Ismail Hakki Okday As A Soldier And Diplomat

Abstract

Ismail Hakki Okday, one of the military and political figures of recent history, was born in Athens on October 29, 1881. After completing his primary and secondary education in Berlin, he came to Istanbul in 1895 when Ahmet Tevfik Pasha was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Here, he graduated first from Galatasaray Sultanisi (High School) and then from the Military Academy. In this process, Ismail Hakki Bey, who was elected to the aide-de-camp of Abdulhamid II, had some privileges such as being promoted to a higher rank almost every year and fulfilling protocol duties, but these were lost with the Tasviyei Rüteb law (law on the abolition of ranks) that came into force after the Second Constitutional Era. Ismail Hakki Bey, who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy as a staff captain, which he started in 1910 with the encouragement of his father, returned to Istanbul to participate in the Balkan Wars, which broke out while he was attending this school, and was appointed aide-de-camp of the Ioannina Independent Corps in 1912. This mission was his first front-line experience. After the outbreak of World War I, he served as a headquarters officer in Istanbul, Baghdad, Sofia and Palestine for approximately three years. Ismail Hakki Bey, who married Fatma Ulviye Sultan, the elder daughter of Sultan Vahdettin, in 1916, was appointed as his father-in-law's aide-decamp in January 1918 and started to undertake protocol-oriented duties again. He gave external support to the War of Independence, which started after the occupation of Izmir, and joined the Ankara movement towards the end of January 1922. Although he was overshadowed by doubts for a certain period of time, he continued his duty as chief of staff of the 16^th Division, to which he was appointed in April, until the end of the War of Independence and was rewarded with two Medals of Independence for his usefulness. Ismail Hakki Bey, who was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in November of the same year, retired at his own request at the end of 1925. From this date on, he continued his duty as Consul General in Antwerp, Moscow, Bari, Basra, Vienna, Piraeus and central organizations for another 22 years and retired in 1947. Ismail Hakki Okday, who was deemed worthy of an award in 1973 for his contributions to the Foreign Affairs Organization, passed away at the age of 96. In this study, document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used, İsmail Hakkı Okday's military and diplomatic activities between 1900 and 1947 were discussed mainly in the light of archival documents, as well as copyrighted works and memoirs. In this context, the Ottoman documents in the Republic of Türkiye Presidency State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives, the Republic Archives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Turkish Diplomatic Archives, the Ministry of National Defense General Directorate of Management Services Archives Department and the Turkish History Association were Latinized and filed, and the information obtained was recorded. It was interpreted by comparing memoirs and copyrighted works in the context of historical facts.

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