Abstract:

In this study, İsmail Şükrü Efendi, who worked as a mudarris, principal and deputy principal of Darülmuallimin-i Sıbyan in Karahisarısahip in the late Ottoman Empire and served as a deputy of Karahisarısahip in the First Period of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, is discussed. İsmail Şükrü Efendi graduated from rushdiye and improved himself with private lessons. Being aware of the significance of educational activities, he pioneered the establishment of Karahisarısahip Darülmuallimin-i Sıbyan in 1909. He served as honorary director and teacher at Darülmuallimin-i Sıbyan and Karahisarısahip Madrasah. On October 30, 1918, he was one of the pioneers of the national awakening in Afyonkarahisar against the occupations that started following the Mudros Treaty signed on October 30, 1918. He served in the countrywide resistance organization (Mudafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti) and national forces (Kuva-yı Milliye) organization. While he was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the First Period, he founded Çelikalay and fought against the invasions. After the abolition of the sultanate, he drew the attention of the Ankara Government for presenting the caliph as the head of state in his tractate "The Caliphate of Islam and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’’. For this reason, he was discredited within the ruling circles, and he was not assigned any state duties afterwards. The aim of this study is to objectively demonstrate İsmail Şükrü (Çelikalay) Efendi, a man of the cloth who played an essential role in the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, and his works. In the study, archival sources, especially the Minutes of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, newspapers of the period, memoirs and other relevant sources were utilized.

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