Mehmed Ali Aynî (1869-1945)

Mehmed Ali Aynî witnessed three important periods such as Abdülhamid II, the Constitutional Monarchy and the first years of the Republic. While he was a statesman who held important positions in the state before the Republic, he is the subject of this thesis as an important figure who devoted himself to science and trade after the Republic. Mehmed Ali Aynî, who graduated from the Mekteb-i Mülkiyiye, started to work in the state ranks and showed himself in the scientific field as a lecturer at Darülfünun after retiring from a process that lasted from the Directorate of Dedeağaç Mekteb-i İdadisi to the Governorship of Trabzon. During this whole process, Mehmed Ali Aynî's personality, science, truthfulness and justice attracted the attention of many people such as Sırrı Pasha of Giritli. Our thesis consists of an introduction and four main chapters. In the introduction, biography writing, the provincial organisation of the Ottoman Empire in the twentieth century, the institution of the governorship and the promotion in the Ottoman bureaucratic system are mentioned. In the first chapter, Mehmed Ali Aynî's family, educational life and his first civil service are discussed. In the second and third chapters, which constitute the main part of the thesis, his administrative duties, and in the last chapter, information about Aynî's family, his last educational duties, his commercial activities, his death and his works are given. Keywords: Mehmed Ali Aynî, Governor, Abdülhamid II Period, Republican Period, Mutasarriflık, Directorate of Education, Darülfünun