İsmâil Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was a Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and convicted war criminal who served as the Ottoman Empire's Minister of War from 1914 to 1918. Along with Talaat and Djemal, he was one of the Three Pashas that ruled the Ottoman Empire during World War I and one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides.
While stationed in Ottoman Macedonia, Enver joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization affiliated with the Young Turks movement that was agitating against Sultan Abdul Hamid II's despotic rule. He was a key leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which reestablished the Constitution and parliamentary democracy in the Ottoman Empire. Along with Ahmed Niyazi, Enver was hailed as "hero of the revolution". However, a series of crises in the empire, including the 31 March Incident, the Balkan Wars, and the power struggle with the Freedom and Accord Party, left Enver and the Unionists disillusioned with liberal Ottomanism. After the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état brought the CUP directly to power, Enver became War Minister, while Talaat assumed control over the civilian government.
As war minister and de facto Commander-in-Chief, Enver was one of the most powerful figures in the Ottoman government. He initiated the formation of an alliance with Germany, and was instrumental in the Ottoman entry into World War I. Enver led a disastrous attack on Russian forces in the Battle of Sarikamish, after which he blamed Armenians for his defeat. Following defeat in World War I, Enver, along with other leading Unionists, escaped the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Military Tribunal convicted him and other Unionists and sentenced them to death in absentia for bringing the empire into World War I and organizing massacres against Greeks and Armenians. Enver sought to return during the Turkish War of Independence, but Mustafa Kemal refused to allow him to join the Turkish National Movement. He attempted to realise his pan-Turkic ideals by leading the Basmachi Revolt against the Bolsheviks in Bukhara, where he was killed in 1922.
As Enver rose through the ranks of the military, he was known by increasingly esteemed titles, including Enver Efendi (انور افندی), Enver Bey (انور بك), and finally Enver Pasha. "Pasha" was the honorary title granted to Ottoman military officers upon promotion to the rank of Mirliva (major general). In the Republic of Turkey, he became a controversial figure due to his rivalry with Kemal, but his image was rehabilitated in the 1990s by Turkish President Süleyman Demirel, who praised his contributions to Turkish nationalism. In 1996, his remains were repatriated and reburied in Turkey.
İsmail Enver was born in Constantinople (Istanbul) on 23 November 1881. Enver's father, Ahmed (c. 1860–1947), was either a Gagauz bridge-keeper in Monastir (Bitola), or an Albanian small town public prosecutor in the Balkans. His mother Ayşe Dilara was a Tatar. According to Şuhnaz Yilmaz, he was of Gagauz descent. His uncle was Halil Pasha (later Kut). Enver had two younger brothers, Nuri and Mehmed Kâmil, and two younger sisters, Hasene and Mediha. He was the brother-in-law of Lieutenant Colonel Ömer Nâzım.
At age six, Enver moved with his father to Monastir, where he attended primary school. He studied at several military institutions. In 1902, he graduated from the Ottoman Military Academy making him a mektebli. In the context of the late Hamidian era mekteblis were educated officers hailing from the new military colleges, as opposed to the older alaylı officers which did not receive formal educations, resulting in some in the latter group being illiterate. His classmate in the military academy was the first president of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), and the two quickly developed a rivalry with one another.
Between 1903 and 1908, Enver was stationed in various locations in Ottoman Macedonia, where he was involved in counter-insurgency operations during the Macedonian Struggle. He fought no less than 54 engagements, mostly against Bulgarian bands, developing a reputation as an expert counter-insurgent. During his service, he became convinced of the need for reforms in the Ottoman military.
By 1905 Enver was recognized for his service with distinction. He became a lieutenant colonel was awarded the fourth and third class Mecidiye medals, fourth class Osmaniye medal, and a gold medal of merit for his outstanding achievements in military operations against Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian insurgents. This did not mean he was immune from the suspicions of Yıldız Palace. He was interrogated by the secret police for alleged seditious activity against the government, but he was not convicted. These events radicalized Enver's perceptions of nationalism, and a sympathy for the Young Turks as he became skeptical of the Hamidian regime.
Enver, through the assistance of his uncle, Halil Kut, became the twelfth member of the nascent Ottoman Freedom Society (OFS). The OFS later merged with the Paris-based Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) led by Ahmed Rıza. The CUP gained access to the Third Army through Enver. Upon his return to Monastir in 1906, Enver formed a CUP cell within the town and worked closely with Ottoman officer Kâzım Karabekir. Enver became the main figure in the CUP Monastir branch, and he initiated Ottoman officers like Ahmet Niyazi bey and Eyüp Sabri into the CUP organisation.
In the early twentieth century some prominent Young Turk members such as Enver developed a strong interest in the ideas of Gustave Le Bon. For example, Enver saw deputies as mediocre and in reference to Le Bon he thought that as a collective mind they had the potential to become dangerous and be the same as a despotic leader. As the CUP shifted away from the ideas of members who belonged to the old core of the organisation to those of the newer membership, this change assisted individuals like Enver in gaining a larger profile in the Young Turk movement.
In Ohri (modern Ohrid) an armed band (çete) called the Special Muslim Organisation (SMO) composed mostly of notables was created in 1907 to protect local Muslims and fight Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) bands. Enver along with Sabri recruited the SMO and turned it into the Ohri branch of the CUP with its band becoming the local CUP band. CUP Internal headquarters proposed that Enver go form a CUP band in the countryside. Approving the decision by the committee to assassinate his brother-in-law Lieutenant Colonel Ömer Nâzım, Enver under instructions from CUP headquarters traveled from Selanik (Thessaloniki) to Tikveş on 26 June 1908 to establish a band. CUP headquarters conferred upon Enver the title of "CUP Inspector General of Internal Organisation and Executive Forces".
On 3 July 1908, Niyazi, protesting the rule of Abdul Hamid II, fled with his band from Resne (modern Resen) into the mountains where he initiated the Young Turk Revolution and issued a proclamation that called for the restoration of the constitution of 1876. Following his example, Enver in Tikveş, and other officers such as Sabri in Ohri, also went into the mountains and formed guerilla bands. It is unclear whether the CUP had a fixed date for the revolution; in comments made in an interview following the event Enver stated that they planned for action in August 1908, yet events had forced them to begin the revolution at an earlier time. For the revolt to get local support Enver and Niyazi played on fears of possible foreign intervention. Enver led a band composed of volunteers and deserters. For example, he allowed a deserter who had engaged in brigandage in areas west of the river Vardar to join his band at Tikveș. Throughout the revolution, guerilla bands of both Enver and Niyazi consisted of Muslim (mostly Albanian) paramilitaries.
Enver sent an ultimatum to the Inspector General on 11 July 1908 and demanded that within 48 hours Abdul Hamid II issue a decree for CUP members that had been arrested and sent to Constantinople to be freed. He warned that if the ultimatum was not complied with by the Inspector General, he would refuse to accept any responsibility for future actions. In Tikveș a handwritten appeal was distributed to locals calling for them to either stay neutral or join with him. Enver possessed strong authority among fellow Muslims in the area where he resided and could communicate with them as he spoke both Albanian and Turkish. During the revolution, Enver stayed in the homes of notables, and as a sign of respect they would kiss his hands since he had earlier saved them from an attack by an IMRO band. He stated that the CUP had no support in the countryside apart from a few large landowners with CUP membership that lived in towns, yet they retained influence in their villages and were able to mobilise the population for the cause. Whole settlements were enrolled into the CUP through councils of village elders convened by Enver in Turkish villages of the Tikveş region. As the revolution spread by the third week and more officers deserted the army to join the cause, Enver and Niyazi got like minded officials and civilian notables to send multiple petitions to the Ottoman palace. Enver wrote in his memoirs that while he still was involved in band activity in the days toward the end of the revolution he composed more detailed rules of engagement for use by paramilitary units and bands.