Hasan Tahsin Bey (27 August 1878 – 5 December 1939; surnamed Uzer after 1934) was an Ottoman and later Turkish bureaucrat and politician. Throughout his career as a politician, Tahsin served as a governor to several Ottoman cities including Aydın, Erzurum, Van and the province of Syria. Thereafter, he served as deputy to the cities of Ardahan, Erzurum, and Konya. During the Armenian genocide, he was complicit in the Kemah massacres. After the war, he provided important testimony on the genocide.
Life and career
Hasan Tahsin was born in Selanik, Ottoman Empire on 27 August 1878, he was of Albanian descent. He was the son of Ibarahim Ağa and Hatice Hanim, and the childhood friend of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In 1897, after finishing his studies in political science, Hasan Tahsin became the sub-district director of Prosotsani. In 1902, he became district governor. Tahsin would become district governor of several cities before becoming the Vali of Van in 1913. During his tenure, he attempted to counter the influence of the Kurds around Abdürrezak Bedir Khan, who were supported by the Russians. After the Russians and the Christian Assyrian tribes retaliated over massacres perpetrated by groups of the Ottoman Special Organization by also inflicting massacres against Kurdish villages, he suggested the deportation of the Assyrians from Hakkari. However, in 1914, Tahsin was removed from his post and transferred to Erzurum where he served as governor until 12 September 1916. He was then transferred to Syria and became the governor of the Syrian province. He resigned from this post on 18 June 1918, but was appointed governor of Syria again a few months later. However, when the Turkish Empire lost the province in late 1918, Tahsin was immediately transferred to Aydın. His governorship of Aydın lasted a few weeks. He was then elected to the Turkish National Assembly as a representative of Izmir. Tahsin was apprehended by British forces in the aftermath of World War I and sent to Malta as one of the Malta exiles. When eventually freed, he continued his political career. After the dissolution of the Turkish Empire and the formation of the Turkish Republic, he joined the Turkish National Assembly once more and represented several cities including Ardahan, Erzurum, and Konya in 1924, 1927, and 1933 respectively.
In December 1934, Hasan Tahsin adopted the last name Uzer through Atatürk's insistence during the introduction of the Surname Law.
Hasan Tahsin died on 5 December 1939. He was the father of two sons and two daughters.
Armenian Genocide testimony
Missionary doctor Clarence Ussher, who was stationed in Van, relates in his memoir An American Physician in Turkey: A Narrative of Adventures in Peace and War, that Hasan Tahsin, the "strong and liberal-minded" vali of the province, whose governance was relatively peaceful, was replaced in February 1915 with Cevdet Bey, brother-in-law of the Turkish commander-in-chief, Enver Pasha. Cevdet Bey would eventually be considered responsible for the massacres of Armenians in and around Van. Ussher reported that 55,000 Armenians were subsequently killed in these massacres.