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TheThreePashas (Ottoman Turkish:اوچ پاشالر,Turkish:Üç Paşalar), also known as theYoung Turk triumvirate[1][2] orCUP triumvirate,[3] were the dominant political and military figures who effectively ruled theOttoman Empire after the1913 Ottoman coup d'état and the subsequent assassination ofMahmud Shevket Pasha. It consisted ofMehmed Talaat Pasha,[a] theGrand Vizier (prime minister) andMinister of the Interior;Ismail Enver Pasha, theMinister of War and Commander-in-Chief to the Sultan; andAhmed Djemal Pasha, the Minister of theNavy and governor-general ofSyria.
The Three Pashas were all members of the Central Committee of theCommittee of Union and Progress, a political movement that had begun with reformist ideals but by the 1910s had become an autocratic and nationalist ruling faction. The trio were largely responsible for the Empire'sentry into World War I in 1914 on the side of theCentral Powers and also largely responsible for thegenocide of some one millionArmenians. The Turkish public has widely criticized the Three Pashas for drawing the Ottoman Empire intoWorld War I and its subsequent defeat.[5] All three met violent deaths after the war—Talaat and Cemal were assassinated by theArmenian Revolutionary Federation as part ofOperation Nemesis, whilst Enver died leading theBasmachi Revolt nearDushanbe, present-dayTajikistan.
After their deaths, Talaat and Enver's remains have been reburied at theMonument of Liberty in Istanbul[6][7] and many of Turkey's streets have been controversially renamed in their honour.[8]
_Pasha_visiting_the_Dome_of_the_Rock.jpg)
While thetriumvirate consisted of Talaat, Enver, and Cemal, some sayHalil Bey was a fourth member of this clique.[9] HistorianHans-Lukas Kieser asserts that this state of rule by the Three Pashas is only accurate for the year 1913–1914, and that Talat Pasha would increasingly become a more central figure within the Union and Progress party state, especially once he also became Grand Vizier in 1917.[10]Erik-Jan Zürcher and Taner Akçam claims that two factions dominated the Ottoman Empire during the Great War, a military camp led by Enver and the party/civilian camp led by Talaat.[11] Alternatively, it would also be accurate to call the Unionist regime aclique or even anoligarchy, as many prominent Unionists held some form ofde jure orde facto power. Other than the Three Pashas and Halil Bey, personalities such asDr. Nazım,Bahaeddin Şakir,Mehmed Reşid,Ziya Gökalp, and the party's secretary generalMidhat Şükrü also dominated theCentral Committee without formal positions in the Ottoman government.
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Western scholars hold that after the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, these three men became thede facto rulers of the Ottoman Empire until its dissolution following World War I.[12] They were members of the Committee of Union and Progress,[13] a progressive organisation that they eventually came to control and transform into a primarilyPan-Turkist political party.[14]
The Three Pashas were the principal players in theOttoman–German Alliance and the Ottoman Empire's entry into World War I on the side of theCentral Powers.[15] One of the three, Ahmed Djemal, was opposed to an alliance with Germany, and French and Russian diplomacy attempted to keep the Ottoman Empire out of the war; but Germany was agitating for a commitment. Finally, on 29 October, the point of no return was reached when AdmiralWilhelm Souchon tookSMS Goeben,SMS Breslau, and a squadron of Ottoman warships into theBlack Sea (seepursuit of Goeben and Breslau) andraided the Russian ports ofOdessa,Sevastopol, andTheodosia. It was claimed that Ahmed Cemal agreed in early October 1914 to authorize Souchon to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Ismail Enver had only once taken control of any military activity (Battle of Sarıkamış), and left theThird Army in ruins.[16] TheFirst Suez Offensive and theArab Revolt are Ahmed Cemal's most significant failures.[17]
._German_Emperor_Wilhelm_II._in_conversation_with_Enver_Pascha._October_1917_-_NARA_-_17391108_(restored).jpeg)
Asde facto rulers, the Three Pashas have been considered[by whom?] the masterminds behind the Armenian genocide. After the war the three were put on trial (in their absence) and sentenced to death, although the sentences were not carried out. Talaat and Cemal were assassinated in exile in1921 and 1922 respectively by Armenian revolutionaries; Enver died in aRed Army ambush in Tajikistan in 1922 while trying to lead ananti-Russian insurrection.[18]
After World War I and the ensuingTurkish War of Independence, much of the population of the newly establishedRepublic of Turkey as well its founderMustafa Kemal Atatürk[19] widely criticised the Three Pashas for having caused the Ottoman Empire's entrance into World War I,[5] and the subsequent collapse of the state.[20] As early as 1912, Atatürk (then just Mustafa Kemal) had severed his ties to the Three Pashas' Committee of Union and Progress, dissatisfied with the direction that they had taken the party,[21] as well as developing a rivalry with Enver Pasha.[20] Although Enver later attempted to join the Turkish War of Independence, theAngora (Ankara) government under Atatürk blocked his return to Turkey and his efforts to join the war effort.
