Hafız Mehmet (1874 – 14 June 1926) was a Turkish politician and the acting Minister of Justice for the
Republic of Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.
While serving as a deputy in
Trabzon
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...
, he was a
witness to the Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, 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 t ...
. His testimony of the event is considered by genocide scholar
Vahakn Dadrian
Vahakn Norair Dadrian (; 26 May 1926 – 2 August 2019) was an Armenian- American sociologist and historian, born in Turkey, professor of sociology, historian, and an expert on the Armenian genocide.
Life
Dadrian was born in 1926 in Turkey to ...
as one of the "rarest corroborations of the fact of the complicity of governmental officials in the organization of the mass murder of Armenians".
He was sentenced to death after the
İzmir
İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
trials of 1926, charged with attempting to assassinate
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
.
Early life
Hafız Mehmet was born in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in the village of
Sürmene
Sürmene (; , ''Sourmena''; , romanized as ''Sürmena e') is a municipality and district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Its area is 166 km2, and its population is 25,950 (2022). In ancient times the town of Hyssus or Hyssos () was nearby. The ...
located near
Trabzon
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...
in 1874.
He was the son of Hacı Yakubzâde Ahmed Ağa.
He received his early education in local schools near Trabzon.
Mehmet moved to
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
to study law, where he ultimately attained a degree in law.
He served as a lawyer throughout the Ottoman Empire.
In the 1912 and 1914
Young Turk
The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, a ...
elections, Hafız Mehmet was elected as a deputy who represented Trabzon.
As a practicing lawyer, Mehmet was nicknamed "hukukcu" or lawyer.
Armenian Genocide witness
Hafız Mehmet served as a deputy in Trabzon, where an estimated 50,000 Armenians were killed during the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, 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 t ...
. Since Trabzon was a coastal city of the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
, the method employed to kill was mainly mass drowning. Hafız Mehmet witnessed such drownings of Armenians off the coast of
Ordu
Ordu () or Altınordu is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey and the capital of Ordu Province. The city forms the urban part of the Altınordu, Ordu, Altınordu district, with a population of 235,096 in 2023.
Name
Kotyora, the origina ...
, near Trabzon, and provided testimony of his eyewitness accounts during a 21 December 1918 parliamentary session of the Chamber of Deputies:

Hafız Mehmet stated that he and other deputies knew beforehand that the Young Turk government had an underlying aim to exterminate the Armenian population.
He also said that those tasked to carry out the responsibility were members of the
Special Organization, a special task force under the auspices of the imperial Ottoman government,
but that these individuals received orders directly from
Cemal Azmi
Cemal Azmi (1868 – April 17, 1922), also spelled Jemal Azmi, was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish politician and governor of the Trebizond Vilayet, Trebizond (now Trabzon) Vilayet (province) during World War I and the fina ...
, the governor of the Trabzon province.
Mehmet testified that he attempted to stop the massacres by trying to speak with Interior Minister
Talaat Pasha
Mehmed Talât (1 September 187415 March 1921), commonly known as Talaat Pasha or Talat Pasha, was an Ottoman Young Turk activist, revolutionary, politician, and convicted war criminal who served as the leader of the Ottoman Empire from 191 ...
directly but that Talat never responded to his inquiries and never questioned the actions of the politicians in Trabzon.
Hafız Mehmet's testimony is considered by genocide scholar
Vahakn Dadrian
Vahakn Norair Dadrian (; 26 May 1926 – 2 August 2019) was an Armenian- American sociologist and historian, born in Turkey, professor of sociology, historian, and an expert on the Armenian genocide.
Life
Dadrian was born in 1926 in Turkey to ...
as a representation of the "rarest corroborations of the fact of the complicity of governmental officials in the organization of the mass murder of the Armenians."
Others have provided similar testimonies including
Oscar S. Heizer, the American consul at Trabzon, who reported that "many of the children were loaded into boats and taken out to sea and thrown overboard." The Italian consul of Trabzon in 1915,
Giacomo Gorrini
Giacomo Gorrini (1859 in Molino dei Torti – 31 October 1950, in Rome) was an Italian diplomat and historian.
Biography
In 1886, he became the first director of the Italian Foreign Minister Archives. In the years 1911-1915 he served as Italian C ...
also wrote: "I saw thousands of innocent women and children placed on boats which were capsized in the Black Sea".
Later life and death
Hafız Mehmet was sentenced to death after the
İzmir
İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
trials of 1926.
The trials condemned thirty-six individuals for
attempting to assassinate Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
.
See also
*
Trabzon during the Armenian Genocide
Trebizond (now Trabzon) was a city in the Ottoman Empire where the Armenian genocide occurred. The method employed to kill was mainly by mass drowning, resulting in estimated deaths of 50,000 Armenians. The city was also an important location of ...
*
Witnesses and testimonies of the Armenian genocide
Witnesses and testimony provide an important and valuable insight into the events which occurred both during and after the Armenian genocide. The Armenian genocide was prepared and carried out by the Ottoman government in 1915 as well as in th ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehmet, Hafiz
1874 births
1926 deaths
Witnesses of the Armenian genocide
People from Sürmene
Executed Turkish people
20th-century executions for treason
Turkish politicians
Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni
People executed for treason against Turkey
People executed by Turkey by hanging