Ekrem Cemilpaşa

Ekrem Cemilpaşa or Ekrem Cemil Paşa (Burc) or Ekrem Cemilpaşazade (22 February 1891, Diyarbakır – 31 December 1973, Damascus) was a Kurdish politician and officer.

Ekrem Cemilpaşa (1st on the right in the back row) with Kadri Cemilpaşa, Müksü Hamza and Haco Agha

Early life and education

He was born in 1891 to Kasım Bey, a member of the Cemilpaşazade family, one of the important Kurdish families in Diyarbakır.[1] He attended the military school in Diyarbakir and he followed up on his education in Istanbul. He was able to study mathematics in Switzerland from 1913 on, to where he was sent to by his father.[1] As returned from Europe to Istanbul, he founded Hevî, an association for Kurdish students.[2]

Diplomatic career

As World War I began, Ekrem Cemilpaşa was called to defend the Ottoman Empire.[1] After the end of the war, he returned to Diyarbakır, where he was one of the founders of the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan, and was in charge of the publication of the Jîn magazine.[2] He attempted to gain the support of the British diplomats for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, but his approach was not awarded.[1] Following the suppression of the Sheikh Said Rebellion, he was amongst the 500 Kurdish notables who were deported from Diyarbakır.[3] Later he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In prison in Kastamonu, he taught other Kurdish prisoners French, but as he wanted to teach also Kurdish, it was forbidden.[4] He was released from prison in 1929 and left Turkey for Syria with his cousins Kadri, Mehmed and Bedri Cemilpaşa.[2] In Syria he joined the Xoybûn, and was elected its secretary general between 1939 and 1944.[2] He stayed in Syria until his death in 1973.[1]

References
  1. Özoğlu, Hakan (2012). Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries. SUNY Press. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0791485560.
  2. Gorgas, Jordi Tejel; Tejel, Jordi (2007). Le mouvement kurde de Turquie en exil: continuités et discontinuités du nationalisme kurde sous le mandat français en Syrie et au Liban (1925-1946) (in French). Peter Lang. p. 132. ISBN 978-3-03911-209-8.
  3. Üngör, Umut (2009). "Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950" (PDF). University of Amsterdam. p. 247–248. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  4. Üngör, Umut (2009), p. 253
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