| Summary: | The dramatic life of Bekir Sami-bey Kundukh reflects the contradictory situation in which many Ottoman officials of North Caucasian origin found themselves during the pivotal period between the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Turkish Republic. It was during this period that Bekir Sami-bey Kundukh, a prominent figure in the history of Turkish diplomacy of the early Kemalist period (before 1923) and, later, one of the first opponents of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, reacted more as a politician than a diplomat. Born into the family of Musa Kunduhov (Musa Pasha), a leader of the Muhajirin movement among North Caucasian Muslims, Bekir Sami had a brilliant career as an Ottoman official and diplomat, especially in the Ottoman Arab vilayets of Beirut and Aleppo on the eve and during World War I. However, his later career and activities represent a dramatic contradiction between his former Ottoman identity and the new ideas of Turkish nationalism. Similar to other non- Turkic members of the new Turkish government led by Atatürk, the shift in the national identity and their attempts to react to new challenges symbolize a painful transformation of the former poly-ethnic Ottoman elite towards one of either accepting Turkish nationalism or leaving the political scene completely. Dimitry R. Zhantiev. Obsahuje bibliografii
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