1. Refet Bele, known as Refet Bey or Refet Pasha was a Turkish military commander.
13 Facts About Refet Bele
1. 2.
Refet Bele served in the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army, where he retired as a general.
3.
Refet Bele was born to a Turkish family in Selanik, Ottoman Empire in 1881.
4.
Refet Bele studied in the Ottoman Military College, enrolled in the army and became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress.
5.
Refet Bele took part in the Italo-Turkish War and then in the First Balkan War in which his hometown was lost to the Greeks.
6.
Refet Bele took part in World War I where he fought in the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel under the command of Kress von Kressenstein in the Battle of Romani where the Ottoman forces were defeated.
7.
Nevertheless, Bele was blamed together with Ismet for the defeat of the Ottomans by Erich Von Falkenhayn.
8.
Refet Bele did not speak English but because he moved at night and responded to questions with saluting and riding on a walk he avoided being captured.
9.
Refet Bele returned to Istanbul after the Armistice of Mudros in 1918.
10.
Refet Bele took part in the Amasya Circular of 1919 and then in the Erzurum Congress, Alasehir Congress and Sivas Congress.
11.
Refet Bele later served as minister and later as commander at the Western Front against the Greek armies.
12.
Refet Bele put down several local revolts against the Ankara government.
13.
Refet Bele was tried in court but acquitted of the attempted assassination of Ataturk in 1926.