Hüseyin Avni Bey, born in Kümbet Village of Erzurum in 1887, completed his primary and secondary school in Erzurum and then came to Istanbul for high school education and started to study at Vefa High School (İdadi). After finishing the High School (İdadi), he studied law in Darülfünun. With the emergence of the First Civil War, he served in the Eastern Front and he was later discharged with the rank of first lieutenant. After the completion of his military service, he participated in the first national governance activities and took part in the Kars Islamic Council, then in the national assemblies established in Erzurum. He took part in meetings and rallies to raise public awareness about national unity and solidarity and made advocacy of national liberation. In the last Ottoman Parliament (Son Osmanlı Mebusan Meclisi), he participated as a deputy of Erzurum. He was one of the deputies signing the National Pact (Misâk-ı Millî) that determined the national borders. By the invasion of Istanbul, he went to Anatolia to search for a way of salvation and entered the Grand National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi), which was about to be established in Ankara, as Erzurum Deputy. Hüseyin Avni Bey, who devoted himself to democracy and the rule of law, worked for the government's inspection issues. He pioneered the establishment of the Second Group (İkinci Grup), the first organized opposition. His tough speeches, in which he rejected the sole rulership and brought the principle of national will to the forefront, led him to be recognized as an opposition. Hüseyin Avni Bey, who left active politics after the dissolution of the first parliament, returned politics again with the establishment of Progressive Republican Party Faction, but this did not last long. He was tried in Izmir Assassination. After leaving politics, he returned to his profession as a lawyer in Istanbul. After a long working for long years, even though he made attempts to go back in politics with the National Development Party, he did not succeed. Later, he preferred the opposition through the press and made a weekly magazine called "Mes'uliyet". After giving honorable service to the Turkish democracy with his contributions, he died in Istanbul in 1948. |