The first Prime Minister and the second President of the Republic of Turkey, soldier, and statesman İsmet İnönü was born in September 24, 1884 in İzmir. His father Reşit Bey was from Bitlisli Kürümoğulları who moved to Malatya and his mother Cevriye Hanım who was from Deliorman Region in Bulgaria. When he finished Sivas Military School (Primary) in 1895, he attended the Artillery Military School in 1903 and he graduated from the Military Academy at the head of his class in 1906. He was assigned to the Second Army in Edirne as a staff captain. In 1907 he worked in the Committee of Union and Progress for a while. He joined the Action Army in Yeşilköy which gathered to suppress the 31 March Incident. He served in the Fourth Corps General Staff which was sent to Yemen under the command of Ahmet İzzet Pasha and was promoted to the rank of major becoming the Chief of Staff in Yemen Military Department in 1912. He maintained peace negotiating with İmam Yahya by taking on his first permanent (diplomatic) mission here. He was in Çatalca during the (first) Balkan War.
He served as Chief of Staff Operations in the High Command during World War 1 and became lieutenant colonel in 1914. The following year, promoting to the rank of colonel, he was assigned to the Second Army Chief of Staff in Thrace. Later he was on duty in the Eastern Front and Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the Fourth, Twentieth and Third corps. During this period he worked with the Second Army Commander Mustafa Kemal. They created a close bond of friendship and he received a meaningful and significant register from him in 1917. He married Mevhibe Hanım in 1916 in İstanbul and immediately turned back to the front. He became the War Ministry (Ministry of Defense) Undersecretary in 1918 returning to the capital during the Mondros Armistice Agreement. He worked in the Supreme Military Council. In these years he continued his friendship with Mustafa Kemal.
Colonel İsmet Bey went to Ankara for a short period of time and returned in January, 1920. On the 19th of March in 1920 upon the summons of Mustafa Kemal he went secretly to Ankara one more time and took very important tasks for the War of Independence. Being elected as the Edirne representative, he participated in works and managed to found a regular army as the Commander of the Armed Forces. He was sentenced to death by the İstanbul government in June 1920. Being assigned to the Command of Western Front in May 4, 1921, he won the first and second Battles of İnönü. Promoting to the rank of general, he was started to be called as İsmet Pasha. He played an important role in the Battle of Sakarya and of Dumlupınar in 1922.
After the victory, he conducted negotiations of the Armistice of Mudanya in October 3, 1922. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Delegate of the Lausanne Peace Treaty in July 24, 1923. He established the first Republic government in October 30, 1923. On the 8th of November in 1924 he left the Prime Ministry and was reassigned to the same position in March 3, 1925 due to the Sheikh Said rebellion. When the surname law was adopted, Atatürk gave him the last name İnönü. After 15 years in the Prime Ministry he left the government by cause of some divergences in September 1937.
He was elected President unanimously by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) after the death of Atatürk in November 11, 1938. He worked in multi-directional way on intergovernmental platform to prevent Turkey going to World War 2 and he succeeded. He enabled a transition to a multi-party system and assigned the government legislating an honest election law in May 14, 1950
Being the Republican People’s Party (RPP) and the main opposition leader, he fought for democracy for ten years (1950-1960). As a result of 1960 coup d’état and the elections, he presided at three coalitions and continued this assignment until the 6th of February in 1965. He started left-of-center political view in RPP. As a consequence of disputes in the party, he resigned from the RPP and continued to be in the parliament as a senator in May 8, 1972. He died in Ankara on the 25th of December in 1973 and was buried in Anıtkabir upon the decision of the government. He had 4 children, among whom one died during the War of Independence, with Mevhibe Hanım. They had a role-model marriage. Their children: İzzet (1919-1921), Ömer (1924), Erdal (1926), Özden (1930).
