Nureddin Pasha - Ottoman Era

Ottoman Era

He was born in 1873 in Bursa. His father, Field Marshal (Müşir) İbrahim Pasha was a high-ranking officer in the Ottoman army. He entered the Ottoman Military Academy (Mekteb-i Füsûn-u Harbiyye-i Şâhâne) in Pangaltı, in 1890. He completed the Military Academy as the thirty-first of the class in 1893 and joined the Ottoman military as an Infantry Second Lieutenant (Mülâzım-ı Sani). Nureddin Pasha was one of the few to reach high rank without having attended a staff college. He knew Arabic, French, German and Russian languages.

He served in the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Fifth Army between March–April 1893. He served in the headquarters of the Hassa Ordusu (First Army) between April 1893 and October 1898. On 31 January 1895, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant (Mülâzım-ı Evvel) and on 22 July 1895, Captain (Yüzbaşı).

He took part in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 as the aide-de-camp of the commander-in-chief Edhem Pasha. After going back to Istanbul, he was assigned to the 1st department (chief of operations) of the headquarter of the First Army. In October 1898, he was appointed to the aide-de-camp of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. In 1901, he was promoted to the rank of Major (Binbaşı). He was appointed Staff Group of the Command of Bulgarian Border between 1901 and 1902. Nureddin Bey fought guerrillas in Macedonia between 1902 and 1903.

In December 1907, he was assigned to the prestigious Third Army headquarters in Salonika. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Kaymakam) in 1907 and Colonel (Miralay) in 1908. Before the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, when Müşir İbrahim Pasha attempted to establish discipline in the army, Major Djemal Bey and other members of the Committee of Union and Progress approached his son Nureddin Bey, with warning to the Müşir İbrahim Pasha to keep off their patch. Nureddin Bey joined the Committee of Union and Progress (membership number was 6436). On 19 August 1909, he was demoted to Major, because of the Law for the Purge of Military Ranks (Tasfiye-i Rüteb-i Askeriye Kanunu) and sent to reserve under the First Army. In September 1909, he was appointed to the Governor of Küçükçekmece. In April 1910, he was appointed to the vice commander of the 77th Infantry Regiment by 1910 and after became the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Regiment.

In February 1911, Nureddin Bey served on the XIV Corps staff fighting insurgents in Yemen and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In November he became reserve under the XIV Corps. By 1913 he returned from Yemen to command the 9th Infantry Regiment in the last stage of Balkan War. In 1913 he served with the model force (numune kıtası) formed in conjunction with Liman von Sanders's German Military Mission (German: Deutsche Militärmissionen im Osmanischen Reich, Turkish: Alman Hey'et-i Askeriyye-i Islâhiyyesi).