Mehmed Talat Pasha

Mehmed Talat Pasha (b. April 10, 1874 – d. March 15, 1921), Ottoman politician, chairman of the Union and Progress Party; after the coup d'état in 1913, a member of the triumvirate (along with Ismail Enver Pasha and Ahmed Djemal Pasha). In 1914, in order to conclude a secret treaty against Russia, Talat Pasha, together with Enver Pasha, held negotiations with L. Kereselidze, a member of the “Committee of Independent Georgia”. Talat Pasha was accused of participating in the genocide of Armenians during World War I. He headed the Ottoman delegation at the Brest-Litovsk Treaty negotiations, where he demanded that Russian troops leave the Caucasus.

With the help of Germany, he reached an agreement according to which “Russia had to immediately withdraw its troops from the Kars, Artaani and Batumi regions”. The government of the Transcaucasian Commissariat did not send its delegation to the conference. Therefore, the members of the “Committee of Independent Georgia”, who were working in Berlin during World War I, on their own initiative contacted the German Prince Leopold (Commander-in-Chief of the German Eastern Front) in order to protect the interests of Georgia. Through his mediation they met with Talat Pasha and Ottoman representatives and reached a certain agreement. After the defeat of the Ottomans in the war, Talat Pasha fled to Berlin, where he was killed by Dashnaktsutyun terrorists in 1921.

 

Literature: გიგინეი­შვი­ლი ო., თურქიზმი და ოსმალეთის საგარეო პოლიტიკა, თბ., 1963; სვანიძე  მ., 1914 წელს ოსმალეთსა და „სა­ქარ­თვე­ლოს განთავისუფლების კომიტეტს" შორის დადებული საიდუმლო ხელშეკრულება, წგ.: ქარ­თუ­ლი დიპლომატია. წელიწდეული, ტ. 2, თბ., 1995.

 

M. Svanidze