İsmet İnönü

Millî Şef İsmet İnönü
2nd President of Turkey
In office 11 November 1938 – 22 May 1950
Prime Minister	Celal Bayar Refik Saydam Ahmet Fikri Tüzer Şükrü Saracoğlu Recep Peker Hasan Saka Şemsettin Günaltay
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Celâl Bayar
1st Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 20 November 1961 – 20 February 1965
President	Cemal Gürsel
Preceded by	Emin Fahrettin Özdilek
Succeeded by	Suat Hayri Ürgüplü
In office 4 March 1925 – 25 October 1937
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Preceded by	Ali Fethi Okyar
Succeeded by	Celal Bayar
In office 30 October 1923 – 22 November 1924
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Preceded by	Ali Fethi Okyar (as Prime Minister of the Government of the Grand National Assembly)
Succeeded by	Ali Fethi Okyar
2nd Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office 10 November 1938 – 8 May 1972
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Bülent Ecevit
Chief of the General Staff of Turkey
In office 20 May 1920 – 3 August 1921
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Fevzi Çakmak
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
In office 26 October 1922 – 21 November 1924
Prime Minister	Rauf Orbay Ali Fethi Okyar
Preceded by	Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk
Succeeded by	Şükrü Kaya
Member of the Senate of Turkey
In office 20 November 1972 – 25 December 1973
Constituency	appointed by President for Life
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 25 October 1961 – 20 November 1972
Constituency	Malatya (1961, 1965, 1969)
In office 14 May 1950 – 27 May 1960
Constituency	Malatya (1950, 1954, 1957)
In office 28 June 1923 – 10 November 1938
Constituency	Edirne (1923, 1927, 1931, 1935)
Personal details
Born	Mustafa İsmet (1884-09-24)24 September 1884 Smyrna (now İzmir), Aidin Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	25 December 1973(1973-12-25) (aged 89) Ankara, Turkey
Resting place	Anıtkabir, Ankara
Political party	Republican People's Party
Spouse(s)	Mevhibe İnönü
Children	4, including Erdal İnönü
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire (1903–1920) Ankara Government (1920–1923)  Turkey (1923–1926)
Branch/service	Ottoman Army Army of the Grand National Assembly Turkish Army
Rank	Orgeneral
Battles/wars	31 March Incident First Balkan War Second Balkan War World War I Turkish War of Independence First Battle of İnönü Second Battle of İnönü Battle of Dumlupınar

Mustafa İsmet İnönü (Turkish pronunciation: [isˈmet ˈinœny]; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish general^[1] and statesman, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three times: from 1923 to 1924, 1925 to 1937, and 1961 to 1965.

İnönü is acknowledged by many as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's right-hand man, with their friendship going back to the Gallipoli campaign. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, he served as the first Chief of the General Staff (Turkish: Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umumiye Reis Vekili) from 1922 to 1924 for the regular Turkish army, during which he commanded the forces of the battles of First and Second İnönü. Mustafa Kemal bestowed İsmet with the surname İnönü, where the battles took place, when the 1934 Surname Law was adopted. He was also chief negotiator in the Mudanya and Lausanne conferences for the Ankara government, successfully negotiating away the Sevre treaty for the Treaty of Lausanne. As his Prime minister from 1923 to 1924 and 1925 to 1937 İnönü executed many of Atatürk's modernizing and nationalist reforms.

İnönü succeeded Atatürk as president of Turkey after his death in 1938, and was granted the official title of Millî Şef ("National Chief") by the parliament.^[2] As president and chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), İnönü initially continued Turkey's one party state and Kemalist programs by supporting projects like Village Institutes. His governments implemented notably heavy statist economic policies. The Hatay State was annexed in 1939, and Turkey was able to maintain an armed neutrality during World War II, joining the Allied powers only three months before the end of the European Theater. The Turkish Straits crisis prompted İnönü to build closer ties with the Western powers, with the country eventually joining NATO in 1952, though by then he was no longer president.

Factionalism between statists and liberals in the CHP eventually lead to the creation of the Democrat Party in 1946. İnönü held the first multiparty elections in the Republic's history that year, beginning Turkey's multiparty period. 1950 saw a peaceful transfer of power to the Democrats when the CHP suffered defeat in the elections. For ten years İnönü served as the leader of the opposition before returning to power as Prime Minister after the 1961 election, held after the 1960 coup-d'etat. His chairmanship saw the start of the CHP's shift to "Left of Center" as a new party cadre led by Bülent Ecevit became more influential. İnönü remained leader of the CHP till 1972, whereupon he was defeated by Ecevit in a leadership contest. He died on 25 December 1973 of a heart attack, at the age of 89, and is interred opposite to Atatürk's mausoleum at Anıtkabir in Ankara.

Early life (1884–1903)[]

İsmet İnönü was born in Smyrna (now known in English as İzmir), Aidin Vilayet to Hacı Reşit (pronounced [haˈdʒɯ ɾeˈʃit]) and Cevriye (pronounced [dʒeˈvɾije]; later Cevriye Temelli), and was of Kurdish descent on his father's side and of Turkish descent through his mother.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Hacı Reşit was retired from the First Examinant Department of Legal Affairs Bureau of the War Ministry (Harbiye Nezareti Muhakemat Dairesi Birinci Mümeyyizliği),^[8] who was born in Malatya and a member of Kürümoğulları family of Bitlis. Cevriye was a daughter of Müderris (professor) Hasan Efendi who belonged to the ulema^[8] and was a member of a Turkish family of Razgrad.^[9] Due to his father's assignments, the family moved from one city to another. Thus, Ismet completed his primary education in Sivas and graduated Sivas Military Junior High School (Sivas Askerî Rüştiyesi) in 1894. And then he studied at Sivas School for Civil Servants (Sivas Mülkiye İdadisi) for a year.

Early military career (1903–1918)[]

Ismet graduated from the Imperial School of Military Engineering (Mühendishane-i Berrî-i Hümâyûn) in 1903 as gunnery officer, and received his first military assignment in the Ottoman Army. He joined the Committee of Union and Progress. Ismet was a staff member of the Action Army which marched on Constantinople during the 31 March Incident. He won his first military victories by suppressing two major revolts against the struggling Ottoman Empire, first in Rumelia and later in Yemen,^{[citation needed]} whose leader was Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din. He served as a military officer during the Balkan Wars on the Ottoman-Bulgarian front. During World War I, he served with the Ottoman military rank of Miralay (arbitrarily the equivalent of Colonel or Senior Colonel (Brigadier)) and worked under Mustafa Kemal Pasha during his assignments at the Caucasus and Palestine fronts.^{[citation needed]}

Turkish War of Independence (1918–1923)[]

After losing the Battle of Megiddo against General Edmund Allenby during the last days of World War I, he went to Istanbul and was assigned Undersecretary of the Ministry of War and then General Secretary of the Documentation in the Military Council.

After the military occupation of Constantinople on 16 March 1920, he decided to pass to Anatolia to join the Turkish National Movement. He and his chief of staff Major Saffet (Arıkan) wore soldier uniform and left Maltepe in the evening of 19 March 1920 and arrived at Ankara on 9 April 1920.

He was appointed the commander of the Western Front of the Army of the Grand National Assembly (GNA), a position in which he remained during the Turkish War of Independence. He was promoted to the rank of Mirliva (arbitrarily the equivalent of Brigadier General or Major General; the most junior General rank with the title Pasha in the Ottoman and pre-1934 Turkish Army) after winning the First Battle of İnönü which took place between 9 and 11 January 1921. He also won the subsequent Second Battle of İnönü which was fought between 26 and 31 March 1921. During the Turkish War of Independence, he was also a member of the GNA in Ankara.

İnönü was replaced by Mustafa Fevzi Pasha, who was also the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense at the time, as the Chief of Staff of the Army of the GNA after the Turkish forces lost major battles against the advancing Greek Army in July 1921, as a result of which the cities Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya and Eskişehir were temporarily lost. He participated as a staff officer (with the rank Brigadier General) to the later battles, until the final Turkish victory in September 1922 in which he was the commander of the front.

Chief negotiator in Mudanya and Lausanne[]

After the War of Independence was won, İsmet Pasha was appointed as the chief negotiator of the Turkish delegation, both for the Armistice of Mudanya and for the Treaty of Lausanne.

The Lausanne conference convened in late 1922 to settle the terms of a new treaty that would take the place of the Treaty of Sèvres. Inönü became famous for his stubborn resolve in determining the position of Ankara (then known as Angora in English and French) as the legitimate, sovereign government of Turkey. After delivering his position, Inönü turned off his hearing aid during the speeches of British foreign secretary Lord Curzon. When Curzon had finished, Inönü reiterated his position as if Curzon had never said a word.^[10]

Prime Minister (1925–1937)[]

Turkish delegation after having signed the Treaty of Lausanne. The delegation was led by İsmet İnönü (in the middle) and Rıza Nur (on the left wearing the top hat).

İnönü as the Prime Minister during the single party period

İnönü served as the Prime Minister of Turkey for several terms, maintaining the system that Mustafa Kemal had put in place. He acted after every major crisis (such as the Sheikh Said rebellion or the attempted assassination in İzmir against Mustafa Kemal) to restore peace in the country. In October 1923 he suggested to make Ankara the capital of Turkey, which successively was approved by the parliament.^[11] He shortly stepped down as prime minister between 1923 and 1924. He replaced prime minister Fethi Okyar at a time the seriousness of the situation around the Sheikh Said Rebellion was realized by the Turkish Government in spring 1925.^[12] While dealing with the Sheikh Said revolt he proclaimed a Turkish nationalist policy and encouraged the turkification of the non-Turkish population.^[13] In September 1925, following the suppression of the Sheikh Said rebellion, he presided over the Reform Council for the East (Turkish: Şark İslahat Encümeni) which prepared the Report for Reform in the East (Turkish: Turkish: Şark İslahat Raporu), which recommended to impede an establishment of a Kurdish elite, to forbid non-Turkish languages and the creation of regional administrative units called Inspectorates-General, which were to be governed with martial law.^[14] Following this report, three Inspectorates-Generals were established in the Kurdish areas comprising several provinces.^[15]

He tried to manage the economy with heavy-handed government intervention, especially after the 1929 economic crisis, by implementing an economic plan inspired by the Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union. In doing so, he took much private property under government control. Due to his efforts, to this day, more than 70% of land in Turkey is still owned by the state.^{[citation needed]} Desiring a more liberal economic system, Atatürk dissolved the government of İnönü^[16] and appointed Celâl Bayar, the founder of the first Turkish commercial bank Türkiye İş Bankası, as Prime Minister.

"National Chief" period (1938–1950)[]

Domestic Policy[]

Celâl Bayar and İnönü visiting the Bakırköy Cloth Factory

After the death of Atatürk on 10 November 1938,^[17] İnönü was viewed as the most appropriate candidate to succeed him, and was elected the second President of the Republic of Turkey. He attempted to build himself a cult of personality by being the official title of "Millî Şef", i.e. "National Chief".

İnönü would dismiss Bayar's government because of differences between the two on economic policy in 1939. İnönü was an avowed statist, while Bayar wished for a more liberal economy. The Hatay State, which declared independence from French Syria in 1938, would be annexed in the next year. 1940 saw the establishment of the Village Institutes, in which well performing students from the country side were selected to train as teachers and return to their hometown to run community development programs. İnönü also hoped to move on from one party rule by taking incremental steps to multiparty politics. He hoped to accomplish this through the establishment Independent Group as a force of opposition in the parliament, but they fell short of expectations under war-time conditions.

World War II[]

World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency, and both the Allies and the Axis pressured İnönü to bring Turkey into the war on their side.^[18] The Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara in April 1939 while the British sent Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and the French René Massigli. On 23 April 1939, Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu told Knatchbull-Hugessen of his nation's fears of Italian claims of the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum and German control of the Balkans, and suggested an Anglo-Soviet-Turkish alliance as the best way of countering the Axis.^[19] In May 1939, during the visit of Maxime Weygand to Turkey, İnönü told the French Ambassador René Massigli that he believed that the best way of stopping Germany was an alliance of Turkey, the Soviet Union, France and Britain; that if such an alliance came into being, the Turks would allow Soviet ground and air forces onto their soil; and that he wanted a major programme of French military aid to modernize the Turkish armed forces.^[20]

The signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939 drew Turkey away from the Allies; the Turks always believed that it was essential to have the Soviet Union as an ally to counter Germany, and thus the signing of the German-Soviet pact undercut completely the assumptions behind Turkish security policy.^[21] With the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, İnönü chose to be neutral in World War II as taking on Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time would be too much for Turkey, through he signed a treaty of alliance with Britain and France on 19 October 1939.^[22] It was only with France's defeat in June 1940 that İnönü abandoned the pro-Allied neutrality that he had followed since the beginning of the war.^[22] A major embarrassment for the Turks occurred in July 1940 when the Germans captured and published documents from the Quai d'Orsay in Paris showing the Turks were aware of Operation Pike—as the Anglo-French plan in the winter of 1939–40 to bomb the oil fields in the Soviet Union from Turkey was codenamed—which was intended by Berlin to worsen relations between Ankara and Moscow.^[23] In turn, worsening relations between the Soviet Union and Turkey were intended to drive Turkey into the arms of the Reich.^[22] After the publication of the French documents relating to Operation Pike, İnönü had to sign an economic treaty with Germany that placed Turkey within the German economic sphere of influence, but İnönü would go no further towards the Axis.^[22]

Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference on 4–6 December 1943

In the first half of 1941, Germany which was intent upon invading the Soviet Union went out of its way to improve relations with Turkey as the Reich hoped for a benevolent Turkish neutrality when the German-Soviet war began.^[24] At the same time, the British had great hopes in the spring of 1941 when they dispatched an expeditionary force to Greece that İnönü could be persuaded to enter the war on the Allied side as the British leadership had high hopes of creating a Balkan front that would tie down German forces, and which thus led a major British diplomatic offensive with the Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden visiting Ankara several times to meet with İnönü.^[25] İnönü always told Eden that the Turks would not join the British forces in Greece, and the Turks would only enter the war if Germany attacked Turkey.^[26] For his part, Papen offered İnönü parts of Greece if Turkey were to enter the war on the Axis side, an offer İnönü declined.^[26] In May 1941 when the Germans dispatched an expeditionary force to Iraq to fight against the British, İnönü refused Papen's request that the German forces be allowed transit rights to Iraq.^[27]

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Ankara on 30 January 1943 for a conference with President İnönu, to urge Turkey's entry into the war on the allied side.^[28] Churchill met secretly with İnönü in January 1943, inside a railroad car at the Yenice Station near Adana. However, by 4–6 December 1943, İnönü felt confident enough about the outcome of the war, that he met openly with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference. Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill had thought that Turkey's continuing neutrality would serve the interests of the Allies by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East. But the early victories of the Axis up to the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate a possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies. Turkey had maintained a decently-sized Army and Air Force throughout the war, and Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the Balkans. Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky, and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies.

İnönü knew very well the hardships which his country had suffered during decades of incessant war between 1908 and 1922 and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. The young Turkish Republic was still re-building, recovering from the losses due to earlier wars, and lacked any modern weapons and the infrastructure to enter a war to be fought along and possibly within its borders. İnönü based his neutrality policy during the Second World War on the premise that Western Allies and the Soviet Union would sooner or later have a falling out after the war.^[29] Thus, İnönu wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the United States and the United Kingdom would stand beside Turkey in the event of a Soviet invasion of the Turkish Straits after the war. In August 1944 İnönü broke off diplomatic relations with Germany and on 5 January 1945, İnönü severed diplomatic relations with Japan.^[30] Shortly afterwards, İnönü allowed Allied shipping to use the Turkish straits to send supplies to the Soviet Union and on 25 February 1945 he declared war on Germany and Japan.^[27]

The post-war tensions and arguments surrounding the Turkish Straits would come to be known as the Turkish Straits crisis. The fear of Soviet invasion and Joseph Stalin's unconcealed desire for Soviet military bases in the Turkish Straits^[29] eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO in February 1952.^[31]

Conditions of armed neutrality[]

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Maintaining an armed neutrality proved to be disruptive for the young republic. The country existed in a practical state of war throughout the Second World War: military production was prioritized at the expense of peace time goods, rationing and curfews were implemented, and high taxes were put in place, causing severe economic hardship for many. One such tax was the Wealth Tax (Varlık Vergisi), a discriminatory tax which demanded very high one-time payments from Turkey's non-Muslim minorities. This tax is seen by many to be a continuation of the Jizya tax payed by dhimmis during Ottoman times, or Millî Iktisat (National Economy) economic policy implemented by the Committee of Union and Progress regime three decades ago.

A famous story of İnönü happened in a meeting in Bursa for the 1969 general elections. A young man yelled at him; "You let us go without food!" by implying not joining World War II. İnönü replied him by saying "Yes, I let you go without food, but I did not let you become fatherless" by implying death of millions of people from the both sides of World War II.^[32]

Multi-party period (1946–1972)[]

İnönü as the Prime Minister in 1964

Under international pressure to transform the country to a democratic state, İnönü allowed for Turkey's first multiparty elections to be held in 1946. The CHP's competition would be the Democrat Party (DP), which separated from CHP following the "motion with four signatures". However the 1946 elections were infamously not free and fair; voting was carried out under the gaze of onlookers who could determine which voters had voted for which parties, and where secrecy prevailed as to the subsequent counting of votes. Free and fair national elections had to wait till 1950, and on that occasion İnönü's government was defeated.

Between 1946 and 1950 the CHP had to deal with the DP as an opposition force in parliament during which some Kemalist programs were terminated due to anti-Communist hysteria brought on by the DP. Village Institutes and People's Rooms would be closed by the CHP due to the pressure.

Leader of the Opposition[]

In the 1950 campaign, the leading figures of the Democrat Party used the following slogan: "Geldi İsmet, kesildi kısmet" ("Ismet arrived, [our] fortune left" ). İnönü presided over the peaceful transfer of power to the DP leaders: Celâl Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Bayar would serve as Turkey's third president, and Menderes its first Prime Minister not from the CHP. For ten years İnönü served as the leader of the opposition. In the lead up to the elections prepared for 1960, İnönü faced almost regular harassment from authorities and DP supporters, to the point where he was almost lynched. İnönü returned to power as Prime Minister after the 1961 election, held after the military coup-d'etat in 1960, which shut down the DP.

Post 27 May Coup[]

İnönü's tomb at Anıtkabir

İnönü's forces did not gain enough seats in the legislature to win a majority in the elections, so he formed coalition governments with the Republican Villagers Nation Party and neo-Democrat parties Justice Party and New Turkey Party and until 1965. During this time, the CHP would start to define itself as "Left of Center," as a new party cadre led by Bülent Ecevit became more influential (which the party is still faithful to, to this day).

During İnönü's premierships, two more coup d'etats were attempted by the army in 1962 ( [tr]) and 1963 ( [tr]), both of which were suppressed. General  [tr] would be executed in 1964 for conducting both coups.

In 1964 İnönü renounced the and took actions against the Greek minority.^[33][34] The Turkish Government also strictly enforced a long‐overlooked law barring Greek nationals from 30 professions and occupations, for example Greeks could not be doctors, nurses, architects, shoemakers, tailors, plumbers, cabaret singers, ironsmiths, cooks, tourist guides, etc.^[33] and 50,000 more Greeks were deported. These actions were done because of the growing anti-Greek sentiment in Turkey after the Cyprus issue became a reality.^[35] The United States would prohibit Turkish intervention on the island. İnönü would survive an assassination attempt while he was in Ankara that year.^[36]

İnönü's government would establish the National Security Council, Turkish Statistical Institute, and Turkey's leading research institute TÜBİTAK. Turkey signed the Ankara agreement, the first treaty of cooperation with the European community, and also increased ties with Iran and Pakistan. The army was modernized and intelligence services reformed as well.

İnönü lost both the 1965 and 1969 general elections to a much younger man, Justice Party leader Süleyman Demirel. İnönü remained leader of CHP till 1972, whereupon an interparty crisis over the endorsement of the 1971 military memorandum lead to his defeat by Ecevit in a leadership contest. This would be the first overthrow of a party leader in a leadership contest in the Republics history. İnönü would resign his parliamentarianship afterwords. Being a former president he was a member of the Senate in the last year of his life.^[37]

He died on 25 December 1973 of a heart attack, at the age of 89, and was interred opposite to Atatürk's mausoleum at Anıtkabir in Ankara.

Legacy[]

İnönü University and Malatya İnönü Stadium in Malatya are named after him, as is the İnönü Stadium in Istanbul, home of the Beşiktaş football club.

Personal life[]

President İnönü (far right) with his family, c.1940s; from left: his wife Mevhibe, and their three children, Ömer, Özden (later Toker), and Erdal.

A highly educated man, İnönü was able to speak fluently in Arabic, English, French and German in addition to his native Turkish.^{[citation needed]} During the First World War, on 13 April 1916, Ismet married Mevhibe, who was a daughter of an Ashraf (Eşraf) of Ziştovi (present day Svishtov) Zühtü Efendi. They had three children: Ömer, Erdal and Özden (married to Metin Toker).^[8] Erdal İnönü became a physicist and later a statesman. He served as secretary general of the CHP successor parties SODEP and SHP.

Media[]

• 

  Text of the message by President İsmet İnönü on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

See also[]

• Pembe Köşk – Private home from 1925 to 1973
• Çankaya Köşkü – The Presidency of the Republic of Turkey
• List of high-ranking commanders of the Turkish War of Independence
• Treaty of Lausanne (1923)
• 1st government of Turkey
• 2nd government of Turkey
• 4th government of Turkey
• 26th government of Turkey
• 27th government of Turkey
• 28th government of Turkey

References[]

Further reading[]

• Kinross, Lord, Atatürk: A Biography of Mustafa Kemal, Father of Modern Turkey (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1965).
• Liebmann, George W. Diplomacy between the Wars: Five Diplomats and the Shaping of the Modern World (London I. B. Tauris, 2008)
• Mango, Andrew, The Turks Today (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004). ISBN 1-58567-615-2.
• Pope, Nicole and Pope, Hugh, Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004). ISBN 1-58567-581-4.

External links[]

• Biography (İsmet İnönü Foundation)
• Newspaper clippings about İsmet İnönü in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• Archival video on YouTube
• Interview during 1971 coup on YouTube