Rıza Tevfik

Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

(Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı after the Turkish

Surname Law Surname law can refer to any law regulating the use of surnames. Canada From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued disc numbers to identify Inuit in their records. In the mid-1960s Project Surname began, and, headed by Abe Okpik, Inuit ...

of 1934; 1869 – 31 December 1949) was an Ottoman and later Turkish philosopher,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

signature and a community leader (for some members among the

Bektashi The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...

community) of the late-19th-century and early-20th-century. A

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, he is most remembered in Turkey for being one of the four Ottoman signatories of the disastrous

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres (french: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy, as well ...

, for which reason he was included in 1923 among the 150 of Turkey, and he spent 20 years in exile until he was given amnesty by Turkey in 1943.

Early life and career

Rıza Tevfik was born in 1869 in , today Svilengrad in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, to an Albanian father originally from

Dibra Dibra is an Albanian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abdurrahman Dibra (1885–1961), Albanian politician * Arenc Dibra (born 1990), Albanian footballer * Dino Dibra (1975–2000), Australian suspected murderer * Fuad Dibra (18 ...

and Circassian mother, who died when he was young. He had a brother Besim, who would later commit suicide in

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders ...

. Placed in a Jewish school in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

by his father, who was a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

, Rıza Tevfik learned Spanish and French at an early age. He was remarked as a restless personality during his student years, first in the famed Galatasaray High School, and then in the Imperial School of Medicine (), and he was arrested and incarcerated several times, not falling short of inciting fellow inmates to revolt during his prison months. He could graduate at the age thirty and became a doctor. In 1907, he joined the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

(CUP), and was one of that party's deputies for

in the Chamber of Deputies (the popularly elected lower house of the re-established Ottoman Parliament) of 1908. He split with the CUP in 1911, joining for a short while the newly founded opposition Freedom and Accord Party (Liberal Entente), and was vehemently opposed to its entry of the Ottoman Empire into

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 ...

Political career in the Ottoman Empire

Rıza Tevfik was named the Minister of Education of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Maarif Nazırı) in several cabinets (11 November 1918 – 12 January 1919) formed after the fall of the CUP and the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I. He was also appointed to the Senate (the upper house of the Ottoman Parliament) by the sultan, of which he became President twice (24 May – 18 June 1919 and 31 July – 21 October 1920). He was one of the four signatories of the stillborn

, being included in the delegation to the Paris Peace Conference by the grand vizier

Damat Ferid Pasha Damat Mehmed Adil Ferid Pasha ( ota, محمد عادل فريد پاشا tr, Damat Ferit Paşa;‎ 1853 – 6 October 1923), known simply as Damat Ferid Pasha, was an Ottoman liberal statesman, who held the office of Grand Vizier, the ' ...

, although he occupied no official position at the time of the negotiations, simply being a professor in Istanbul University. Since he was one of the signatories of the abortive treaty, he was included in the 150 persona non grata of Turkey after the Turkish victory in 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 ...

, and he had to leave Turkey in late 1922.

Exile, return to Turkey, and death

Rıza Tevfik lived in the United States,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, Hejaz,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

(where he was made the director of the National Museum and Library in 1925), and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

during the following 20 years, until he could return to Turkey in the frame of a 1943

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

. He adopted the last name Bölükbaşı after the 1934

. In the meantime, he had had his collection of poetry published in Nicosia. He resumed work as a university professor 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 ...

until his death on 31 December 1949. Aside from his poetry and his articles on philosophy, he is also notable for his translations into Turkish for most of the poems of

Omar Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...

References

Notes

Sources

Feylesof Riza (S.T. Wasti)
Middle Eastern Studies, April 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolukbasi, Riza Tevfik Ministers of National Education of Turkey 20th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Turkish writers Philosophers from the Ottoman Empire Turkish philosophers Male poets from the Ottoman Empire Turkish male poets Politicians of the Ottoman Empire Istanbul University faculty 1869 births 1949 deaths People from Svilengrad Galatasaray High School alumni Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery Turkish people of Albanian descent Turkish people of Circassian descent 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire