The subject of this article is the Governor of Van, Mr. Âli Bey, who was assassinated by Armenian gangsters in Batumi on September 23, 1907 and buried in Sinop. In 1907, in order not to cause an outrage in the conditions the Ottoman Empire was in, efforts were made to conceal Mr. Âli’s death from the public, but he was a governor who was so memorable that his name was lamented. However, after 1907, the rapidly changing agenda and the succession of events in the Van region, as in the Ottoman Empire in general, caused the name of Mr. Âli to be confused with other names, even though the lament and the main story remained the same. After a while, the unwritten biography of Mr. Âli Bey underwent changes in the oral culture transmission in the region, dates shifted and unknown issues were completed differently in the folk imagination. Compiled in 1973 and recorded under the name “Ali Pasha Lament/Arpa Ektim Biçemedim”, the same erroneous information was repeated in local history studies, which began to increase in the 1980s.

One of the most common misconceptions and confusion in the oral and written literature about Mr. Âli is the contradiction between his name and title, and it is essential to clarify these first. Although the Governor of Van is known as “Ali Pasha” in the folk song sung in his name and in many publications, it is seen in Ottoman documents and in his signature that his name is not “Ali” (علي (but “Âlî” (عالي(. Again, even though he was popularly referred to as “Pasha” due to his position as governor, in fact, Mr. Ali had the title of “Bey”, not “Pasha”, either civilly or militarily. Moreover, it is understood that in some academic publications, Mr. Âli Bey is confused with Ali Rıza Bey, the Mutasarrıf of Hakkâri, who was appointed as the Governor of Van after him. These confusions seen in the first academic publications, along with errors in date translation, continued in the publications of the following years, and even more erroneous information and interpretations began to spread as the issue was carried to national and local newspapers.

In this study, in addition to correcting misconceptions about Âli Bey based mostly on Ottoman archival documents, the developments that led to his dismissal from the governorship will also be emphasized. When Âli Bey was dismissed after a short period of nine months, Muslim residents took to the streets and sent telegrams to the Yıldız Palace, demanding his reinstatement, claiming that the years of misrule in Van had come to an end with Âli Bey. Although the telegrams sent by the prominent people of the city and the headmen of twenty neighborhoods did not change the outcome, revealing why a governor who was so loved and trusted by the people was dismissed will allow us to better understand the conditions and bureaucracy of the period. Of course, for this purpose, the general situation in and around Van in the early twentieth century should also be briefly mentioned. Because when Mr. Âli Bey took office in Van, he was confronted with many complicated issues, some of which had become chronic. Moreover, he was targeted from the very first day due to his decisions and practices that upheld the state order and the interests of the people. 

As of 1907, when we look at the general landscape of the Van province, at first glance, we can see the Muslim, Armenian and Nestorian communities, as well as the American, British, German and French missionaries and their hospitals, orphanages, churches, monasteries, schools and the large number of students in these schools. In addition, the American, British, French, Russian and Iranian consulates and their crowded entourages, together with a fragmented structure composed of many different cultures and beliefs, are observed in the city. Foreign missions became more influential than ever before and extended their activities to villages and hamlets. Especially since the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, the terrorist activities of the Armenian committees, which were almost openly supported by foreign interventions, found a wide field of application in and around Van. Since it was a border province, the Armenian gangs, which had the opportunity to organize and strengthen themselves faster than in other regions, threatened the order in the city and rural areas and increased their massacres since the 1896 rebellion in Van. Conflicts between Kurdish tribes, conflicts within crowded tribes, their cross-border extortion and looting activities, and the direct and indirect involvement of Hamidiye Regiments in such incidents were important issues that needed to be prevented.

The fact that the Hamidiye Regiments were directly subordinated to the 4th Army Command in Erzincan, namely Müşir Mehmed Zeki Pasha, created many administrative weaknesses for the regional governors. Difficulties regarding the quality of gendarmerie units and civil servants, tax collection and military recruitment had become almost chronic. On the other hand, border problems with Iran caused the problems of Iranian tribes to be transferred  to Van. The shifting balances of power and interests, and the network of relations established by all these actors were a further conundrum. At the center of these balances was the founder of the Hamidiye Regiments, Müşir Mehmed Zeki Pasha, who served in the region with full authority for twenty years between 1888 and 1908. Müşir Zeki Pasha was influential at all levels of the state, and according to British consular reports, he was the government itself in the region. When governors or local administrators had disagreements with military unit commanders for any reason and complained to Zeki Pasha, it played an important role in the dismissal of these administrators.

The biography of Âli Bey, which allows us to better understand the multi-layered intertwined problems of the administrative, political, military, civil service and social structure in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, reveals how effective the corruption in the established provincial bureaucracy can be in centralized decision-making processes. The developments and correspondence during the process of the dismissal of Âli Bey, who tried to do his job properly despite the support of the people and the grand vizier, clearly revealed this situation. In addition, the necessity of more academic studies on Müşir Zeki Pasha, who served in Eastern Anatolia between 1888-1908, and his activities has also been understood.

In the Ottoman lands, it was not uncommon for the people to take to the streets and lament the reinstatement of a governor. For this reason, it is important to understand how Mr. Âli Bey was able to win the hearts of the people during his very short governorship. At this point, the fact that even pro-Armenian terrorist newspapers of the period admitted that Mr. Âli “wanted to apply the laws with great care” and that he treated “everyone equally regardless of their nationality” reveals a certain profile. At a time when the Ottoman Empire and its administrators were, so to speak, in a ring of fire, Mr. Âli Bey, who undertook eighty different complicated tasks in a short period of eight months for the sake of state order and the well-being of the people, apparently constituted a profile of an administrator that was desired but not often encountered.

In the end, Âli Bey, who was dismissed from his post after being accused of unfounded allegations, fell victim to Armenian terrorism, even his death had to be hidden from the public, and even his body could not be brought to Istanbul. However, the loyal Turkish nation, especially the people of Van, did not forget Mr. Âli or what he had done for them, and the great suffering he had endured was passed down through the lamentation of the people for decades to come.