Mahmut Esat Bozkurt

Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (1892 – 21 December 1943) was a Turkish jurist, politician, government minister and academic. His birth name was Mahmut Esat. But after the adaptation of the Turkish Surname Law in 1934, he chose the surname Bozkurt in remembrance of the Grey Wolf, a symbol for Turkdom. The surname also refers to the Turkish steamer S.S. Bozkurt in the Lotus case. He was in the intellectual environment of the Turkish Hearths for almost two decades.

Life Mahmut Esat was born to Hasan Bey of Hacı Mahmutoğulları in Kuşadası, Aydın Vilayet during the Ottoman Empire era in 1892. He finished the idadi (high school) in İzmir in 1908. The same year he entered the Istanbul University's School of Law, from which he graduated in 1912. He traveled to Fribourg, Switzerland for further studies.

In June 1919, after Greek landing at Smyrna, he returned home to join the Kemalists in the Turkish War of Independence. He secretly traveled in an Italian ship together with Saraçoğlu. As Minister of Economy, he attempted to alleviate the financial situation for the farmers and together with the leader of the Nationalist Movement Mustafa Kemal advocated for the Turkification of the Turkish economy at the First Economic Congress in Izmir. It was Mahmut Esat, who introduced the Swiss Civil Code in Turkey in 1926. Mahmut Esat is known as the progenitor of Turkish civil code.

Lotus case Mahmut Esat was also known by his struggles in an international trial named the Lotus case. On 2 August 1926, a French steamship named S.S. Lotus collided on high seas with the Turkish steamer S.S. Boz-Kourt causing the death of eight Turkish seamen. As the lieutenant on watch duty of the French vessel was arrested by the Turkish government, French government accused Turkey in the Permanent Court of International Justice claiming that Turkey had no right to arrest any French person. The French side was represented in court by the renowned law professor Jules Basdevant. Mahmut Esat personally defended the Turkish position in court. The court rejected France's position.

Political views Regarding women's rights, he rejected polygamy, the muslim veil or privileges for a man when it comes to divorce. He was a member of the environment of the Turkish Hearths since his times in Switzerland.