Enver Pasha: Biography

A prominent Turkish military leader, Enver Pasha is one of the leaders of the Young Turk revolution. He was an active propagandist of pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism, as well as an ideologist of the Armenian Genocide at the beginning of the 20th century.

Enver Pasha: Biography

November 22, 1881 in Istanbul in the family of a railway worker was born Ismail Enver, the future Enver Pasha. The nationality of Enver's father is Turkish, and his mother is Gagauzka or Albanka. Enver was the eldest of five children, he had two brothers and two sisters. Since childhood, Enver knew that he would be a soldier, so he went to study in a military school. According to some historical data, he studied not very well, but graduated from the academy in 1903 with the title of captain, and three years later received the rank of major.

Enver was sent to the service in Thessaloniki. There he became actively involved in the activities of the military movement called "Homeland and Freedom", which met secretly under the auspices of the larger and more peaceful political organization "Unity and Progress".

Young Turks and the First Revolution

After the agreement between Nicholas II and Edward VII regarding the reforms necessary in Macedonia, signed in 1908, active protests began in Turkey, fueled by rumors and assumptions about the division of the Ottoman Empire. The Movement "Unity and Progress" began calling itself the Young Turks and conducting protest actions and military rallies aimed at overthrowing the Ottoman authorities. Enver began to actively participate in the protests, and after a while he was followed by thousands of people. Young, active and enterprising, he became one of the leaders of the Young Turk revolution.

In 1908 at a rally in Thessaloniki, Enver Bey proclaimed the restoration of the Turkish constitution and declared July 10 the day of the beginning of the second constitutional era of the Ottoman Empire. After a successful coup, he spent two years as a Turkish attache in Germany, where he highly appreciated the military training of the German troops and initiated the military cooperation between Turkey and Germany.

The Italian-Turkish war in Africa

In 1911 Italy began to challenge the Turkish influence in Tripolitania, the region of modern Libya. Enver-bey left Berlin and went to Libya to lead the Turkish army. The leader managed to conduct an excellent mobilization campaign, having collected more than 20 thousand soldiers, but was forced to leave Libya because of the height of the Balkan war. As a result, control of Tripolitania moved to the Italian army.

This kind of result led to the discontent of the Turks and the destabilization of political forces. "Unity and progress" began to lose popularity and support, and in 1912 in the elections to parliament the Liberal Union, which deprived the power of the Young Turks, won.

The Balkan War and the coming to power

In October 1912, Ottoman troops were defeated after the defeat in the Balkans, which led to the destabilization of the new government. These moods were taken advantage of by the Young Turks and in January 1913 they made another coup d'état, overthrew the liberal union and established the dictatorship of the three pasha. The original triumvirate consisted of:

• Leader of the Young Turks Talaat Pasha, who is the chief vizier or prime minister, as well as the minister of the interior;
• Jemal Pasha, who is the commander-in-chief of the fleet;
• Enver Pasha, commander of the army.

During the triumvirate the sultan was formally considered Sultan Mehmed V, but de facto all power was in the hands of the three Pasha. Enver Pasha, the biography of the Sultan confirms this, even married the daughter of Prince Suleiman. So he became part of the royal family.

Participation in the First World War

Being a Germanophile and an ally of Germany, Enver Pasha practically unilaterally dragged Turkey into the First World War, while walking even against the opinion of his comrades-in-arms. Without the consent of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkey, he authorized two German warships to enter the Dardanelles and flee from the pursuit of the French fleet. Subsequently, these two ships were granted to the Turkish fleet, which meant the imminent conclusion of an alliance with Germany and the involvement of Turkey in the war.

In late October, these ships entered the Black Sea and struck at Russian ports in Odessa, Sevastopol and Feodosia. As a result of the attack, Russia declared war on Turkey. Enver Pasha organized a general mobilization and took up the post of Minister of War.

The Armenian Genocide and the Greeks

Being an ardent adherent of pan-Islamism, Enver Pasha had a dislike for Armenians and Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire and professing Christianity. Although this did not prevent the Pasha from taking Armenian soldiers into his army.

During the First World War on the Russian-Turkish front, the third Turkish army led by Enver Pasha suffered a crushing defeat in the battle of Sarykamysh. Then, returning to the capital, Enver Pasha accused the Armenian soldiers of cowardice and unwillingness to fight and hung up on them the responsibility for the lost battle. It was this defeat that served as the occasion for the genocide of the Armenian population.

Massacres massacred about 1.5 million people, among whom, besides Armenians, were Greeks and Syrians. To this day, Armenians call the actions of the Ottoman Empire against their compatriots in 1915 a Great Evil. The wound that the Turks inflicted on the Armenian people was so deep that in 1919, at a meeting of the Armenian Revolutionary Commonwealth, a decision was made to organize the operation "Nemesis".

Enver Pasha: "Nemesis" and the flight from Turkey

During Operation Nemesis, 40 people were found guilty of organizing and carrying out the genocide. Everyone was followed and carefully prepared for the murder. The executors of the operation deprived two representatives of the triumvirate: Talaal Pasha and Jemal Pasha, but Enver Pasha was not killed by them and escaped retribution, leaving Turkey. He spent some time in Moscow, cooperated with the Bolshevik government and planned his return to his homeland.

The Bolsheviks, in turn, tantamount to supporting the party of Envera Pasha and the Republican People's Party Mustafa Kemal. As soon as Kemal successfully completed his revolution, Enver Pasha lost the support of the Bolsheviks. The former Turkish leader was sent to Bukhara to fight the Basmachi movement.

Basmacism

Feeling a persona non grata in the red government, Enver Pasha decided to go over to the side of the Basmachi. From Turkestan, he sent a letter to Moscow demanding to withdraw the army of the Bolsheviks and ensure the independence of the region.

Possessing charisma, confidence and secret knowledge about the location of the Red Army in the region, Enver Pasha quickly rose to leadership among the basmachi and conducted several successful operations. However, his aggressive desire to take all power and become the leader of Basmachi did not allow him to establish ties with the rest of the leaders. They refused Enver Pasha several times in aid, and Ibrahim-beg's detachments refused to recognize the primacy of Pasha, once even attacked his army, causing irreparable damage. Enver Pasha was killed or wounded, but could no longer continue his active work.

The former leader was forced to flee to Baljuan, where he hid with a small detachment in the vicinity of the city. In early August, he was tracked down by the Bolsheviks and sent a Chekist detachment with the intention of capturing or killing. On August 4, 1922, during the battle with the Bolshevik detachment Enver Pasha was shot. The murder of the leader of the Basmachi was confirmed by Georgy Agabekov, who recognized the decapitated body.