Today in History – 24 December

İnönü’s sentimental reply to Colonel Sadık

As early as 1906, Colonel Mehmet Sadık Bey had become the director of the Bitola (Manastır) branch of the Committee of Union and Progress and had attained great fame after the proclamation of the Second Constitution in 1908.

Sadık Bey fell at odds with the Committee of Union and Progress in 1911 and formed an opposition faction called Hizb-i Cedid. Despite the Committee’s reconciliatory stance, he stood among the cofounders of the chaotic “Hürriyet ve itilaf” (Liberty and Entente). In 1912, his name was involved in the Halâskâr Zâbitân rumors. He fled the country after the Mahmut Şevket Pasha assassination on June 11, 1913. During these tumultuous times, there were even rumors claiming that he had sent a telegraph to the Czar of Russia and asked him to invade istanbul.

He sided with the British during the Armistice. When he could not het the ministry position he requested from Damad Ferit Pasha, he tuned on the governments of both istanbul and Ankara. He sought asylum from the British High Commission on November 5, 1922 and fled to Romania aboard a British vessel.

He was included in the “The list with 150 names” of personae non grate put into effect by the Grand National Assembly and was denaturalized in 1927. He did not return to the country after the law restricting the entry of these people into Turkey was lifted in 1938. In 1940, when he was exactly 80 years old, he appealed to President İsmet İnönü and expressed his desire to return to Turkey on the condition that he would not be considered a traitor and his right to retirement would be reinstated. Despite having shown no remorse, the reply İnönü gave to Colonel Sadık clearly demonstrates the Pasha’s humanistic side:

Return to your country, publish your memoirs, let your voice be heard, and wait for the verdict the conscience of the people will see fit.

When, on February 1941, Colonel Sadık returned to his country, he got overexcited as he kissed the soil of his native land and died on the same night, as the protagonist of a real tragedy.