Djemal Pasha

Turkish general and politician (1872-1922)

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Lived 1872–1922, aged 50Turkey

Turkey PoliticiansPolitician

Wikipedia
41 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1872–1922
Aged 50
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

One of the three men who ruled the Ottoman Empire through its collapse in World War I, his name sits at the edge of the Armenian genocide — implicated, but less directly than his partners. The question of how much he knew, ordered, or resisted has never settled.

Biography

About

Ahmed Djemal Pasha was born on 6 May 1872 and rose through the Ottoman military, stationed in Salonica, where he joined the reformist Committee of Union and Progress. Early in his career he was praised by Christian missionaries and helped Armenian victims of the Adana massacres. He fought in the Balkan Wars, developed a bitter rivalry with Mustafa Kemal, and took command of Constantinople after the Raid on the Sublime Porte. Alongside Talaat and Enver, he became one of the Three Pashas who led the empire during the First World War; his three-year authoritarian rule in Syria alienated the popul…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Djemal Pasha

Djemal Pasha

said17 Jun 1920

With us it is not a question of Bolshevism or democracy, but of life or death. A decision in favor of a Soviet could not be opposed by the Young Turks.

— Quoted in "Djemal Pasha In Moscow" - New York Times - June 17, 1920.

Djemal Pasha

saidundated

I shall not return to Constantinople until I have conquered Egypt!

— Quoted in "On Secret Service East of Constantinople" - Page 77 - by Peter Hopkirk - History - 2001.

Djemal Pasha

saidundated

In the program of the Turkish government, nothing is said of a Turkification of the Arabs. I have never intended anything like that nor even thought of it.

— Quoted in "The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation" – by Thomas Philipp, Birgit Schäbler – 1998 – Page 321.

Djemal Pasha

saidundated