Tevfik Rüştü Aras

Tevfik Rüştü Aras (11 February 1883 – 5 January 1972) was a Turkish politician, serving as deputy and foreign minister of Turkey during the Atatürk era (1923–1938).

Early years Aras was born in 1883 in Çanakkale. He graduated from the French College of Beirut in Beirut. He served as a doctor in İzmir, Istanbul, and Thessaloniki . He became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress, and during his membership he met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

In 1918, he was a member of the high commission of health . At that time he married the journalist Evliyazade Makbule, who was the daughter of a wealthy family from İzmir.

Political career

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) was inaugurated in 1920 and Aras was elected to the parliament from Muğla. In his first period as a Member of Parliament (MP), he was appointed to the Independence Court of Kastamonu. In the autumn of 1920, he became one of the founders of the Communist Party of Turkey. Tevfik Rustu visited the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with Ali Fuat Cebesoy, when Mr. Cebesoy was appointed as ambassador to Moscow. He served as MP for İzmir in the second, third, fourth and fifth periods of TGNA, between 1923 and 1939.

When the Law on the Maintenance of Order was effected on 4 March 1925, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the third İsmet İnönü government. He stayed in office by keeping his position in all the cabinets until Atatürk died. He implemented Atatürk's foreign policy, held good relations with neighbouring countries and opposition to hegemonic powers. He visited Russia three times at the invitation of Maxim Litvinov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union. These visits took place in 1926 (Odessa), and in 1936 and 1937 (Moscow).

Aras was elected as the president of League of Nations during the Special Session of the Assembly Convened for the Purpose of Considering the Request of the Kingdom of Egypt for Admission to the League of Nations in Geneva, on 26–27 May 1937.

He was removed from his position as Foreign Minister right after Ataturk's passing away by the new Head of Republic Ismet Inonu. Aras and Inonu had different opinions in foreign affairs especially in Soviet relations, Inonu believed that Aras was more loyal to Ataturk rather than the government and conducting foreign affairs directly with him and finally Inonu had suspected Aras for lobbying against him before the Head of Republic election. This conflict prompted Aras to take his place in the opposition to Inonu, becoming a central figure in the anti-Inonu opposition bloc, next to Sukru Kaya and Celal Bayar. In 1938, Aras planned on removing Inonu from the spotlight of politics by having him appointed as Ambassador to Washington, a means of "exiling" him. In response, Inonu threatened Aras against this decision. This dispute would culminate in the appointment of Aras as Ambassador to London when Inonu became President. Aras supported the establishment of the Democratic Party (DP), but was soon dismissed by the DP following his attempt to include socialist ideas into the party program. He advocated for a conciliatory policy towards the Soviet Union to which the DP did not agree to.

He died on 5 January 1972 in İstanbul, and was laid to rest at the Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.

Role in the Armenian genocide Tevfik Rüştü Aras was the brother-in-law of Nazim Bey, one of the chief organizers of the Armenian genocide. Tevfik Rüştü Aras became Inspector-General of Health Services and was given the task to destroy the bodies of victims. He organized the disposal of Armenian corpses with thousands of kilos of lime over six months. The bodies were dumped into wells which were then filled with lime and sealed with soil. H.W. Glockler, a British POW, wrote in his memoirs that he had seen the bodies of murdered Armenians in Urfa thrown into large ditches and covered with lime.

In 1926, following the passage of the 'Settlement Law' designed to break up Kurdish majority areas in the eastern provinces, Aras justified the deportations to the British administrator of Iraq, Sir Henry Dobbs. Dobbs recorded that the government was 'determined to clear the Kurds out of their valleys, the richest part of Turkey to-day, and to settle Turkish peasants there,' adding that the Kurds 'were to be treated as were the Armenians.' Dobbs accounts: 'The Kurds would for many generations be incapable of self-government ... He always said long before the war that Turkey must get rid of the Albanians, Bulgarians and Arabs, and must become more homogeneous.'

Personal life He had a daughter from his marriage to Evliyazade Makbule called Emel, who later married Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, the minister of foreign affairs from 1957 to 1960.