Nureddin Pasha

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Nureddin Pasha, often called Nureddin Pasha the Bearded (Turkish: 'Sakallı Nurettin Paşa), was a Turkish military officer, who served in the Ottoman Empire during World War I and in the Turkish army during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). To distinguish him from namesakes, he was called so, because he was the only high-ranking Turkish officer during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) sporting a beard.

He was born in 1873 in Bursa. His father, Colonel (Miralay) İbrahim Pasha was a high-ranking officer in the Ottoman army. After having graduated from the Ottoman War Academy in 1893, he took part in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was wounded and decorated in Larissa. He also took active parts during the Balkan Wars and the First World War during which he was the commander for the Iraqi front for a time.

Nureddin Pasha was infamous amongst Greeks and Armenians for his advocacy of the extermination of those races. He was responsible for the massacres of thousands of Pontians during what is recognized in Greece and Cyprus as the Pontian Genocide. ^[1]

On two occasions, first in 1915 for a few months and then shortly before the Occupation of İzmir, he was the interim governor of İzmir and at the command of 17th Army Corps based in that city. Known to be inclined towards armed resistance to any occupation attempt, he was relieved from his posts on 22 March 1919 in view of the projected landing of Greek troops. He was to re-enter into İzmir at the head of the First Turkish Army on 9 September 1922, and he was assigned the city's administration for 10 days before the civilian take-over. Those ten days were marked by the lynching of Chrysostomos of Smyrna and the Great Fire of Smyrna (each of which see for historical arguments over responsibility). After the Armistice of Mudanya, his army was relocated in İzmit.

Nureddin Pasha was discharged from the army in 1925 and was a deputy in the Turkish Grand National Assembly for one term. He died in 1932.

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