The place of foreign minister Mr. Asım Bey (Mustafa Asım Turgut) of the constitutional Era in Ottoman/Turkish Diplomacy (1908-1918)

The main purpose of this research is to determine the place and importance of the diplomat Asım Bey, who worked as an ambassador during the Mesrutiyet (Constitutional Monarchy of Ottomans), then worked as a Minister of Foreign Affairs nearly a year before the Balkan War until July, 1912 and received serious criticism due to his diplomatic actions during his controversial career, in Ottoman/Turkish diplomacy. Our research method is to compare the gathered memoirs with the documents we analyzed in archive research in the light of information we could collect from biographical resources. First we tried to determine his duties in Stockholm, Sofia and Tehran. It is found that during his duty as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, he followed a stable diplomacy position within the scope of the Turkish-Italian War, the "Straits Question" and the Balkan Alliance. The emphasis was given on such position especially on his loyalty to the principles of Civilian Bureaucracy legacy attributable to Tanzimat (Reorganizations) Era as the same is considered to be the general defense reflex of the Ottoman Diplomacy. Thus, it has been aimed the speculations to be clarified regarding Asım Bey. His usual and individual position in the Ottoman/Turkish diplomacy is determined by analyzing the qualifications of his verbal and written diplomacy about the given notions. We consider that facts contained in the story line developed with the very persona of Asım Bey and the people around him will shed some light into the contemporary domestic and foreign politics, because of the fact that Mesrutiyet is seen as the political laboratory of the Republic Period. Keywords: Mr. Asım, Stockholm-Sofia-Tehran Legation, Minister of Foreign Affairs