Kubilay Incident: Atatürk's Fury and the 'Cursed City'

A Young Officer, a Town Square, and a Republic Under Siege

On 23 December 1930, in the small Aegean town of Menemen, Turkey, a reserve officer named Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay was killed in the town square by a group of anti-republican rebels. The event, now known as the Kubilay Incident or the Menemen Incident, struck at the very heart of the young Turkish Republic. It happened while Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was still alive, just seven years after the republic had been proclaimed, and it sent a shockwave through the nation's capital.

Menemen was not a place where anyone expected trouble. It was a quiet farming town near the city of İzmir, known for its fertile plains and its famous woven fabrics. But on that December morning, a small band of men led by a local figure named Derviş Mehmet gathered in the central square, calling for the restoration of the caliphate and the sharia law that Atatürk's reforms had abolished. They carried a green flag and shouted slogans against the republic. When Kubilay, who was serving as a reserve officer in the local garrison, came forward to confront them, he was overwhelmed and killed.

The news reached Ankara like a physical blow. According to the account of Kazım Özalp, who was serving as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly at the time, Atatürk was furious in a way that those around him had rarely witnessed. Özalp later recalled in his memoir Atatürk'ten Anılar that the president was summoned to the presidential residence, where he found Atatürk pacing, his face pale with anger. The prime minister, İsmet İnönü, and the Minister of National Defense, Zekai Apaydın, were also called in. Atatürk reportedly said that the murder of an army officer in a government square, in the name of religion, was an act of treason against the republic itself, and he demanded swift and severe punishment.

What happened next has been the subject of much discussion. According to Özalp's memoir, Atatürk used a French term, ville maudite, meaning "cursed city," and suggested that Menemen deserved to be declared one. This idea, however, is not supported by any other credible historical source, and it appears only in Özalp's account. What is certain is that Derviş Mehmet and his associates were captured, tried by a military court known as a divan-ı harp, and executed. The incident left a lasting mark on Atatürk, who reportedly never spoke of it without emotion. Some have claimed that he abandoned multi-party politics altogether after 1930, but that is an oversimplification. He did not launch another party, yet he continued to express support for democratic ideals in the years that followed.

Atatürk's Fury: A Memoir of a 'Cursed City'

The rawest account of Atatürk's reaction to the Kubilay Incident comes from Kazım Özalp Pasha, a general who served as one of his closest associates. In his memoir "Atatürk'ten Anılar," Özalp describes being summoned to the presidential residence in Ankara the moment the news broke on 23 December 1930. He writes that the report hit the capital like a bomb, and that Atatürk was angrier, sadder, and more agitated than anyone had ever seen him.

According to Özalp's account, Atatürk paced the room as Prime Minister İsmet Pasha, Defense Minister Zekai Bey (Apaydın), and Army Inspector Fahrettin Pasha (Altay) all arrived. The president's fury poured out in a torrent of words. How could reactionaries, he demanded, slaughter an army officer in the government square in the name of religion? Where were these traitors during the Greek occupation? He insisted the punishment must fall not just on the killers but on all of Menemen, since thousands of residents had stood by without intervening.

Here the memoir takes its most dramatic turn. Atatürk reportedly declared that the town of Menemen deserved to be declared a "ville maudite," a cursed city. The French custom, as Özalp explains it, meant dispersing the entire population to other towns across the country, burning the emptied city to the ground, and erecting a large black stone column in the government square as a warning to future generations.

Now, a word of caution about that famous quote. The "ville maudite" remark appears solely in Özalp's memoir, and no credible historical source confirms Atatürk ever used that phrase. The publication details of the memoir itself, including the claimed 1992 Türkiye İş Bankası edition and page numbers 47-48, cannot be independently verified. Treat it as a reported anecdote from a close confidant, not as established history.

What the memoir does record next is telling. Özalp suggested waiting a day or two for detailed reports before acting, hoping to let the atmosphere cool. Atatürk never mentioned "ville maudite" again. Derviş Mehmet and his accomplices were captured, tried before a military court (divan-ı harp), and executed. Özalp adds that Atatürk never forgot the incident and never again attempted a multi-party experiment, though that last claim overstates things: he continued voicing support for multi-party democracy even if he launched no new party after 1930.

The Aftermath: Trials, Executions, and the End of an Experiment

The justice that followed the Kubilay Incident was swift and absolute, but the political consequences would echo far beyond the courtroom. Derviş Mehmet and his associates were captured, tried by a military court known as the divan-ı harp, and executed, closing the chapter on the perpetrators who had killed the young reserve officer in Menemen on 23 December 1930.

Kazım Özalp, a senior military commander and close associate of Atatürk, later recorded his memories of those tense days in his memoir. According to Özalp's account, when news of the killing reached Ankara, it landed like a bomb. Atatürk summoned him to the presidential residence immediately, visibly furious and deeply shaken. The atmosphere was electric with anger as the top leadership gathered: Prime Minister İsmet Paşa, Defense Minister Zekai Apaydın, and Army Inspector Fahrettin Altay all rushed to the scene.

In that heated moment, Özalp claims Atatürk was so enraged that he floated the idea of declaring Menemen a "ville maudite," a cursed city whose entire population would be expelled and whose buildings would be burned as a permanent warning. The French term reportedly crossed his lips in his fury. Özalp, hoping to cool the temperature, suggested they wait a few days for detailed reports before acting on such a drastic measure.

Here the memoir takes an interesting turn. According to Özalp, Atatürk never mentioned the "ville maudite" idea again. The moment of rage passed, and the legal process took its course. But Özalp also makes a broader claim: that Atatürk "never attempted multi-party politics again" after this episode.

That last assertion needs some context. While it's true that Atatürk did not launch another opposition party after 1930, the statement is too absolute. He continued to voice support for the multi-party idea in principle, even as circumstances kept the single-party system in place. The Kubilay Incident certainly cooled any immediate enthusiasm for political experimentation, but the complete abandonment of the concept, as Özalp frames it, doesn't quite match the fuller record.

What is undeniable is that this event marked a genuine turning point. The immediate experiment with a loyal opposition, which had been testing the waters of Turkish democracy, effectively came to an end. The shock of a military officer being killed in broad daylight by reactionary forces, with townspeople reportedly cheering rather than intervening, had a chilling effect on political reform. No new opposition party would emerge until after Atatürk's death.