Mehmed Kemal Bey (March 1, 1884 – April 10, 1919) was an Ottoman administrator and educator from the Young Turk party involved in the Armenian genocide.
[1] During the Armenian genocide, Mehmed Kemal personally organized the killing site in Boğazlıyan and supervised the extermination process.
[7][8] Hasan Mazhar had wished to start with him, as he had committed his acts in a region he knew well, and where he had been able to gather a substantial amount of evidence on the genocidal mechanisms at work.
[10][11] The charges included:[10] "The mass murder of Yozgat's Armenian deportees at Keller and elsewhere, the pillage and plunder of the victim's goods, and the abduction and rape of many members of the convoys.
[13] His situation worsened further after the discovery of one of his telegrams sent to a lieutenant of the Special Organization, called Hulusi, in which he advocated for the "deportation, meaning annihilation" of the Armenian population.
During his trial, Turkish deputy Shakir Bey from Yozgat intervened[15] and testified that Mehmed Kemal personally participated in the massacres and acted "with the manners of butchers.
"[16] He revealed the intentions of the Ottoman government by recalling that Mehmed Kemal boasted about being promoted to the position of governor of Yozgat as a reward for his Armenian massacres.
[14] He reported the following statements allegedly made by Mehmed Kemal in his presence: "I massacred the Armenians in Boğazlıyan, and I became an interim canton governor.
[13][18] Finally, the verdict was reached with the discovery of a telegram from Talaat Pasha, sent on August 9, 1915, stating that Mehmed Kemal had participated in the massacres and had already exterminated over 3,160 Armenians by that date.
The next day, April 10, 1919, Mehmed Kemal was publicly hanged in Bayazid Square in Istanbul, in front of a gathering of Young Turks who demanded his release.
[13] His last words were, according to an alleged account of the French Maritime Intelligence Agency, "Long live the Muslims and Turkey.