AHMET FERİT TEK 1876-1971

AHMET FERİT TEK 1876-1971

Ahmet Ferit Tek was born in 1876 in Bursa.

He graduated from the Military Academy in 1895; was dismissed from the army for his interest in politics and exiled to Tripoli. During his exile he married Müfide Hanım, mother of Emel Esin; one of the daughters of Şevket Bey, Chief Assistant of Recep Pasha from Young Turks.

Ahmet Ferit Tek served as a member of the First Turkish Parliament representing Kütahya Province and as Minister of Public Works in Damat Ferit’s Government. He published the first statement of Mustafa Kemal in his IFHAM newspaper. Upon invasion of the Ottoman Parliament by Occupation Forces, he went to Ankara, and he served as a member of Turkish Grand National Assembly representing Istanbul. He served as Minister of Finance from 1920 to 1921, and he was appointed as special envoy to Paris by Mustafa Kemal just before the declaration of the Republic. Ferit Tek served as Minister of Interior in two governments formed afterwards, and he played an effective role in quashing the rebellious bandits in Anatolia and in drafting of Code of Villages. He represented Republic of Turkey as Ambassador in Paris in 1921 and from 1923 to 1925, in London from 1925 to 1932, in Warsaw from 1933 to 1939 and in Tokyo from 1939 to 1943.

Ahmet Ferit Tek passed away in 1971 in Moda İstanbul.