Şükrü Kaya (1883 – 10 January 1959) was a Turkish civil servant and politician, who served as government minister, Minister of Interior and

Minister of Foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

in several governments.

Biography

Born in

İstanköy Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census) ...

(Kos), part of the Dodecanese in the then

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, he finished

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

before he graduated from Law School in 1908. He did his graduate work in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He worked as inspector of treasury for the Empire. At the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Şükrü was appointed the Director of Settlement of Tribes and Migrants. The Director of Settlement of Tribes and Migrants was mainly tasked with managing the Armenian deportations during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. In September 1915, he was transferred to Aleppo, an important location along the deportation route into the Syrian desert. While the Armenian Genocide was underway, Şükrü was tasked to administrate the concentration camps of Armenian deportees located in Syria. In order to manage the large influx of Armenians into the area, Şükrü started a policy that enforced a certain ratio of Armenians to be left untouched. However, once the Armenians exceeded this ratio, they were evacuated from their camps and subsequently massacred. On 19 December 1915, Şükrü is noted to have said to German engineer Bastendorff the following: He was then assigned to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

but he resigned and moved to

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

(also known as

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

). He worked as a teacher in

Buca Buca (, ) is a district of İzmir Province, Turkey. It is one of the main urban districts of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. History Buca was one of the preferred settlement areas of İzmir's community of Levantines. The great mansions they bu ...

Sultanisi (high school). After the

Armistice of Mudros Concluded on 30 October 1918 and taking effect at noon the next day, the Armistice of Mudros ( tr, Mondros Mütarekesi) ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It was signed by th ...

, he worked for the

Turkish national movement The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the def ...

. Following the occupation of Istanbul by The Entente powers, he was arrested by the British administration and was exiled to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. He escaped to the continent from Malta and subsequently went to

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

and joined the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

. In September 1925 he was a member of the Reform Council for the Reform of the East () which prepared the Report for Reform in the East (). In 1930 he was the author of the outlines of

Turkification Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

(). Non-Turkish languages should be suppressed and non-Turkish names of locations changed to Turkish ones. Şükrü Kaya served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Interior Minister in several cabinets between 1924 and 1938. He died on 10 January 1959, in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

References

* Who is who database
''Biography of Şükrü Kaya''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaya, Sukru 1883 births Galatasaray High School alumni Turkish writers Turkish columnists Agriculture ministers of Turkey Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1959 deaths Malta exiles Civil servants of the Ottoman Empire Ministers of the Interior of Turkey Turkish civil servants Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni University of Paris alumni Turkish educators Mayors of İzmir People of the Dersim rebellion Armenian genocide perpetrators Members of the 2nd government of Turkey Members of the 3rd government of Turkey Members of the 5th government of Turkey Members of the 6th government of Turkey Members of the 7th government of Turkey Members of the 8th government of Turkey Members of the 9th government of Turkey Members of the 2nd Parliament of Turkey