Talat, Mehmed (“Talat Pasha”) (1874–1921)

AbstractTalat Pasha was an important Turkish leader and member of the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP) in the early twentieth century. Rising from humble origins, Talat climbed to the highest levels of Ottoman government. In that capacity he had much to do with the Young Turk revolutionaries' social and economic reforms, and he was a leading figure in the country's foreign relations. He is perhaps best known, however, for his controversial involvement in the deportation and massacre of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians during World War I.