Mehmed Talaat Pasha |
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Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire | |
In office 4 February 1917 – 8 October 1918 |
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Monarch |
Mehmed V Mehmed VI |
Preceded by | Said Halim Pasha |
Succeeded by | Ahmed Izzet Pasha |
Minister of finance | |
In office November 1914 – 4 February 1917 |
|
Monarch | Mehmed V |
Preceded by | Mehmet Cavit Bey |
Succeeded by | Abdurrahman Vefik Sayın |
Minister of interior | |
In office 23 January 1913 – 4 February 1917 |
|
Monarch | Mehmed V |
Personal details | |
Born | 1874 Kırcaali, Edirne Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (modern Kardzhali, Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria) |
Died | 15 March 1921 (aged 47) Berlin, Germany |
Nationality | Ottoman |
Political party | Committee of Union and Progress |
Religion | Bektashi Order |
Mehmed Talaat (Ottoman Turkish: محمد طلعت; Turkish: Mehmet Talât; 1874 – 15 March 1921), commonly known as Talaat Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: طلعت پاشا; Turkish: Talât Paşa), was one of the triumvirate known as the Three Pashas that de facto ruled the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was one of the leaders of Young Turks.
His career in Ottoman politics began by becoming deputy for Edirne in 1908, then minister of the interior and minister of finance, and finally grand vizier (equivalent to prime minister) in 1917. Acting as the minister of interior, Talaat Pasha on 24 April 1915 the arrest and deportation of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, most of them being ultimately murdered, and on 30 May 1915 requested the Tehcir Law (Temporary Deportation Law); these events initiated the Armenian Genocide. He is widely considered the main perpetrator of the genocide.
On the night of 2–3 November 1918 and with the aid of Ahmed Izzet Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha (the two main perpetrators of the genocide) fled the Ottoman Empire. Talaat was assassinated in Berlin in 1921 by Soghomon Tehlirian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, as part of Operation Nemesis.