Mahmud Shevket Pasha
Mahmud Shevket Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: محمود شوكت پاشا, 1856 – 11 June 1913)[1] was an Ottoman generalissimo[2] and statesman, who was an important political figure during the Second Constitutional Era. During the 31 March Incident, Shevket Pasha and the Committee of Union and Progress overthrew Abdul Hamid II after an anti-Constitutionalist uprising in Constantinople. He played the role of a power broker after the crisis, balancing the various factions of the Young Turks and the army. As War Minister he played a leading role in military reform and the establishment of Air Divisions. Shevket Pasha became Grand Vizier during the First Balkan War in the aftermath of the 1913 coup d'état, from 23 January 1913 until his death by assassination.
For the other Ottoman general Shevket Turgut Pasha, see Shevket Turgut Pasha.
Mahmud Shevket
Himself
Hurşid Pasha
11 June 1913 (aged 56 or 57)
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Assassination
Khaled Sulayman Faiq (brother),
Hikmet Sulayman (brother)
Early life and career[edit]
Mahmud Shevket was born in Baghdad in 1856. His grandfather, Hacı Talib Ağa had moved from Tbilisi to Baghdad.[3] His father was Basra governor Kethüdazade Süleyman Faik Bey. He had four brothers, Numan, Murad, Khaled, and the much younger Hikmat, the latter two would become important statesmen of post Ottoman rule Iraq. Raised as an Ottoman, most sources claim that he had Georgian,[4] Chechen,[5][6][7][8] or Iraqi Arab[9] ancestry. However, according to Celal Bayar and Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı, the relatives of the pasha told them that they were of Georgian origin.[10][11] In addition to Turkish and Arabic, he spoke French and German.
He finished his primary and secondary education in Baghdad before going to Alliance Israélite Universelle of Constantinople (now Istanbul).[12][13][14] After completing his education in the Mekteb-i Harbiye in 1882 he served in Crete as a lieutenant before returning as a faculty member the next year.[15] Shevket rose through the ranks, eventually serving on the general staff and achieving the rank of Miralay (Colonel) in 1891. He joined an arms purchasing commission sent to Germany to supervise the manufacture of war matériel for the Ottoman army, during which he worked as an assistant to Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz. There he wrote extensively on the Mauser rifle as it entered into operation in the Ottoman Army. Upon his return in 1899, he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed deputy chairman of the Tophane-i Amire's Inspection Commission. In 1901, he was promoted to Ferik (Lieutenant General) and was soon assigned to the Hejaz railway to oversee construction of the Mecca–Medina telegraph line. He perceived this assignment as an exile, which likely tainted his opinion of Sultan Abdul Hamid II's regime. During this period he also spent some time in France studying military technology.[16]
In 1905 Mahmud Shevket Pasha was appointed governor of the Kosovo Vilayet during the height of the Macedonian Conflict, where he gained respect from the army for his effectiveness. He made contact with the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and turned a blind eye to their anti-regime activism. Thus began his complex and tenuous relationship with the "Sacred Committee". When the CUP prevailed in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which forced Sultan Abdul Hamid to reinstate the Ottoman constitution and call for elections, Shevket was placed in command of the Selanik (Thessaloniki) based Third Army.
In 1902 he published Ottoman Organization and Military Uniforms from the Establishment of the Ottoman State to the Present (Turkish: Devlet-i Osmâniyye’nin Bidâyet-i Tesisinden Şimdiye Kadar Osmanlı Teşkilât ve Kıyâfet-i Askeriyesi) which is considered to be one of the most comprehensive studies written on the history of the Ottoman army and its uniforms.[17]
Shevket Pasha's speech to the Action Army[edit]
In a 2012 interview with Habertürk, Murat Bardakçı publicized what he claimed was the first ever sound recording made in the Ottoman Empire, which was Mahmud Shevket Pasha's rallying speech to the troops of the Action Army, urging them to march on Istanbul and overthrow the sultan.[28] While a YouTube video recording of the speech has gone viral, its veracity has been controversial. A study by the historian Derya Tulga concluded that it is impossible for an original audio recording of Shevket Pasha's 1909 speech to exist, and even assuming it is Mahmud Shevket Pasha's voice, the recording was ultimately a reenactment produced two years after the 31 March Incident, which he would have done for propaganda purposes. She goes further to state that the voice in the recording is most likely not even Shevket Pasha's but instead the Turkish representative of Favorite Platten Record Company Ahmet Şükrü Bey. Mehmet Çalışkan came to a similar conclusion, adding that the words of the speech itself can't be verified to be Shevket Pasha's, and points out that Ahmet Şükrü promoted the voice recording on a 15 August 1911 issue of the CUP mouthpiece Tanin.[29]
Shevket Pasha wrote several books in addition to his memoirs. He also translated Alphonse Karr's Sous les Tilleuls.
The pistols carried by Mahmud Shevket Pasha's assassins.
The first automobile in Constantinople.
Mahmud Shevket Pasha just before his murder, Istanbul Military Museum.
Shevket Pasha's funeral
Sketch of events of Shevket Pasha's assassination in the report written by the police chief of Istanbul
Mahmud Shevket Pasha in a car, 1911
