Mehmet Nuri Conker (September 20, 1882 – January 11, 1937) was a Turkish politician and an officer of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army.

Nuri Conker[1]
Nuri Conker in 1922
Born1882 (1882)
Thessaloniki, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died11 January 1937(1937-01-11) (aged 54–55)
Ankara, Turkey
Buried
Ankara Şehitliği
State Cemetery
Allegiance Ottoman Empire (1902–20)
 Turkey (1920–27)
Years of serviceOttoman Empire: 1902–20
Turkey: June, 1920–27
RankBrigadier
CommandsChief of Staff of the 1st Division, 24th Regiment, Military attaché to The Hague
General Director of the Press and Intelligence, Ankara Command, 41st Division (Governor of Adana Vilayet)
Battles / warsItalo-Turkish War
Balkan Wars
First World War
Turkish War of Independence
Other workMember of the GNAT (Kütahya)
Member of the GNAT (Gaziantep)
Member of the administrative board of the Türkiye İş Bankası
Nuri Conker (left) and Atatürk in 1931

Mehmet Nuri Conker was the oldest childhood and lifelong friend of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).[2] Mehmet Nuri Conker was a graduate of the War Academy of the Ottoman Empire (Harp Akademisi). He retired as a Colonel (Kurmay Albay). Mehmet Nuri Conker married Nedime Hanim (1890?-1969) and they had four children: Orhan Conker (1910-1975); Mahmut Cahit Conker (1912-1964); Ali Necip Conker (1914-1973); Kiymet Tesal Conker (1916-1988). His sister Dürriye Hanım married Salih Bozok. According to Philip Hendrick Stoddard, he was a brother-in-law of Süleyman Askerî Bey.[3] Mehmet Nuri Conker fought on numerous fronts: Libya, Manastir, the Dardanelles, the Eastern front, in Syria and in the Turkish War of Independence. He was wounded twice: once in Bolayır and again in the Dardanelles, at Conk Bayir (the Chunuk Hill). Mustafa Kemal Ataturk gave Mehmet Nuri Conker his last name in memory of Conk Bayiri. Mehmet Nuri Conker was assigned as the Governor of Adana in 1921 after the withdrawal of the French forces in the aftermath of the Franco-Turkish War. He was elected to Grand National Assembly as the Representative from Kütahya (1923-1927). He was also elected to the Grand National Assembly as the Representative from Gaziantep (1932 and 1935). Mehmet Nuri Conker served as the Deputy Chairman of the Grand National Assembly during its 5th session and as Acting Chairman in 1935. He took part in the development of the Turkish Army along with Mustafa Kemal. Mehmet Nuri Conker received the Medal of Independence. Mehmet Nuri Conker knew French, German and Arabic.

Nuri Conker (right) and Atatürk in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War

Works

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  • Conker, Mehmed Nuri, Zâbit ve Kumandan, İş Bankası Yayınları, Ankara, 1959. (He wrote this book in 1930, Mustafa Kemal's Zâbit ve Kumandan ile Hasbihal was the answer to Nuri's work.)

See also

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Sources

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  1. ^ T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 174. (in Turkish)
  2. ^ Erik Jan Zürcher, The Unionist Factor: The Role of the Committee of Union and Progress in the Turkish National Movement, 1905-1926, BRILL, 1984, ISBN 978-90-04-07262-6, p. 48.
  3. ^ The Ottoman Government and the Arabs, 1911 to 1918: A Preliminary Study of the Teskilât-ı Mahsusa, Princeton University, 1963, p. 175.
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