Turkish politician and diplomat. Served during late Ottoman Empire and early years of the Turkish Republic. Born to a civil servant father, Mehmet Cemil Bey, and a mother who was a daughter of an Ottoman Sufi shaikh, he graduated from Istanbul University law school in 1908. He came from a family with origins in Uzbekistan, in Central Asia and the family belonged to that class—not aristocratic but rather educated and characterized in Ottoman terms as cosmopolitan. He had been attached early to the chancery of the Ottoman government, when sent (with others) to Ankara to persuade the rebel Mustafa Kemal to abandon his opposition to the Sultan, he instead joined Kemal's party and became his legal adviser. Upon Kemal's accession to power, in 1922, he received a series of important diplomatic posts, Along with Ismet Inonu, he represented Turkey at the 1922-23 Lausanne conference, which established the present borders of Turkey and accorded diplomatic recognition to the new republic. In 1925 he was named Minister to Switzerland, and two years later he was named Turkish observer at the League of Nations until 1929 when he was became Ambassador to Paris followed by ambassador in London in 1931 and and in 1934 he came, as Ambassador, to Washington and held that post in Washington until his death in 1944. A close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his body was authorized to be carried back to Istanbul, Turkey, by the USS Missouri in 1946 for burial. He was the father of Ahmet Ertegun and Nasuhi Ertegun, founders of Atlantic Records and giant figures in the American Music Industry.
Turkish politician and diplomat. Served during late Ottoman Empire and early years of the Turkish Republic. Born to a civil servant father, Mehmet Cemil Bey, and a mother who was a daughter of an Ottoman Sufi shaikh, he graduated from Istanbul University law school in 1908. He came from a family with origins in Uzbekistan, in Central Asia and the family belonged to that class—not aristocratic but rather educated and characterized in Ottoman terms as cosmopolitan. He had been attached early to the chancery of the Ottoman government, when sent (with others) to Ankara to persuade the rebel Mustafa Kemal to abandon his opposition to the Sultan, he instead joined Kemal's party and became his legal adviser. Upon Kemal's accession to power, in 1922, he received a series of important diplomatic posts, Along with Ismet Inonu, he represented Turkey at the 1922-23 Lausanne conference, which established the present borders of Turkey and accorded diplomatic recognition to the new republic. In 1925 he was named Minister to Switzerland, and two years later he was named Turkish observer at the League of Nations until 1929 when he was became Ambassador to Paris followed by ambassador in London in 1931 and and in 1934 he came, as Ambassador, to Washington and held that post in Washington until his death in 1944. A close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his body was authorized to be carried back to Istanbul, Turkey, by the USS Missouri in 1946 for burial. He was the father of Ahmet Ertegun and Nasuhi Ertegun, founders of Atlantic Records and giant figures in the American Music Industry.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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