Ahmet Rıza
Ahmet Rıza | |
|---|---|
Rıza in 1909 | |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 17 December 1908 – 1911 | |
| Monarchs | Abdul Hamid II Mehmed V |
| Deputy | Mehmed Talaat, Ruhi al-Khalidi |
| Preceded by | Hasan Fehmi Pasha (1878) |
| Succeeded by | Halil Menteşe |
| Senator | |
| In office 18 April 1912 – 1919 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 17 December 1908 – 18 January 1912 | |
| Constituency | Istanbul (1908) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1858 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (modern Istanbul, Turkey) |
| Died | 26 February 1930 (aged 71–72) |
| Party | Committee of Union and Progress (1894–1910) |
| Other political affiliations | Vahdet-i Milliye Cemiyeti (1918) |
| Relations | Selma Rıza (sister) |
| Parent(s) | Ali Rıza Naile Sabıka |
| Alma mater | École nationale supérieure d'Agronomie de Grignon University of Sorbonne |
Ahmet Rıza Bey (1858 – 26 February 1930) was a Turkish activist, intellectual, politician, author, educator, polymath, and a prominent Young Turk. He was an early leader of the Committee of Union and Progress.
During the nearly twenty years he lived in Paris, he led the Paris branch of the Committee of Ottoman Union, which would later be named the Committee of Union and Progress, and together with Doctor Nâzım Bey he founded the Meşveret, the first official publication of the society, where he was exiled. In addition to his work as an opposition leader, Rıza doubled as a positivist ideologue.
Following the 1908 revolution he was proclaimed as the "Father of Liberty" and became the first President of the revived Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Ottoman Parliament. By 1910 he distanced himself from the CUP as it turned more radical and authoritarian. In 1912, he was appointed as a Senator. He was the leading negotiator during the failed talks for a military alliance between the Ottoman Empire, France, and Britain for World War I. During the war, he was one of the only politicians who opposed and condemned the Armenian genocide while it was ongoing. In the Armistice Era he was appointed as president of the Senate and prosecuted his former Unionist comrades. After a falling out with Damat Ferid Pasha he once again went to France, where he supported Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk)'s Nationalists. He returned to Turkey after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne.