Mehmet Ali Cenani Bey's life and his parliamentary activities (1872-1934)

The life and political studies of Mehmet Ali Cenani Bey, who is a prominent figure in Turkish political life with his competence in financial matters, consists the subject matter of this research. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the political life of Ali Cenani Bey who took place in the process from the Constitution Monarchy to the Republic, and to determine his place in the historical events of the period. In this study, it is tried to determine his perception on political and social process, his leading capability, his legislative proposals given, quality and enactment level of these proposals, and also his preferred tendencies. Chronological principles were followed throughout the study, and a detailed biography of Ali Cenani Bey, who witnessed a quarter of a century, was given. Cenani Bey, who was a member of the Ottoman Parliament as first Aleppo Representative and then Antep Repressentative, he had an anti-Abdulhamid attitude in the early years of the Constitutional Period, and present an Unionist political identity, but separated his way with the Unionists during general elections held in 1912. From this year on, he acted as an independent representative in the parliament, and when the British were distributing the last Ottoman Assembly, he stood beside the occupying forces. During the years of National Struggle, he described Mustafa Kemal and his group as plunderers, but he also supported the organization of the southern front, including its own villages and lands. He had appointed as the deputy for Gaziantep in Turkey Grand National Assembly for the covering the years 1920 to 1931. In the second period, beside his deputy duty, he served as Ministry of Commerce in the Turkish Grand National Assembly for an approximate period of two years. During his ministry duty, it is found that 500.000 liras which was given to the treasure as purveyance funds, was wasted and the treasure incurred losses, thus he was confronted with questioning before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in particular, stated that Ali Cenani Bey was acquitted of negligence and deliquency, forfeiture of duty for a period of four months together with deprivation of rank, he received imprisonment for one month, then all his punishments was postponed, the Court was ruled him to refund all the money together with interests. The last years of his life were spent on financial and familial losses, and also loss of his political reputation.