At the start of World War I, Şükrü was appointed the Director of Settlement of Tribes and Migrants (Aşair ve Muhacirin Genel Müdürü), a subdivision within the Interior Ministry, and mainly tasked with managing the Armenian deportations during the Armenian genocide.

In September 1915, he was transferred to Aleppo, an important location along the deportation route into the Syrian desert.

[5] On 19 December 1915, Şükrü is noted to have said to German engineer Bastendorff the following:[5] The final solution is the termination of the Armenian race.

Following the occupation of Istanbul by the Entente powers, he was arrested by the British administration and was exiled to Malta.

He escaped to the continent from Malta and subsequently went to Anatolia and joined the Turkish War of Independence.