ENVER PASHA, his TESKELATI MAHSUSA, and his DIARY

Enver Pasha, or İsmail Enver Bey Ben Ahmed, was born in Istanbul 1882. His father was Turkish and his mother was Albanian. He was graduated from the Military Academy of Istanbul and became an officer in the army.
He was then made a Major in 1906 and served in the Third Army Corps in Salonika, where Enver Bey (later Pasha) with Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) were both recruited to become members of the (Committee of Union and Progress or CUP) and active members of the Young Turks movement.
In 1908, he raised with General Hussein Helmi the revolt in the mountainous sector of Macedonia, requesting the implementation of 1876 constitution which was annulled by Sultan Abdulhamid. He entered then Istanbul in a victorious military parade. He became a political figure and The Hero of Liberty"(Hürriyet Kahramanı).

Later he served as military attaché to Berlin, where he remained in the years 1909-1911. In 1909, he went back to Istanbul and assisted with his friend Mahmut Shawkat in the fall of Sultan Abdulhamid. Then he continued his post in Berlin until the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911.

When Italy declared war against Turkey and invaded Libya he quit his post in Berlin and went back to Istanbul and founded, with the aid of some friends, the Secret Private Organization of Teskilati Mahsusa تشكيلاتي مخصوصة which was a secret society beyond the knowledge of Ottoman Government, with the objective of guarding the Foreign Security of the Empire and Promotion of the idea of Pan-Islamism, i.e. against western colonialism and all provincial separatism. Its members were mainly military and with the only secret cooperation of the Ministry of War, at the time.
This secret organization under Enver Pasha decided to form two volunteer groups of Fedayeen Officers منظمة الضباط الفدائيين to be sent into Cyrenaica and Tripolitania to help the Libyans form an effective resistance against the Italian invasion. The first group was to be headed by Enver himself and to enter Libya secretly from the Egyptian borders. The second group was headed by Major Ali Fathi, who was the Turkish Military Attaché in Paris, was to enter Libya secretly from the Tunisian borders, Major Fathi was later to become commander of Gharyan garrison. The two groups are assisted financially through the Ministry of War, however, they have to find local means of support as well.

On the first of December, 1911, Major Enver Pasha, chief of T. M. and Turkish hero of the people, was established and accepted by all of Eastern Libya tribes as an Overall General, for wasn’t he the envoy of the Sultan and his brother in law (Enver was fiancé of Nejia, the Sultan’s niece). He made his headquarters in Ain Bu Mansour Camp near Derna معسكر عين بو منصور .
Reading his diary, gives us the picture of a young man very dedicated to the cause of the Ottoman Empire itself, and a young man very much impressed with the Libyans and their strong belief in their cause and freedom of their country. Enver organized all aspects of a local government, both military and civic and seemed to be a very good organizer. The tribes chiefs accepted him and paid him homage and the Chief of Senusse Movement – Sidi Ahmed Sherif – accepted his leadership, and Enver himself had great respect for ‘ this honorable and dignified Sheik’. As Safia mentioned in her post of Wednesday, March 29, 2006, Enver founded schools and even sent some elite students to be educated in Turkey, some of them came back and joined Ahmed Sherif and some remained in Turkey and fought for the Empire.
When Enver arrived in Cyrenaica he found a local militia of about 900 Mujahid, he succeeded in organizing a trained local army of over sixteen thousand soldiers.
After Turkey had signed the Lausanne Peace Treaty with Italy on 18th October, 1912, Enver, as a military officer, had to leave and go back to Istanbul. He appointed Commander Aziz Almasri عزيز المصرى as chief military commander in Cyrenaica under the overall leadership of Ahmed El Sherif, and Sulliman Al Barouni became the overall military and civic commander in Tripolitania.
The officers of Teskilati Mahsusa تشكيلاتي مخصوصة left their arms, what funds they had with the Libyan Mujahedeen and some of them remained as volunteers.

The following are some excerpts from his last entry of his diary dated on 25th November, 1912:

الخامس و العشرين من نوفمبر 1912

لقد آل ذلك البرعم إلى الذبول بعد أن دبت فيه الحياة ، و من ثم فاننى سأغادر مملكتي برقة بعد أن أصبحت لها مكانة خاصة عندي. فعندما تسلمت مهام عملي هنا مارست سلطات واسعة و هاأنذا الآن عائد إلى اسطنبول لأعمل و كأنني ملازم أول. و طبقا للبرقية الواردة إلينا من اسطنبول فان من سيبقى هنا سيبقى على مسؤوليته.
أما من جانبي على الأقل فقد مهدت السبيل لضمان استمرارية النضال. و قد يفسر خصومي هذا القرار بطريقتهم الخاصة فيجدون فيه فرصة سانحة للافتراء على و تشويه سمعتي و لكنى سوف لن أهتم بذلك فكل همي خدمة بلادي في أي مكان تبدو الحاجة فيه إلى أكثر مساسا .
و في عشية مغادرتي وصل من بنغازي التلاميذ الذين نويت إرسالهم إلى المدارس التركية في اسطنبول و قد أدوا أمامي النشيد الوطني . و عند سماعي لأنغامهم و هم ينشدون دار في خلدي مدى بشاعة أن نسلم هذه الأرض و أهلها العظام ، و لم أتمالك نفسي إزاء هذا الموقف فاغرورقت عيناي بالدموع . لقد كان كل شي هنا على وشك التفتق و الازدهار، و ما أنجزناه في غضون عام واحد من العمل الدءوب أضحى يبشر بالآمال الكبار.
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أما الإدارة المدنية فقد نظمت بأسلوب بسيط جدا، فالبلاد بأسرها كانت مقسمة من قبل إلى مناطق حسب وجود الزوايا فيها. لقد ألزم مشائخ الزوايا، و هم أكثر الناس فطنة و تأثيرا في مناطقهم ، ألزموا عند مغادرتي بإدارة شئون الحكومة في مجتمعاتهم.
أما فيما يخص الجيش النظامي ، فأنه يتألف من ثلاثة ألوية مشاة ، و كل لواء من ثلاث كتائب و كل كتيبة من ثلاث سرايا و كل سرية من مائة و خمسون جنديا ، و خمس عشرة امرأة كمساعدات في المعسكر. و بالإضافة إلى ذلك يوجد ثلاث سرايا للمدفعية مزودة باثني عشر مدفعا ، و ثلاث بطاريات مدفعية مزودة كل منها بأربعة مدافع.
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لقد أنشأت عشر مدارس ابتدائية بها حوالي ألف تلميذ و مدرستين للبنات يهما مائة و خمسين تلميذة. و طبقا للاتفاقية مع اسطنبول فقد بعثت بمائتي تلميذ إلى المدارس التركية معظمهم من أبناء الشيوخ و كان من بينهم ثلاثون تلميذا أرسلوا إلى المدرسة العسكرية و عشرون تلميذا للمشاة و ستة تلاميذ لسلاح المدفعية و أربعة تلاميذ لسلاح الفرسان و خمسة تلاميذ بعثوا إلى المدرسة الطبية و ستة إلى مدرسة البيطرة و أربعة تلاميذ لمدرسة الصيدلة و ستون تلميذا إلى مدرسة صف الضباط و خمسة عشر تلميذا لمعاهد المعلمين و البقية أرسلوا إلى مصانع الأسلحة و مؤسسات صناعية أخرى.
و قبيل رحيلي بأيام قلائل تم تحويل قلعة القيقب الضخمة إلى مدرسة. فهذه القلعة يمكن أن تستخدم كمدرسة عادية ، و هي ملحقة بمدرسة مهنية و تجارية ، يمكنها أن تعلم مهارات في شعب تجارية و زراعية و تتبعها مزرعة صغيرة و بها ضابط يقوم بمهام المدير. أما عن النظام المستعمل في المدرسة فانه ذو طبيعة عسكرية. فلكل تلميذ بندقية يتدرب عليها لمدة ساعتين يوميا. و يستمر الطلاب في هذه المدرسة لمدة سنتين يتخرجون بعدها كمدرسين في المدارس المتجولة بين القبائل.
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اننى في هذه اللحظات في غاية السعادة لان سيدي أحمد الشريف ، شيخ السنوسية الكبير ظل وفيا لإيمانه الراسخ حتى أخر لحظة. فقد رفض بكل فخر و اعتزاز هدايا ملك ايطاليا كما رفض الاقتراح الايطالي الداعي إلى إنشاء زاوية كبيرة له في بنغازي ، انه كان و لا يزال حقا ذلك الرجل صاحب القلب الكبير.

No doubt that what Anwar Pasha did in helping the Libyan resistance with his colleagues at our time of need was very great. However, Enver was a patriot and his aim was mainly to salvage and protect his beloved Ottoman Empire. But, alas, the disease was terminal and incurable. Centuries of ignorance, neglect and oppression have passed and the only treatment was probably surgical. The flame that founded the Ottoman Empire was distinguished decades ago and the Empire went into decline and corruption until it became the Sick Man of Europe. On the other side, the World has entered into a new phase and the Super Western Colonial Powers were as greedy and hungry as vultures around an almost dead lion.
What Enver Pasha tried to accomplish was great, but it should have been done ages ago. The relationship between the Turk and the Arab was a relationship of an absolute ruler and an obedient subject and at times I could say that it was between a Master and a Slave, and it took the Western invasion of the provinces of the Empire to realize that they were actually partners and they should have behaved as such.

Later on Enver Pasha staged a coup in Istanbul and ….. "After these political and military achievements, Enver introduced a military dictatorship that came to be called the Three Pashas (Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Djemal Pasha). In 1914, he became Minister of War in the cabinet of Sait Halim Pasha, and married the daughter of Prince Süleyman, thus entering the royal family. His power grew steadily while Europe marched toward total war."

However, Turkey was defeated in WW1, Enver went down in disgrace and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk rose to power.