İzmir plot
In 1926, the Turkish police arrested dozens of people, including ex-ministers, lawmakers and governors, accused of plotting to assassinate Mustafa Kemal, the first president of Turkey, on 14 June 1926 in İzmir.
The assassination was planned to take place in the Kemeraltı district of İzmir. As Mustafa Kemal Pasha's car would have slowed down at the crossroads, Ziya Hurşit Bey would have opened fire on him from Gaffarzâde Hotel with Gürcü Yusuf and Laz İsmail throwing bombs and explosives at him from the barber shop under the hotel. Meanwhile, they had planned to escape from the scene with Çopur Hilmi and Giritli Şevki, who would wait in a car on the side street, and then send them to Chios with a motor. However, through the telegram sent to Mustafa Kemal Pasha by İzmir Governor Kâzım Bey on 14 June, the plan was uncovered and the president postponed his trip to İzmir. In the letter written by Giritli Şevki to the Governor of İzmir on 15 June 1926, information on the people who would have carried on the assassination was included. After a while, the four main suspects were arrested and they confessed their crimes.
At the hearings held by the Independence Tribunal who came to İzmir after this incident, it was determined that there were wider opposition groups behind the incident. Of the forty people who were tried in İzmir between 26 June and 13 July, fifteen were sentenced to death with two of them in absentia, and one was exiled. A few weeks later, four of the fifty-seven people on trial in Ankara between 2 and 26 August were sentenced to death, six were exiled and two were sent to prison. A total of one hundred and thirty defendants were questioned, thirty-four of which were released without the need for trial.
Historians Erik-Jan Zürcher and Raymond Kévorkian have stated that there was no plot to assassinate Kemal and the prosecution was a show trial intended to eliminate his political opponents, especially former members of the Committee of Union and Progress.
Background
After the Ottoman Empire left World War I with defeat, members of the Committee of Union and Progress, which was dissolved with the congress organized in November 1918, were divided into several groups. A group started to cooperate with the Ottoman sultan, a group of leaders from committee fled abroad, and a third group joined the War of Independence. The last group, in itself, was divided into two as those who were entirely enthusiastic to establish a national state and those who wanted to rebuild the old system after the victory of the national movement. In January 1922, a series of activities began in Istanbul under Kara Kemal Bey's leadership to reestablish the Committee of Union and Progress. On 29 November 1922, a secret meeting was held in Istanbul under the chairmanship of Kara Kemal with the participation of members of the former community. These secret activities were not terminated after the negotiations with Kılıç Ali Bey and Ali İhsan Bey, who were sent to Istanbul by Mustafa Kemal Pasha in order to prevent re-establishment of the committee. Hüseyin Cahit Bey, a journalist from the Committee of Union and Progress and former Istanbul representative, wrote an article before the general elections of 1923, announcing that the committee would not participate in these elections. Hüseyin Cahit Bey, who published articles on behalf of a dissolved party, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Çorum on 7 May 1925, and his newspaper Tanin was closed on 16 April 1925.File:Atatürk, Gülcemal Vapuru'nda Mudanya açıklarında.jpg|thumb|220px|Mustafa Kemal Pasha was off Mudanya with the SS Germanic ferry, which he boarded during his visit to Bursa, on 5 June 1926.
Following the Sheikh Said rebellion against the central government, which was initiated in February 1925 and suppressed in the spring of 1925, the opposition press was silenced based on the Law on the Maintenance of Order issued on 4 March 1925, and some former members of the Committee of Union and Progress established the Progressive Republican Party on 17 November 1924. Chaired by Kâzım Karabekir Pasha, the party was closed on 3 June 1925 on the grounds that it "supported the revolt by referring to religious feelings." However, party members, independently continued to maintain their presence in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Some members of the former Committee of Union and Progress who did not join the Republican People's Party after their party was closed, remained in Istanbul as a secret opposition movement.
On the other hand, Mustafa Kemal Pasha left Ankara on 7 May 1926 and started organizing train visits to various parts of the country, arriving in Akhisar on 8 May, and later passing through Eskişehir and Afyonkarahisar and then to Konya. He visited Tarsus on 9 May, Mersin on 10 May, Adana on 16 May, Konya on 18 May, Bursa on 20 May, and Balıkesir on 13 June and had planned to visit İzmir on 14 June.
Leak of information and arrests
During his stay in Balıkesir, Mustafa Kemal Pasha received a telegram sent by the Governor of İzmir, Kâzım Bey, containing the information that he would be assassinated in İzmir. The letter that revealed the assassination plan mentioned in this telegram was written by a biker named Giritli Şevki, one of the individuals who was to play a role in the plan. After spending the night of 15 June in Balıkesir, Mustafa Kemal Pasha came to İzmir on 16 June to continue his unfinished trip and get more detailed information about what happened. On the other hand, on 14 June, Prime Minister İsmet Pasha had learned about the planned assassination through telegrams he received from İzmir. After İsmet Pasha showed the telegrams he received to the prosecutors and judges of the Independence Tribunal, it was decided to arrest all the deputies of the Progressive Republic Party, search their homes and send the found documents to İzmir. The Independence Tribunal delegation arrived in İzmir on 17 June.The İzmir police soon took action to find the individuals whose names had appeared on the telegraph in connection with the assassination plot, and first caught Ziya Hurşit Bey in the Gaffarzâde Hotel where he was staying, with the weapons and bombs he had hidden under his bed. Laz İsmail, Gürcü Yusuf and Çopur Hilmi were arrested in Ragıp Pasha Hotel and Sarı Efe Edip Bey was caught in Istanbul at Bristol Hotel. On the other hand, before leaving Ankara, the Independence Tribunal delegation had given orders for some members of the former Committee of Union and Progress and all members of the Progressive Republic Party who had stopped appearing at the parliament to be arrested, with the exception of Kastamonu representative Halit Bey. Among the arrested were War of Independence figures such as Kâzım Karabekir Pasha, Ali Fuat Pasha, Cafer Tayyar Pasha, Bekir Sami Bey, Rüştü Pasha, Refet Pasha and former minister of finance Mehmet Cavit Bey. However, Prime Minister İsmet Pasha released Kâzım Karabekir Pasha, who was arrested in Ankara, as he did not believe that he was guilty and that parliamentary immunity prevented such an arrest. During the talks with the Independence Tribunal, İsmet Pasha was told that immunity would not work in these cases, and that he could even be arrested if necessary. İsmet Pasha, who went to İzmir after Mustafa Kemal Pasha, made a statement that he would wait for the outcome of the court. The assassination attempt and the information on the perpetrators who were arrested were announced to the public on 18 June with a statement published in the Hakimiyet-i Milliye newspaper. According to the list given by the Independence Tribunal to the Anadolu Agency, a total of forty-nine people were arrested in Ankara, İzmir and Istanbul in the first wave of arrests. After the initiative was learned by the public, various demonstrations were organized in different parts of the country, especially in İzmir.
İzmir trials and assassination plan
The hearings started on 26 June in Elhamra Theater. Afyonkarahisar representative Kel Ali was the chairman of the delegation of the Independence Tribunal, with Gaziantep representative Kılıç Ali and Aydın representative Reşit Bey serving as main members, Rize representative Laz Ali as deputy member and Denizli representative Necip Ali Bey as prosecutor. The court was also referred to as the "Court of Alis", since four of the court members were named Ali. The suspects were divided into four groups: those who were directly involved in the assassination, those who prepared and provoked the assassination, the former Unionists who were not directly involved in the assassination but against the Turkish revolution and Mustafa Kemal Pasha, and the members of the closed Progressive Republican Party and the pashas.File:Three members of the Independence Tribunal.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Necip Ali Bey, Kel Ali and Kılıç Ali on their way to the courtroom.
As a result of the proceedings, the indictment put forward by the prosecutor Necip Ali Bey was prepared according to the statements of the accused who gave details about how and when the assassination attempt was planned. According to this indictment, Ziya Hurşit Bey, the Lazistan representative at the 1st Parliament of Turkey who had previously run for a seat from Ankara, Laz İsmail, who was charged with robbery, and Gürcü Yusuf were financially aided by İzmit representative Ahmet Şükrü Bey, after which they moved to Ankara and stayed at the headquarters of the Progressive Republican Party. Later at a meeting at Ahmet Şükrü Bey's house, they first chose the garden on the path of Eskişehir representative Arif Bey's mansion near Çankaya but later considered then the Grand National Assembly of Turkey building and the building where the Anatolia Club used to meet before Ziya Hurşit Bey's brother and Ordu representative Faik Bey was informed about the situation and prevented them from carrying on with their plans. The plan was abandoned after Erzincan representative Sabit Bey also threatened them with a notice. Even though later the assassination was planned to take place in Bursa, this plan was eventually abandoned after Laz İsmail inspected the city together with a woman named Naciye Nimet and found out that it was not suitable for such a plot. Finally, it was decided to carry on the assassination plot in İzmir. Ziya Hurşit Bey, Laz İsmail and Gürcü Yusuf who received the necessary ammunition and money from Ahmet Şükrü Bey in Istanbul, came to İzmir on 15 June with the SS Germanic ferry and started to make the necessary preparations for the assassination. In İzmir, Ziya Hurşit Bey stayed at Gaffarzâde Hotel, while Laz İsmail and Gürcü Yusuf were settled in Ragıp Pasha Hotel.
Three assassins met Sarı Efe Edip Bey thanks to the letter given to Ziya Hurşit Bey by Ahmet Şükrü Bey and signed by Miralay Rasim Bey. With the participation of Çopur Hilmi, the housekeeper of Sarı Efe Edip Bey, the group gathered first in the garden of Karşıyakalı İdris and then in the house of a biker named Giritli Şevki, to talk about their assassination plan. According to the details revealed, it was determined that the assassination was to be carried out in the Kemeraltı district of İzmir during the visit of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The car of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, would slow down to turn at the intersection of Baş Durak Street and Hükûmet Street, giving Ziya Hurşit Bey, Gürcü Yusuf and Laz İsmail the opportunity to fire and throw bombs at Mustafa Kemal Pasha's car from the barber shop under Gaffarzâde Hotel. Meanwhile, Çopur Hilmi and Giritli Şevki, who would wait in the car on the side street, would have helped them escape from the scene and then pass to Chios with a motor that would be provided by Giritli Şevki. The entire assassination plan was revealed by a letter given to the Governor of İzmir Kâzım Bey on 14 June by Giritli Şevki, who got suspicious after Sarı Efe Edip Bey's departure for Istanbul and upon realizing what the nature of the plan was, decided to inform Mustafa Kemal Pasha through a letter.