İshak Sükuti

İshak Sükuti (1868-1902) was an Ottoman-Kurdish revolutionary,[1] writer and medical doctor by profession.

İshak Sükuti
Born	1868 Diyarbakır, Ottoman Empire
Died	9 February 1902 Sanremo, Kingdom of Italy
Citizenship	Ottoman
Education	Medicine
Occupation	Physician, writer
Movement	Committee of Union and Progress (1889–1902)

Biography

İshak Sükuti was born in Diyarbakır, Ottoman Empire into a poor family.[1][2] After his graduation from Kulüli Military Medical School, Sükuti registered at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy in Sarayburnu in 1887. He joined Ibrahim Temo, Mehmed Reshid and fellow Kurd Abdullah Cevdet in forming a progressive secret society called Ittihad-ı Osmani Cemiyeti, later known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and originally devoted to overthrowing the absolute rule of Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II.[1][3] By completing his education, he became a medical doctor. Working at Haydarpaşa hospital he opposed the administration of sultan Abdülhamid II. In 1896 the Ottoman government discovered a plot to overthrow the sultan by CUP members and most of them such as Sükuti were exiled to Tripolitania where he later escaped and went to Geneva, Switzerland.[4] Along with Abdullah Cevdet, he published a CUP newspaper Osmanlı Gazetesi (Ottoman Gazette) in Geneva and at times both were assisted by Tigrane Zaven, an Armenian intellectual.[4][5] Sükuti contributed to the publication with anonymous articles and Osmanli was published through his financial assistance.[6]

On 9 February 1902 Sükuti died in Sanremo.[7] His death had profound consequences on remaining members who belonged to the old core of the CUP organisation and were not part of other newer factions.[7] During his lifetime the leadership and assistance of Sükuti had made it possible for the remaining members of the old CUP to function and the membership acknowledged that reality and grieved his death.[7] Sükuti was well respected among fellow members of the old CUP.[7] Ahmet Rıza, a leader of the new CUP group wrote in Mechveret Supplement Français a short obituary note.[7] Rıza held a low opinion of the old CUP faction and was open about having no respect for Sükuti.[7] Following Sükuti's death an additional problem arose for the membership of the old CUP organisation.[7] In life he was their archivist for nearly several years and had gathered a large amount of documents on the organisational and internal matters of the CUP.[7] After his death the sultan ordered Ottoman diplomats to take ownership of those papers and they were transferred to the palace with the event being a blow to the old CUP faction as Ottoman Intelligence had possession of sensitive information.[7]

References

1. Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. London: IB Tauris. pp. 141, 143. ISBN 9781845112875.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Meşrutiyet uğrunda öldüğü içün Meşrutiyetle yadnamı dirilen bir ölü “San Remo’da İshak Sükûtî”, 1, 15 Teşrin-i evvel 1325, pp. 14-15.
3. Jongerden, Joost; Verheij, Jelle (2012). Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915. BRILL. p. 69. ISBN 9789004225183.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. Zürcher, Erik Jan (1984). The Unionist Factor: The Rôle of the Committee of Union and Progress in the Turkish National Movement, 1905-1926. BRILL. p. 16. ISBN 9789004072626.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. Hanioğlu 2001, p. 95.
6. Hanioğlu 2001, pp. 11, 321.
7. Hanioğlu, M. Șükrü (2001). Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902-1908. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780199771110.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Ramsaur, Ernest Edmondson (1957). The Young Turks: Prelude to the Revolution of 1908. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781258336929.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)