Talaat Pasha (nonfiction)

Mehmed Talaat (Ottoman Turkish: محمد طلعت‎; Turkish: Mehmet Talât; 10 April 1874 – 15 March 1921), commonly known as Talaat Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: طلعت پاشا‎; Turkish: Talât Paşa), was one of the triumvirate known as the Three Pashas that de facto ruled the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was one of the leaders of the Young Turks and ruled the empire during the Armenian Genocide, which he initiated as Minister of Interior Affairs in 1915.

His career in Ottoman politics began by becoming deputy for Adrianople (Edirne) in 1908, then minister of the interior and minister of finance, and finally grand vizier (equivalent to prime minister) in 1917. Acting as the minister of interior, Talaat Pasha ordered on 24 April 1915 the arrest and deportation of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, most of them being ultimately murdered, and on 30 May 1915 requested the Tehcir Law (Temporary Deportation Law); these events initiated the Armenian Genocide. He is widely considered the main perpetrator of the genocide, and thus is held responsible for the death of between 800,000 and 1,800,000 Armenians.

On the night of 2–3 November 1918 and with the aid of Ahmed Izzet Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha (the two main perpetrators of the genocide) fled the Ottoman Empire. Talaat was assassinated in Berlin in 1921 by Soghomon Tehlirian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, as part of Operation Nemesis.

See also

• Talaat Pasha @ Wikipedia