern Turkey,1974, p.195.
  20. ^Sinop profile[permanent dead link]

Sources

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