{{Short description|Ottoman general (1889–1949)}} {{Distinguish|Nuri Pasha as-Said}} {{More citations needed|date=November 2010}} {{Infobox military person | name = Nuri Killigil | birth_date = {{Birth-date|1889}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1949|3|2|1889||}} | birth_place = Manastır, Ottoman Empire | death_place = Sütlüce, Istanbul, Turkey | burial_place = | burial_label = | image = Nuri Paşa.jpg | caption = | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon image|Ottoman Flag.svg}} Ottoman Empire | branch = | service_years = 1911–1919 | rank = Lieutenant general | commands = Islamic Army of the Caucasus | unit = | battles = {{tree list}} *Italo-Turkish War *First World War **Senussi campaign **Caucasus campaign ***Battle of Baku ***Battle of Goychay ***Battle of Binagadi ***Battle of Aghsu {{tree list/end}} | awards = | other_work = }}
'''Nuri Killigil''', also known as '''Nuri Pasha''' ({{langx|tr|Nuri Paşa}}; 1889–1949) was an Ottoman general in the Ottoman Army. He was the half-brother of Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha.
== Military career ==
=== Libya === {{main|North African Campaign (World War I)}}
Infantry Machine-Gun Captain Nuri Bey was sent to Libya on a German ship with Major Jafar al-Askari Bey and 10,000 pieces of gold. His mission was to organize and coordinate operations of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa forces with local forces against Italian and British forces. They landed on the shore between Tobruk and Sallum on February 21, 1915, and then went to Ahmed Sharif es Senussi in Sallum.<ref name="Hamit">Hamit Pehlivanlı, [http://www.atam.gov.tr/index.php?Page=DergiIcerik&IcerikNo=295 "Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa Kuzey Afrika'da (1914–1918)"], ''Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi'', Sayı 47, Cilt: XVI, Temmuz 2000. {{in lang|tr}}</ref> In 1917, in an attempt to organize the efforts which was dispersed by the British, the Ottoman General Staff established the "Africa Groups Command" (''Afrika Grupları Komutanlığı''), of which the primary objective was the coastal regions of Libya. Lieutenant Colonel Nuri Bey was appointed its first commander and his chief of staff was Staff Major Abdurrahman Nafiz Bey (Gürman).<ref name="Hamit"/>
=== Caucasus === [[File:Staff officers of the Army of Islam and staff of the Ministry of Health of the ADR.jpg|thumb|left|Staff officers of the Army of Islam with Nuri Pasha (Killigil) in the centre (middle row) and staff of the Ministry of Health of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Yelizavetpol]] {{main|Caucasus Campaign}}
{{main|Islamic Army of the Caucasus}}
Nuri Bey's elder brother Enver Pasha, commander of the Ottoman Army, who saw an opportunity in the Caucasus after the Russian Revolution took Russia out of World War I, called back Nuri Bey from Libya. He was promoted to Mirliva Fahri (honorary) Ferik and gave the mission to form and command the volunteer-based Islamic Army of the Caucasus. Nuri Bey arrived in Elizabethpol (present day: Ganja) on May 25, 1918, and began to organize his forces.<ref>Ajun Kurter, ''Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Tarihi'', Cilt: IV, 3rd edition, Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı, 2009, p. 92.</ref> The Army of Islam was formed officially on July 10, 1918. Liberation of the Caucasus campaign begun and fierce fighting happened between Bolshevik Baku Commune-Armenians Dashnaktsutyun and Islamic Army of the Caucasus. The Islamic Army of the Caucasus led by Nuri Pasha took control of the whole Azerbaijan and the capital Baku on 15 September 1918. During this time, Nuri presided over the massacre of 30,000 Armenian civilians in the city of Baku.<ref name="Erickson189">Edward J. Erickson, ''Order to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', Greenwoodpress, 2001, {{ISBN|0-313-31516-7}}, p. 189.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Genocide Museum {{!}} The Armenian Genocide Museum-institute |url=https://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/24.09.21.php |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=www.genocide-museum.am}}</ref>
At the end of the war, Nuri was arrested by British troops and held in detention in Batum, awaiting trial for wartime crimes. In August 1919, his supporters ambushed guards escorting him and helped him escape to Erzurum.<ref>{{cite book |last = Hovannisian |first = Richard G. |author-link = Richard G. Hovannisian |title = The Republic of Armenia, Vol. II: From Versailles to London, 1919–1920 |publisher = University of California Press |year = 1982 |location = Berkeley |isbn = 0-520-04186-0 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/republicofarmeni0000hova/page/136 136–37] |url = https://archive.org/details/republicofarmeni0000hova/page/136 }}</ref>
== Later life == In 1938, Killigil bought a coal mining plant in Turkey. He began to organize the production of guns, bullets, gas masks, and other war equipment. After some time, he announced the end of the production of weapons, but still secretly continued production. Killigil established contact with Franz von Papen, the Nazi ambassador in Ankara in 1941 in order to win German support for the Pan-Turkic cause.<ref name="WW1">{{cite web|url=http://www.turkeyswar.com/whoswho/who-nuri.htm|title=Turkey in the First World War — Nuri Paşa (Killigil)|publisher=turkeyswar.com|access-date=2012-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219102128/http://www.turkeyswar.com/whoswho/who-nuri.htm|archive-date=2013-12-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> With his assistance, the Turkestan Legion was formed by the ''Schutzstaffel''.<ref name="WW1"/> During World War II, Killigil was in Germany, attempting to develop strong relationships between Nazi Germany and Turkey and achieve the recognition of the independence of Azerbaijan. He was unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://window.edu.ru/resource/434/58434|title=Тюркизм: становление и развитие (характеристика основных этапов): Учебное пособие для студентов-тюркологов|author=Gilyazov, I|publisher=Kazan: Kazan State. University Press, 2002. p. 70.}}</ref> In September 1941, Killigil offered to organize an anti-Soviet, pan-Turkic uprising in the Caucasus, but the Germans declined the offer. In 1942, Killigil ordered his factories to send weapons and ammo to the Azerbaijani Legion which had been recently formed under the command of Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UHe9AgAAQBAJ&dq=%22September+1941+Killigil+offered+to+organize%22&pg=PA148 |title=Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East |last2=Schwanitz |first2=Wolfgang G. |date=2014-02-25 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-14090-3 |pages=149 |language=en}}</ref>
== Death == [[File:Nuri Paşa (Killigil).jpg|thumb|left|Nuri Killigil's memorial in Istanbul]] Killigil was killed on 2 March 1949 by an explosion in his weapons factory in Istanbul<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dadrian|first=Vahakn N.|title=Judgement at Istanbul|year=2011|isbn=978-0-85745-251-1|pages=187|publisher=Berghahn Books }}</ref> that also killed 28 other people. He was buried without a proper funeral ceremony at the time, as it was viewed as contrary to religious beliefs for dismembered corpses. A formal funeral service, attended by the Azerbaijani politician Ganira Pashayeva and representatives from the Municipality of Istanbul, was only held in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-09-29|title=Funeral service held after 67 years for Turkish war hero Nuri Pasha|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2016/09/29/funeral-service-held-after-67-years-for-turkish-war-hero-nuri-pasha|access-date=2020-10-13|website=Daily Sabah|language=en}}</ref>
== Sources == {{Commons category|Nuri Killigil}} {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killigil, Nuri}} Category:1889 births Category:1949 deaths Category:People from Bitola Category:Turkish people of Albanian descent Category:Ottoman Military Academy alumni Category:Ottoman military personnel of World War I Category:Ottoman Army generals Category:Perpetrators of the Armenian genocide Category:Turkish collaborators with Nazi Germany Category:Enver Pasha Category:20th-century Turkish businesspeople Category:Deaths from explosion Category:Industrial accident deaths Category:Pan-Turkists Category:Turkish anti-communists Category:Turkish escapees Category:Accidental deaths in Turkey Category:Escapees from British military detention Category:Turkish Nazis