The Activities of Lazistan (Rize) Deputy Osman Nuri Bey During the National Struggle

After the signing of the Armistice of Mondros, the Entente States began to occupy the lands of the Ottoman Empire from place to place. In the face of these occupation attempts, the Turks fought for independence in order to protect their territories. In this struggle, many people, both military and civilian, served for the liberation of the homeland. Osman Nuri (Özgen) Bey, who was a Lazistan deputy at that time, took his place among the prominent figures in the winning of the National Struggle with his activities both in the parliament and in the transportation of military equipment, weapons, ammunition and money aid sent by the Soviet Government to support the National Struggle to Trabzon and Samsun ports. During the years of the National Struggle, the representatives of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) established diplomatic contact with the Soviet Government, taking into account the political conjuncture of the period. In this context, Osman Nuri Bey was among the first Turkish delegation sent to Moscow by the Government of the GNAT as an interpreter due to his knowledge of Russian. As a result of the negotiations between the parties, Soviet representatives stated that they would provide arms, ammunition, military equipment and money to the National Struggle movement as well as diplomatic support. In this context, Osman Nuri Bey was assigned to ship the materials to be provided by the Soviet Government from the Russian port of Tuapse. Considering that the Straits and the Black Sea were under the control of the Entente States, it is understood that Osman Nuri Bey undertook a very difficult task. In the correspondence between Osman Nuri Bey and the representatives of the Government of the GNAT, he constantly expressed the difficulties encountered in the shipment process and the difficulty in finding sea vessels to send the materials. In the study, the activities of Osman Nuri Bey during the years of the National Struggle, especially the materials shipped by the Russians from the port of Tuapse and the problems he encountered during the aforementioned shipment process will be tried to be revealed by making use of Turkish and Russian archival sources.

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