[SEPTEMBER 1874–MARCH 15, 1921]

Turkish political leader

As its principal author, Turkish leader Mehmet Talaat played a decisive role in the decision-making, organization, and implementation of the World War I Armenian genocide. His authority and power to act derived from a dual-track position: He was minister of the interior and, perhaps more importantly, he was the supreme boss of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress Party (CUP). In July 1908 the leaders of this revolutionary Young Turk movement successfully overthrew the despotic reign of Sultan Abdulhamit (1876–1908) in the name of a new constitutional regime. The spokespersons of this movement claimed to be guided by the ideals of the French Revolution—namely, freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Except for a brief six-month period in 1912, CUP remained in near-total control of a succession of Ottoman Turkish governments in the years between 1908 and...