- Rauf Orbay
Huseyin Rauf Orbay (1881–
16 July 1964 ) was a Turkishsailor andstatesman , born inIstanbul .He served as a naval officer in the Ottoman Navy, he was the captain of the
cruiser "Hamidiye" during theBalkan War . OnOctober 31 ,1918 , he signed Mondros ceasefire treaty as the Minister of Navy, in order to help national Turkish forces to regroup and reorganise. When theTurkish War of Independence was started, he resigned from his position and went toAnkara to collaborate withKemal Atatürk . He was elected as a member of the representative committee in theCongress of Erzurum on23 July ,1919 . He joined theCongress of Sivas as Sivas delegate onSeptember 4 ,1919 and was elected deputy chairman.When the War of Independence ended he became the first prime minister of the new Republic of Turkey on
11 August 1922 . In 1924 he was one of the founders of the first opposition party in Turkey "Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkasi" (Progressive Republican Party ). When this party was closed in 1925, he went to exile inEurope for 10 years. Later, he was cleared of all accusations and became a member of the Turkish parliament.During
World War II he was the Turkish ambassador inLondon . He always firmly believed in the Republic of Turkey and always stressed thatKemal Atatürk was the only person who could have organised and lead the transformation of the crumbling Ottoman Empire into modern Turkey.Autobiography
*"Cehennem Değirmeni" ("Windmill of Hell"), Emre Publishing, September 1993 [ [http://www.ezgii.org/28/cehennem-degirmeni/ Book summaries] tr icon]
References
* "Rauf Orbay, Siyasi Hatiralar", Örgün Yayinevi, Istanbul, 2003
* [http://www.kafkas.org.tr/izbirakan/rauforbay.html Kafkas Foundation] tr icon
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