Aysegul Kandas
January 18, 2022, marks the return to the original grave at the Enoch Sontonga Braamfontein Cemetery of a distinguished and professional diplomat of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmet Remzi Bey, 106 years after his untimely death.
Consul-General Mehmet Remzi Bey was reburied today in the Braamfontein Cemetery after an Islamic Funeral Service at 11:30, in compliance with Covid-19 protocols.
Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Pretoria, H.E. Ms Aysegul Kandas, delivered a speech on the occasion of the funeral service. Grand-daughter of Mehmet Remzi Bey, Ms Mignon Gatcke, along with her spouse, members of the diplomatic community, Turkish officials and citizens in addition to local Islamic scholars and press were present at the funeral service.
In her speech H.E. Kandas, bid farewell to the late Ottoman diplomat in his real resting place. She further expressed that after a lengthy and determined legal struggle, Turkey finally managed to recover Mehmet Remzi Bey’s remains from FETO -- which is considered by Turkey as a terrorist organisation -- through a court order, in order to re-bury him in his original resting place.
“In 2011, affiliates of the terrorist organisation FETO disturbed and relocated the remains of Mehmet Remzi Bey to their headquarters in Midrand illegally in order to exploit this for their selfish ends,” said Ambassador Kandas.
Mr Ismail Ayob, the attorney acting on behalf of the granddaughters of the late Consul-General Mehmet Remzi Bey, the last Consul-General of the Ottoman Empire, with the unwavering support of the Embassy of Turkey, set out the difficulties he encountered to reverse this grave injustice.
He said that the Pretoria High Court ordered the Mosque at Midrand to allow the exhumation of the remains of Mehmet Remzi Bey and his reburial in his original resting place in Braamfontein cemetery.
Mehmet Remzi Bey was born on December 30, 1869, in İstanbul to a family of Ottoman aristocrats, and upon completion of professional training, he joined the Ottoman Foreign Service at the age of 23.
Mehmet Remzi Bey served with distinction at the Ottoman diplomatic missions in various countries including Bulgaria, Iran and Georgia. He was then appointed Consul-General to South Africa in Johannesburg on April 21, 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I.
Upon the Ottoman Empire’s entry into the war, despite his diplomatic status, he was summarily interned by the colonial government of Great Britain in South Africa.
He suffered unprecedented difficulties during his detention. He suffered serious illness without treatment and was only released when it appeared that he would not survive. Consul-General Mehmet Remzi Bey died a few weeks after his release from detention on February 14, 1916, at the age of 46, due to a major brain haemorrhage, and was buried at the Muslim section of the Braamfontein cemetery in Johannesburg.
Tuesday’s funeral service marks the return of his remains to his original resting place in Braamfontein cemetery by order of the Pretoria High Court, after being exhumed from the Midrand Mosque.
Ambassador Kandaş emphasised that the Turkish state would always cherish his memory, his family and consider his legacy as a bond of friendship between Turkey and South Africa.
She added that the Turkish government would build a tombstone in his grave and make sure his legacy lives on, and Turkish and Muslim visitors would continue to pay respects to Mehmet Remzi Bey at the Muslim section of the Braamfontain cemetery.
She also thanked the South African authorities for ensuring the supremacy of the rule of law in the years-long legal struggle.
* H.E. Ms Aysegul Kandas is ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Pretoria