Mehmed Reshid

Mehmed Reshid
Mehmed Reşid
Governor of Diyarbekir
In office
25 March 1915 – 1918?
Preceded byHamid Bey
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born8 February 1873
Russian Empire
Died6 February 1919(1919-02-06) (aged 45)
Allied-occupied Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Cause of deathSuicide by firearm
Political partyCommittee of Union and Progress (CUP)
SpouseMazlûme Hanım
Alma materConstantinople Military School of Medicine
ProfessionDoctor
Known for1915 genocide in Diyarbekir

Mehmed Reshid (Turkish: Mehmed Reşid Şahingiray; 8 February 1873 – 6 February 1919)[1] was an Ottoman politician and physician, official of the Committee of Union and Progress, and governor of the Diyarbekir Vilayet (province) of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He is known for organizing the 1915 genocide of the Armenian and Assyrian communities of Diyarbekir, in which between 144,000 and 157,000 Armenians, Assyrians, and other Christians were killed.[2] During the Allied occupation of Istanbul, Reshid was arrested and his roles in the massacres were exposed. He later escaped from prison, but committed suicide after being cornered by local authorities.

According to historian Hans-Lukas Kieser, despite being one of the worst perpetrators, Reshid "is perceived as a patriot and martyr in official Turkish-nationalist diction."[3]

  1. ^ Üngör 2005, p. 39.
  2. ^ Üngör 2011, pp. 61–83, 88, 98, 106.
  3. ^ Kieser, Hans-Lukas (2019). "Narrating Talaat, Unlocking Turkey's Foundation: Talaat Pasha Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide, by Hans-Lukas Kieser, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2018, 552 pp., USD$39.95 (hardcover), ISBN 9780691157627". Journal of Genocide Research. 21 (4): 562–570. doi:10.1080/14623528.2019.1613835. S2CID 182444792.