Today in History – 16 July

“Hero of Hamidiye” Rauf Orbay is dead

Hüseyin Rauf Orbay, who had been instrumental in the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, was born in İstanbul in 1881. After graduating from the Heybeliada Naval Academy, he joined the Ottoman navy as a lieutenant in 1899. Due to the raids he executed in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean as the commander of the Hamidiye cruiser during the Balkan War, he came to be known as the “Hero of Hamidiye.” He served as the Minister of the Navy at the end of the war. During that time, he signed the Armistice of Mudros as the chief deputy.

He left the military in 1919 and joined the National Struggle. He signed the Amasya Circular, and participated in the Congresses of Erzurum and Sivas. He traveled to İstanbul to partake in the last Ottoman Chamber of Deputies meeting on behalf of the Representative Committee and led the creation of the Felah-ı Vatan group (Alliance for the Liberation of the Fatherland). However, he was arrested by the British and exiled to Malta. After his release in 1921, he traveled to Ankara and joined the Grand National assembly. He served for some time as the Minister of Public Works, Prime Minister, and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

After the proclamation of the republic, he joined the ranks of the cofounders of the opposition party Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Partisi (Progressive Republican Party). When his party was shut down due to its alleged involvement in the Sheikh Said rebellion, he traveled to Austria for treatment. In 1926, he was sentenced to confinement in a fortress for 10 years in 1926 due to his alleged involvement in the assassination attempt in İzmir on Atatürk’s life. He implicitly denied all accusations. He refused to take advantage of the amnesty law of 1933 on the grounds that he was “not guilty.”

He returned to Turkey in 1935 upon the insistence of his family, resumed his political career, and entered the Grand National Assembly in 1939. Having served as ambassador to London between 1942 and 1944, Rauf Orbay taught lectures at universities and gave conferences until he died in İstanbul in 1964.