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Refet Bele

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İbrahim Refet Bele
1314-P. 39[1]
Image
Minister of National Defence
In office
5 August 1921 – 10 January 1922
Preceded byFevzi Çakmak
Succeeded byKazım Özalp
Minister of the Interior
In office
30 June 1921 – 10 October 1921
Preceded byAta Atalay
Succeeded byFethi Okyar
Minister of the Interior
In office
6 September 1920 – 18 March 1921
Preceded byNâzım Resmor [tr]
Succeeded byAta Atalay
Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
In office
1935–1950
ConstituencyIstanbul
Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
In office
1920 – 1 November 1926
Constituencyİzmir (1920–1923)
Istanbul (1923–1926)
Personal details
Born1881 (1881)
Thessaloniki, Ottoman Empire (modern Greece)
Died3 October 1963(1963-10-03) (aged 81–82)
Istanbul, Turkey
Resting placeZincirlikuyu Mezarlığı
EducationOttoman Military College
Military service
AllegianceImage Ottoman Empire
Image Turkey
Branch/serviceOttoman Army
Turkish Army
Years of service
Ottoman Empire: 1899–1919
Turkey: 13 July 1919 – 8 December 1926
RankMajor general
CommandsDivision of the intelligence of the headquarters of the Fourth Army, 10th Division, 3rd Division, 11th Division, Inspector of the Rear Area of Jerusalem, 53rd Division, XXII Corps (deputy), XX Corps, Gendarmerie General Command, III Corps
Battles/warsItalo-Turkish War
Balkan Wars

İbrahim Refet Bele (1881[2] – 3 October 1963), also known as Refet Bey[3][4][5] or Refet Pasha was a Turkish military commander. He served in the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army, where he retired as a general.

Life

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He was born to a Turkish family in Selanik, Ottoman Empire (modern Thessaloniki, Greece) in 1881. He took the surname Bele because of his grandfather who was originally from Byala/Bele, Bulgaria. Because of the troubles in the Balkans his family moved first to Istanbul but settled later back to Thessaloniki when he was an infant. He studied in the Ottoman Military College, enrolled in the army and became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress. He took part in the Italo-Turkish War (1911) and then in the First Balkan War (1912–1913) in which his hometown was lost to the Greeks.

He took part in World War I where he fought in the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel under the command of Kress von Kressenstein in the Battle of Romani where the Ottoman forces were defeated.[6] In the Palestine front and during the Second battle of Gaza he served with distinction. First refusing a surrender and then successfully organizing the withdrawal of the Ottoman and German forces with their weaponry.[7] Nevertheless, Bele was blamed together with Ismet (Inönü) for the defeat of the Ottomans by Erich Von Falkenhayn.[8] After the British advance in 1918 he was cut off by his troops but managed to reach the Ottoman base at Tyre 75 miles north, after traveling one week through British lines.[9] He did not speak English but because he moved at night and responded to questions with saluting and riding on a walk he avoided being captured.[9] He returned to Istanbul after the Armistice of Mudros in 1918.

While in Istanbul, most of Anatolia began to be occupied by foreign powers, the Greeks landed at İzmir in 1919. In response to the occupation he decided to join the Turkish nationalist movement and crossed over to Anatolia to organize resistance and join the Turkish War of Independence which was being led by Atatürk. He took part in the Amasya Circular of 1919 and then also in the Erzurum Congress, Alaşehir Congress and Sivas Congress. He later served as minister and later as commander at the Western Front against the Greek armies. He put down several local revolts against the Ankara government. He served as Minister of the Interior from 6 September 1920 until his resignation on 18 March 1921, which was announced to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 21 March.[10]

In April 1921, Bele commanded the Turkish forces at the Battle of Aslıhanlar–Dumlupınar, where his offensive was repulsed by the Greeks, damaging his military reputation and causing him to get recalled to Ankara.[11] He was re-elected Minister of the Interior on 30 June 1921.[12] During the Pontic Greek genocide, in July 1921, he upheld Nureddin Pasha's orders for the deportation of Pontic Greeks from Ordu, including women, children and the elderly, despite opposition from the district's administrator, Ahmet Faik (Günday) [tr], who noted that no Greek guerrilla bands ever operated in his district. The latter resigned on 22 July, refusing to implement Nureddin's and Bele's orders also calling them "criminal".[13][14] His successor, Küşad Bey, ended up deporting Greek families from rural villages, but, due to Faik's own resistance, the families from Ordu's cities and towns were spared from this "bloody" operation.[13][14]

On 5 August 1921, he was appointed Minister of National Defence. He resigned on 10 January 1922.[12]

Later, he had several political disputes with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He was tried in court but acquitted of the attempted assassination of Atatürk in 1926. In the same year, he retired from both the army and the parliament. However, Bele reconciled with Atatürk in the 1930s and returned to parliament in 1935 with Atatürk's personal support.[15][16]

He served as an MP until 1950, after which he retired and died in Istanbul in 1963.

See also

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Sources

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  1. ↑ T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 91. (in Turkish)
  2. ↑ Smith, Elaine Diana (1959). "Turkey: Origins of the Kemalist Movement and the Government of the Grand National Assembly, 1919-1923".
  3. ↑ Sonyel, Salahi Ramadan (2008). Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) ve Kurtuluş Savaşı: yeni belgelerle, 1918-1923, Volume 1. Türk Tarih Kurumu. p. 296. ISBN 9789751620118. Rafet (Refet) Bey
  4. ↑ Great Britain. Foreign Office, Sir Ernest Llewellyn Woodward (1970). Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 528. Refet Pasha is the most powerful personality in Mustapha Kemal's government and has complete control over Mustapha Kemal himself.
  5. ↑ Sami, Böcüzade Süleyman (1983). Kuruluşundan bugüne kadar Isparta tarihi. Serenler Yayını. p. xxx. Rafet Bey (= General Rafet Bele).
  6. ↑ Uyar, Mesut (2020-12-30). The Ottoman Army and the First World War. Routledge. pp. 228–231. ISBN 978-0-367-47177-4.
  7. ↑ Uyar, Mesut (December 30, 2020), pp.320–321
  8. ↑ Uyar, Mesut (December 30, 2020), pp.324–325
  9. 1 2 Falls, Cyril (2003). Armageddon, 1918: The Final Palestinian Campaign of World War I. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780812218619.
  10. ↑ Keskin, Nuray Ertürk, ed. (2012). Açıklamalı Yönetim Zamandizini: 1919–1928 (PDF) (in Turkish). Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi. p. 514.
  11. ↑ Güngör, Ahmet Serhan (2010). Kurtuluş Savaşı Alanlarının Turizm Coğrafyası (PDF) (Master's thesis) (in Turkish). Istanbul University. p. 35.
  12. 1 2 "İbrahim Refet Bele" (in Turkish). Ministry of National Defence (Turkey).
  13. 1 2 Bayar, Güven (7 June 2024). "Ordu Valisi Ahmet Faik Hurşit Günday'ın 1921 Rum Tehciri'nde Sergilediği Duruş (2)". Ordu Kent Gazetesi (in Turkish).
  14. 1 2 Beyoğlu, Süleyman (2011). İki Devir Bir İnsan: Ahmet Faik Günday ve Hatıraları (in Turkish). Bengi Yayınları. pp. 411–417. ISBN 9786058857728.
  15. ↑ Uyar, Hakkı (16 October 2024). "Cumhuriyet Türkiye'sinin Filistin'e Yönelik İlgisi". Ege Meclisi (in Turkish).
  16. ↑ Koçak, Cemil (31 December 2011). "Atatürk Nutuk'ta kızdığı paşalarla sonradan barıştı". Türkiye Yazarlar Birliği (in Turkish).
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