MUSTAPHA KEMAL

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 136, 5 December 1935, Page 20

MUSTAPHA KEMAL

PLOT AGAINST HIS LIFE

As the trial of the men held in the recent unsuccessful plot against thel'jj life of President Mustapha Kemal Ataturk draws neai% details of it and of the background of the accused men are being made known to an indignant Turkish public, writes the Turkish correspondent of the "New York Times." The would-be assassins—a band of Circassians who crossed from Syria, according to Turkish officials—are alleged to have been directed by Tcherkes Edhem, a political exile, believed to be living in Syria, and Ali Saib Ursavash, a member of the Turkish National Assembly. The details of the conspiracy, as made known here, are:— A poor shepherd of Circassian origin named Yahya, who was living in a village in Cilicia near a ranch owned by Ursavash, became engaged to a girl of his village as ppor as himself. In order to bo able to marry ncr Yahya decided to go to Syria to earn some money.. In Syria he met some other Circassians and they introduced him to Edhem, who promised him more money, if he ' obeyed orders, than he could make by years of toil. Yahya agreed, and with four other Circassians armed with, automatic pistols and bombs he was sent to the Turkish frontier. The five were instructed to cross the border separately and meet on Turkish .soil in the house of a man named Uzeyr, a former gendarme, who had served under Ursavash and who was now also living near his ranch. Through Uzeyr they were supposed to get in touch with him and receive final orders. DENOUNCE!}. It is not clear whether the alleged 1 message from Edhem was verbal or 1 written, nor- is it known to whom it ; was addressed. It appears that Uzeyr - at first gave shelter to the five conl spirators and then changed his mind . and asked them to leave his place. 5 When Yahya returned again two days 1 later Uzeyr became scared and de--2 nounced him to the police. j The arrest of Yahya was followed by l that of Uzeyr himself and of several other suspects, but it has not been esr tablished yet whether the four other t Circassians are among them. i The statements made to the police l by Yahya and Uzeyr led to the im- :- peachment of Ursavash in the Assem--1 bly, although he vehemently protested t his innocence, i Ursavash, a native of Khanakin, Irak, was an officer of the Turkish gens darmerie and played a prominent part a during the war of independence in the li Cilician campaign against the French. 1, His prowess won him the surname of it Urfa, meaning hero, i' Edhem is a Circassian chieftain who d organised and commanded the first l, Turkish irregular forces that opposed is the Greeks in 1920.