Derviş Vahdeti

Derviş Vahdeti (1870 – 19 July 1909) was a Cypriot-born religious figure and Islamist politician. He was the leading figure of 31 March incident. He was executed on 19 July 1909 due to his role in the incident.

Biography Vahdeti was born in Cyprus in 1870. He was educated at a missionary school where he might first be familiar with the anti-semitic views supported by the British. He worked as a hafiz in Cyprus and joined the Naqshbandi order In 1902 he settled in Constantinople After a while he was exiled to Diyarbakır and soon returned to Constantinople. They demanded the annulment of the constitution, dissolution of the parliament, the expulsion of the Committee of Union and Progress members which were considered to be atheist, and the implementation of the Sharia as the constitution of the Empire. He called for military action to realize the group's goals.

In popular culture Vahdeti was implied in a story by Refik Halit Karay entitled "Dervish Hasan's Conscience" (Turkish: "Dede Hasan'ın Vicdanı").