Fatin Rüştü Zorlu

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Fatin Rüştü Zorlu

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Fatin Rüştü Zorlu.jpg

| image_size = 185px

| smallimage =

| alt = Fatin Rüştü Zorlu in 1959

| caption =

| order =

| office = Turkish Foreign Minister

| term_start = 25 November 1957

| term_end = 27 May 1960

| predecessor = Mehmet Fuat Köprülü

| successor = Selim Sarper

| office2 = Turkish Deputy Prime Minister

| term_start2 = 17 May 1954

| term_end2 = 29 July 1955

| predecessor2 = Samet Ağaoğlu

| successor2 = Mehmet Fuat Köprülü

| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|04|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|09|16|1910|04|20|df=y}}

| death_place = İmralı Prison, İmralı, Turkey

| death_cause = Execution by hanging

| spouse = Emel Aras

| children = 1

| alma_mater = Galatasaray High School
Sciences Po Paris
University of Geneva

}}

Fatin Rüştü Zorlu (20 April 1910 – 16 September 1961) was a Turkish diplomat and politician. He was executed by hanging after the coup d'état in 1960 along with two other politicians.

Early life and education

He was born on 20 April 1910 in Istanbul to a family originating from the village of Zor, Artvin in northeastern Turkey. After finishing high school at Galatasaray High School, Zorlu was educated in political science at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, France and in law at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Political career

Returning to Turkey, Zorlu began his career as a diplomat in 1932 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1938 on, he served at various posts in embassies and consulates in Bern (Switzerland), Paris (France), Moscow (USSR), Beirut (Lebanon) and at the ministry in Ankara as well. Following Turkey's joining of NATO on 18 February 1952 he was appointed ambassador to NATO at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Paris.

In 1954, Zorlu entered politics and was elected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly as the deputy of Çanakkale for the Democratic Party. He served as deputy prime minister between 1954 and 1955 and as minister of state in 1955. In 1955 he was also acting minister of foreign affairs and participated in the Tripartite Conference on Cyprus problem in London in June that year.{{cite journal|author=Muzaffer Goksenin|title=The Cyprus Issue|journal=Pakistan Horizon|date=December 1957|volume=10|issue=4|page=208 |jstor=41392386}} Zorlu left the office in the late 1955. He, Sıtkı Yırcalı and Hasan Polatkan were investigated by a Parliamentary commission in January 1956 due to the allegations of their involvelment in importing East German trucks and tires of no value and a general neglect of their duty.{{cite journal|issue=2|page=193|year=1956|title=Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology|journal=The Middle East Journal|volume=10|jstor=4322801}}

Zorlu was appointed minister for foreign affairs in 1957 and held the post until 27 May 1960 when the Turkish Armed Forces staged a coup and ousted the government of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. In 1959, he participated along with Adnan Menderes in the Bilderberg Meeting in Yeşilköy, Turkey. It is rumoured that the coup might have something to do with that meeting.

During his tenure as minister of foreign affairs Turkey applied for the membership of the European Economic Community in 1959.{{cite journal|author=Soli Özel|title=A Passionate Story with Europe|journal=European Security|year=2008|volume=17|issue=1|page=50 |doi=10.1080/09662830802503706|s2cid=153390535 }}

Arrest and execution

He was arrested along with other party members, charged with violating the constitution, and put on trial on the island of Yassıada. His roommate in the Yassıada prison was Celal Yardımcı, a fellow party member and minister of justice.{{cite journal

|page=3818|doi=10.29228/joh.45867|s2cid=235014695 |language=tr}} He and Menderes were accused by the court of planning the Istanbul Pogrom. Though both of them rejected the claims, it is believed by scholars that Menderes assented to the organization of protests in İstanbul against the Greeks, but the extent of knowledge of Zorlu, who had been in London for the conference, is unclear. According to Zorlu's lawyer at the Yassiada trial, a mob of 300,000 was marshaled in a radius of {{convert|40|mi|km|-1}} around the city for the attacks.{{cite book|author=Speros Vryonis|title=The Mechanism of Catastrophe: The Turkish Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955, and the Destruction of the Greek Community of Istanbul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94ppAAAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=greekworks.com|isbn=978-0-9747660-3-4|page=225}}

Zorlu was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on the island of İmralı on 16 September 1961 along with Adnan Menderes and Hasan Polatkan. He approached the gallows calmly, helped the hangman to lay the noose around his neck.{{Cite news|last=Hudgins|first=Graven

|date=18 September 1960|title=Turks hang ex-Premier Menderes|page=3|work=The Atlanta Constitution}}

Personal life

Zorlu married Emel Aras on 29 October 1933.{{cite news|title=Kronolojik Tarih 1933|access-date=21 November 2022|work=İşte Atatürk |url=https://isteataturk.com/Kronolojik/Tarih/1933/10/29/Ataturk-donemin-Disisleri-Bakani-Tevfik-Rustu-Arasin-kizi-Emel-Hanim-ve-Fatin-Rustu-Zorlunun-dugununde-29101933/69|language=tr}} She was the daughter of Tevfik Rüştü Aras who was serving as the minister of foreign affairs at that time. Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Emel Aras had a daughter, Sevin Zorlu (1936–2006), who was a journalist.{{cite news|title=Fatin Rüştü Zorlu'nun Kızı Toprağa Verildi|url=https://www.haberler.com/guncel/fatin-rustu-zorlu-nun-kizi-topraga-verildi-haberi/ |access-date=21 November 2022|work=Haberler|date=2 November 2006|language=tr}}

Legacy

Many years after his death his grave was moved to a mausoleum in İstanbul on 17 September 1990 along with the graves of the two other cabinet members hanged.