Prime Minister Celal Bayar Preceded by Mehmet Cemil Uybadin Preceded by Ismet Inonu Name Sukru Kaya Succeeded by Refik Saydam | Prime Minister Ismet Inonu Prime Minister Ali Fethi Okyar Prime Minister Ismet Inonu Role Turkish Politician | |
 | ||
Died January 10, 1959, Istanbul, Turkey Education Galatasaray High School, University of Paris | ||
boyabat abidin şükrü kaya
Sukru Kaya (1883 – January 10, 1959) was a civil servant and Turkish politician, who served as government minister, Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign affairs in several governments. He is also considered to be one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.
Born on Istankoy (Kos), part of the Dodecanese in the then Ottoman Empire, he finished Galatasaray High School before he graduated from Law School in 1908. He did his graduate work in Paris, France. He worked as inspector of treasury for the Empire.
At the start of World War I, Sukru was appointed the Director of the Settlement of Tribes and Migrants. The Director of the Settlement of Tribes and Migrants was mainly tasked with managing the Armenian deportations during the Armenian Genocide. In September 1915, he was transferred to Aleppo, an important location along the deportation route into the Syrian desert.
As the Armenian Genocide was underway, Sukru was tasked to administrate the concentration camps of Armenian deportees located in Syria. In order to manage the large influx of Armenians into the area, Sukru started a policy that enforced a certain ratio of Armenians to be left untouched. However, once the Armenians exceeded this ratio, they were evacuated from their camps and subsequently massacred. Sukru is noted to have said:
The final solution is the termination of the Armenian race. Clashes that have continued between Armenians and Muslims all along have now reached their final stage. The weaker side will be destroyed.
He was then assigned to Iraq but he resigned and moved to Izmir (also known as Smyrna).
He worked as a teacher in Buca Sultanisi (high school). After the Armistice of Mudros, he worked for the Turkish national movement. Following the occupation of Istanbul by The Entente powers, he was arrested by the British administration and was exiled to Malta. He escaped to the continent from Malta and subsequently went to Anatolia and joined the Turkish War of Independence.
Sukru Kaya served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Interior Minister in several cabinets between 1924 and 1938.
He died on January 10, 1959, in Istanbul.