{{Short description|Turkish general}} {{Infobox military person | name = İbrahim Refet Bele<br />1314-P. 39<ref name="Genelkurmay22">T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, ''Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri'', Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 91. {{in lang|tr}}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth-date|1881}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|10|03|1881|df=y}} | birth_place = Thessaloniki, Ottoman Empire (modern Greece) | death_place = Istanbul, Turkey | burial_place = Zincirlikuyu Mezarlığı<br />State Cemetery | burial_label = | image = RefetBele1920s.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = | nickname = | allegiance = {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}<br />{{flag|Turkey}} | branch = | service_years = Ottoman Empire: 1899–1919<br />Turkey: 13 July 1919 – 8 December 1926 | rank = Major general | commands = Division of the intelligence of the headquarters of the Fourth Army, 10th Division, 3rd Division, 11th Division, Inspector of the Rear Area of Jerusalem, 53rd Division, XXII Corps (deputy), XX Corps, Gendarmerie General Command, III Corps<br />Minister of the Interior, Southern Part of the Western Front, Minister of Interior, Minister of National Defense, Representative of the TBMM government in Istanbul | unit = | battles = Italo-Turkish War<br />Balkan Wars<br />First World War<br />Turkish War of Independence | awards = | other_work = Member of the GNAT (İzmir)<br />Member of the GNAT (Istanbul) }}
'''Ibrahim Refet Bele''' (1881<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCUdAAAAMAAJ&q=Refet+Bele+1881|title = Turkey: Origins of the Kemalist Movement and the Government of the Grand National Assembly, 1919-1923|last1 = Smith|first1 = Elaine Diana|year = 1959}}</ref> – 3 October 1963), also known as '''Refet Bey'''<ref name=" Sonyel, Salahi Ramadan 2008 296 ">{{cite book |author= Sonyel, Salahi Ramadan |title=Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) ve Kurtuluş Savaşı: yeni belgelerle, 1918-1923, Volume 1 |publisher=Türk Tarih Kurumu |year=2008 |page= 296 |isbn= 9789751620118 |quote= Rafet (Refet) Bey }}</ref><ref name=" Woodward, Ernest Llewellyn 1970 528 ">{{cite book |author= Great Britain. Foreign Office, Sir Ernest Llewellyn Woodward |title=Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |year= 1970 |page=528 |quote= Refet Pasha is the most powerful personality in Mustapha Kemal's government and has complete control over Mustapha Kemal himself. }}</ref><ref name=" Sami, Böcüzade Süleyman 1983 xxx ">{{cite book |author= Sami, Böcüzade Süleyman |title=Kuruluşundan bugüne kadar Isparta tarihi |publisher=Serenler Yayını |year=1983 |page=xxx |quote= Rafet Bey (= General Rafet Bele). }}</ref> or '''Refet Pasha''' was a Turkish military commander. He served in the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army, where he retired as a general.
==Life== He was born to a Turkish family in Selanik, Ottoman Empire (modern Thessaloniki, Greece) in 1881. He took the surname Bele because of his grandfather who was originally from Byala/Bele, Bulgaria. Because of the troubles in the Balkans his family moved first to Istanbul but settled later back to Thessaloniki when he was an infant. He studied in the Ottoman Military College, enrolled in the army and became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress. He took part in the Italo-Turkish War (1911) and then in the First Balkan War (1912–1913) in which his hometown was lost to the Greeks.
He took part in World War I where he fought in the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel under the command of Kress von Kressenstein in the Battle of Romani where the Ottoman forces were defeated.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Uyar|first=Mesut|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eCxzQEACAAJ|title=The Ottoman Army and the First World War|date=2020-12-30|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-367-47177-4|pages=228–231|language=en}}</ref> In the Palestine front and during the Second battle of Gaza he served with distinction. First refusing a surrender and then successfully organizing the withdrawal of the Ottoman and German forces with their weaponry.<ref>Uyar, Mesut (December 30, 2020), pp.320–321</ref> Nevertheless, Bele was blamed together with Ismet (Inönü) for the defeat of the Ottomans by Erich Von Falkenhayn.<ref>Uyar, Mesut (December 30, 2020), pp.324–325</ref> After the British advance in 1918 he was cut off by his troops but managed to reach the Ottoman base at Tyre 75 miles north, after traveling one week through British lines.<ref name=Falls2003>{{cite book|last1=Falls|first1=Cyril|title=Armageddon, 1918: The Final Palestinian Campaign of World War I|date=2003|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812218619|page=54}}</ref> He did not speak English but because he moved at night and responded to questions with saluting and riding on a walk he avoided being captured.<ref name=Falls2003 /> He returned to Istanbul after the Armistice of Mudros in 1918.
While in Istanbul, most of Anatolia began to be occupied by foreign powers, the Greeks landed at İzmir in 1919. In response to the occupation he decided to join the Turkish nationalist movement and crossed over to Anatolia to organize resistance and join the Turkish War of Independence which was being led by Atatürk. He took part in the Amasya Circular of 1919 and then also in the Erzurum Congress, Alaşehir Congress and Sivas Congress. He later served as minister and later as commander at the Western Front against the Greek armies. He put down several local revolts against the Ankara government. However he had several political disputes with Atatürk and became out of favor. He was tried in court but acquitted of the attempted assassination of Atatürk in 1926. In 1926 he retired from the army and parliament deputy. In his later life he took several different occupations including a second deputy time. He died in Istanbul in 1963.
==See also== *List of high-ranking commanders of the Turkish War of Independence
==Sources== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Refet Bele}}
{{Ministers of the Interior of Turkey}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bele, Refet}} Category:1881 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Military personnel from Thessaloniki Category:People from Salonica vilayet Category:Turks in Ottoman Macedonia Category:Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Category:Ministers of the interior of Turkey Category:Ministers of national defence of Turkey Category:Deputies of İzmir Category:Deputies of Istanbul Category:Ottoman Army officers Category:Turkish Army generals Category:Ottoman military personnel of the Balkan Wars Category:Ottoman military personnel of World War I Category:Ottoman prisoners of war Category:Turkish military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Category:Ottoman Military Academy alumni Category:Ottoman Military College alumni Category:Recipients of the Medal of Independence with Red-Green Ribbon (Turkey) Category:Burials at Turkish State Cemetery