Mustafa Muğlalı

Mustafa Muğlalı 1316-P. 21[1]
Yarbay Mustafa Muğlalı
Born	December 0, 1882(1882-12-00) Muğla, Ottoman Empire
Died	December 11, 1951(1951-12-11) (aged 69) Istanbul, Turkey
Buried at	State Cemetry
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire  Turkey
Years of service	Ottoman: 1901–1921 Turkey: September 20, 1921 – July 26, 1947
Rank	Orgeneral
Commands held	Chief of Staff of Adana Area Command, Chief of Staff of the X Corps, 44th Division 18th Division, 13th Division, 10th Division, 3rd Division, 11th Division, 41st Division, Chief of Staff ot the Third Army, Deputy Second Chief of the General Staff, 57th Division, I Corps, Istanbul Command, III Corps, X Corps, member of the Supreme Military Council, Third Army, member of the Military Supreme Council
Battles/wars	Balkan Wars First World War War of Independence

Mustafa Muğlalı (1882; Muğla – December 11, 1951; Istanbul) was an officer of the Ottoman Army and the general of the Turkish Army.

Killing 33 Kurdish People

In 1943 Muğlalı 33 Kurdish villagers in a barrack located in Van's Özalp district, where they were executed by firing squad orders from Gen. Muğlalı.^[2] The general was eventually convicted of the murders and later died in prison, but in 2004 the military barracks in the district where he killed his victims were named after him. The incident dates back to July 1943, when a group from the Kurdish Milan tribe, a community that resides in Iran, crossed the Turkish border and smuggled some livestock out of the region. The smugglers were not captured during the ensuing gendarmerie operation, but gendarmes arrested 40 people residing in Özalp who were related to the Milan family that had smuggled the livestock out. Following court proceedings, the court released 35 suspects but put five under arrest on charges of alleged involvement in livestock theft. Despite the court's order for their release, 33 villagers, including a woman and an 11-year-old child, were executed by firing squad. At the end of the following investigation, Muğlalı was given the death penalty on March 2, 1950, which was legal at the time. However, the Military Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the initial court decision and the sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison. He died of a heart attack on Dec. 11, 1951 at the age of 71. Kurdish poet Ahmed Arif's “33 Bullets” is an elegy to the victims of the tragedy.^[3]

See also

• List of high-ranking commanders of the Turkish War of Independence

Sources

1. ^ T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademlerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 134. (Turkish)
2. ^ http://www.todayszaman.com/mobile_detailn.action?newsId=261877
3. ^ http://www.todayszaman.com/mobile_detailn.action?newsId=261877

Military offices
Preceded by Kâzım Orbay	Inspector of the Third Army February 25, 1943 – September 19, 1945	Succeeded by Sabit Noyan

Persondata
Name	Muglali, Mustafa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1882
Place of birth	Muğla, Ottoman Empire
Date of death	December 11, 1951
Place of death	Istanbul, Turkey