Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy and events of counsil

Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy, who was born in 1876 in the province of Tokat and died at the age of 58 in 1934, witnessed, as a soldier and politician, the disintegration of the Otoman Empire and the foundation of a new state, which was very complicated and a very difficult test for the Turkish nation. Turkish academic literature involves hundreds of works written about the period of about 15 years which starts with the Balkan Wars, continues with the World War I, and ends with winning the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of a new state. Among these works, the ones about the lives of the important figures of the period constitutes a significant part. However, it can be said that the number of the studies and works about the figures who contributed to the survival of the nation and the state with their sacrifices resulting from their love to their nation, whom can be considered as the heroes of this turbulent period, are rather limited. Mustafa Vasfi Bey, who served in Balkan Wars, in the Battle of Çanakkale, in the World War I, and then in the Turkish War of Independence, and depicting these years full of wars and sacrifices as follows: "… I served to my nation without not going to my home for 28 years. I accompanied Mustafa Kemal until the end of the World War not visiting my home even once. At the end of 1335 (in Islamic calendar), I returned to Anatolia in company with Mustafa Kemal. And since then, I have been serving as a deputy in the parliament just as I served in the first parliament as a humble member of our national struggle", and who then served as the headquarters commander of Mustafa Kemal, whom he met in the "Army of Action" ("Hareket Ordusu" in Turkish) coming to Istanbul during the 31 March Incident, during all Mustafa Kemal's commanding career beginning from his appointment of as the Commander of the 7th Army, and accompanied him during his voyage in the steamer Bandırma, which is considered as the first spark of the Turkish War of Independence and continued his closeness to Mustafa Kemal politically as well in his years as a deputy in the Turkish Parliament, is one of these "unknown heroes" mentioned above. Such that Mustafa Vasfi Bey served as a soldier in all wars during those years determining the fate of the nation, and also served for many years as a deputy in the "victorious" parliament which founded the new state. The main objective of the present study is to introduce Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy, who is a patriotic soldier and politician and one of the heroes of the Turkish Independence War not much known by many people, and to add another one to the existing studies in the literature, which are rather limited in number. The literature review carried out for this purpose showed an inadequacy of sources on the subject. Such that, there is no memoirs written by Mustafa Vasfi Bey or any work written or study conducted about his life. The application made to the Turkish General Staff concerning his records as a soldier did not yield any results, either, since no record of him could be found. Similarly, our application to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to examine his registry file (the registry file numbered 404) also proved to be futile, since the application was rejected on the grounds that such registries had been taken into the scope of confidentiality. However, his registry was able to be used to the extent that it had been used in a previous work. The first section of our study addresses the family and military life of Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy, as well as the process through which he was elected a deputy and his closeness with Mustafa Kemal. Since he was completely involved in the process, Mustafa Vasfi Bey's life demonstrate a complete chronological parallelism with the process beginning with the World War I and ending with the proclamation of the republic. Thus, the subject addressed in the The second of the present study is allocated to Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy's activities during his term of a deputy in the parliament and comprises the initiation stage of the Turkish Independence War and the opening of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as well as the elections held in the province of Tokat. In this section, we make subjective comments on Mustafa Vasfi Süsoy based on the parliamentary minutes, which have provided us with important information, and a profile of him is tried to be drawn in general terms.