Ottoman soldier’s belongings to be auctioned

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

A special collection of 122 pieces, including the personal belongings of Ottoman soldier and politician Enver Paşa, who was a highly powerful figure in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, will be put on auction April 5 in Istanbul. 

The owner of the Istanbul Müzayede, Uğur Yeğin, said the belongings were provided by Enver Paşa’s family and would be available for the first time at an auction. 

The auction will offer Enver Paşa’s photos as well as his uniform, hat, staff officer diploma, cutlery, medals, photos from the Libya and Tripoli fronts, military maps and paintings in addition to his wife Naciye Sultan’s charcoal pencil paintings. 

Yeğin said the pieces were able to shed light on an era, and gave the opening prices for some of the items. “The certificate of promotion to commander, given by Abülhamit II, is 15,000 Turkish Liras; his uniform is 40,000 liras; hats are 10,000 liras; a special helmet, gifted by German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm during his Turkish visit in 1917 is 85,000 liras; a sword with the statement ‘God is with us’ on it is 12,000 liras; a gold and silver embroidered sword, gifted by Sultan Reşad, is 170,000 liras; a Purdey gun dated 1888 is 225,000 liras; a whip is 50,000 liras; a hara-kiri sword gifted by the Japanese emperor is 40,000 liras.”
 
Books written in the Enver alphabet were among the pieces to be auctioned, Yeğin said.

“Here we clearly see that Enver Paşa worked on a new alphabet long before [Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk did. We also understand from the drawings to be auctioned that he was a very good painter,” he added.

Who is Enver Pasha?

Born in Istanbul on Nov. 23, 1881, İsmail Enver was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both the Balkan Wars and World War I. Throughout his career, he was known by increasingly elevated titles as he rose through the military ranks, including Enver Efendi, Enver Bey and finally Enver Pasha. 

After the 1913 Ottoman coup d’état, he became the minister of war for the Ottoman Empire. Enver Pasha was considered the most powerful figure in the Ottoman Empire government. He made the decision to enter the Empire into World War I, on the side of Germany. 

He died on Aug. 4, 1922, in an armed attack in Tajikistan.