Talaat Pasha

Turkish Ottoman politician (1874–1921)

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Lived 1874–1921, aged 47Turkey

Turkey PoliticiansPolitician

Wikipedia
45 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1874–1921
Aged 47
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He directed the arrests, deportations, and systematic killings that erased a million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Convicted in absentia, he fled to Berlin and was shot dead by a survivor in 1921.

Biography

About

Talaat rose through the Committee of Union and Progress during the Hamidian era, leading its Salonica chapter before the 1908 Young Turk Revolution restored parliament. Elected deputy from Adrianople, he became Minister of the Interior and helped topple Sultan Abdul Hamid II the following year. Crises in the Balkans and internal power struggles turned him and the Unionists from multicultural Ottomanism toward hard-line Turkish nationalism. In 1913 he and Ismail Enver staged a coup; after their partner's assassination, an autocratic triumvirate—Talaat, Enver, and Ahmed Cemal—ruled the Empire. H…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Talaat Pasha

Talaat Pasha

said1918

What on earth do you want? The question is settled. There are no more Armenians.

— After the German Ambassador persistently brought up the Armenian question in 1918. Quoted in The History of the Armenian Genocide (2003) by

Talaat Pasha

saidundated

The Turkish elements here referred to were shortsighted, fanatical, and yet sincere in their belief. The public encouraged them, and they had the general approval behind them.

— Quoted in "In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century" - Page 53 - by Omer Bartov, Phyllis Mack - Religion – 2001

Talaat Pasha

saidundated

The Porte, acting under the same obligation, and wishing to secure the safety of its army and its citizens, took energetic measures to check these uprisings.

— Quoted in "In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century" - Page 53 - by Omer Bartov, Phyllis Mack - Religion – 2001

Talaat Pasha

saidundated

We need to tranquilize our neighbors. State officials ought to remain in ignorance. Let the Armenians wait, opportunities will certainly come our way too.

— Quoted in "Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination" - Page 405 - by Ben Kiernan - Social Science - 2007

Talaat Pasha

saidundated