Ali Kemal Bey
(1867 - 1922)
Was a liberal Ottoman journalist, newspaper editor and poet who was for some three months Minister of the Interior in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He was murdered during the Turkish War of Independence.
Ali Kemal condemned the attacks on and massacres of the Armenians and inveighed against the Ittihadist chieftains as the authors of that crime, relentlessly demanding their prosecution and punishment. Ali Kemal Bey, was also an editor of various newspapers including the Turkish dailies Sabah, Alemdar, Peyam, and later Peyam-Sabah, openly blamed not only the Ittihadist leaders, but also the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and "thousands and thousands" of ordinary people participating in the massacres.
On 4 November 1922, Ali Kemal was kidnapped from a barber shop at Tokatliyan Hotel in Istanbul, and was carried to the Asiatic side of the city by a motor boat en route to Ankara for a trial on charges of treason. On 6 November 1922, the party was intercepted at İzmit by General Nureddin Pasha, then the Commander of the First Army which was aligned with Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Ali Kemal was lynched by a mob set up by the General. His head was smashed by cudgels and he was stoned to death. As described by Nureddin personally to Dr. Riza Nur, who was on his way to Lausanne to negotiate peace with the Allies, "his blood-covered body was subsequently hanged with an epitaph across his chest which read, "Artin Kemal"". This bestowal of a fictitious Armenian name administered a final indignity to the victim.
(1867 - 1922)
Was a liberal Ottoman journalist, newspaper editor and poet who was for some three months Minister of the Interior in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He was murdered during the Turkish War of Independence.
Ali Kemal condemned the attacks on and massacres of the Armenians and inveighed against the Ittihadist chieftains as the authors of that crime, relentlessly demanding their prosecution and punishment. Ali Kemal Bey, was also an editor of various newspapers including the Turkish dailies Sabah, Alemdar, Peyam, and later Peyam-Sabah, openly blamed not only the Ittihadist leaders, but also the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and "thousands and thousands" of ordinary people participating in the massacres.
On 4 November 1922, Ali Kemal was kidnapped from a barber shop at Tokatliyan Hotel in Istanbul, and was carried to the Asiatic side of the city by a motor boat en route to Ankara for a trial on charges of treason. On 6 November 1922, the party was intercepted at İzmit by General Nureddin Pasha, then the Commander of the First Army which was aligned with Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Ali Kemal was lynched by a mob set up by the General. His head was smashed by cudgels and he was stoned to death. As described by Nureddin personally to Dr. Riza Nur, who was on his way to Lausanne to negotiate peace with the Allies, "his blood-covered body was subsequently hanged with an epitaph across his chest which read, "Artin Kemal"". This bestowal of a fictitious Armenian name administered a final indignity to the victim.