Mehmed Cemal Bey
Profile summary
Highlights
Born in 1867, Mehmed Cemal Bey was one of the chancery officials who rose in the Ottoman bureaucracy at a young age.
Mehmed Cemal Bey rose to become deputy director of the Mektûbî-i Hariciye Mühimme Directorate, the Important Affairs section of the Foreign Ministry’s correspondence office, whose roots went back to the reisülküttap tradition and which became one of the most important departments of the Bâbıâli bureaucracy in the 19th century.
During this post, Mehmed Cemal Bey was honored with the rütbe-i ûlâ. Rütbe-i ûlâ was one of the prestigious ranks granted to high-ranking officials in the Ottoman civil bureaucracy.
Mehmed Cemal Bey died on 1 August 1312 Rumi / 2 Rabi al-Awwal 1314 (13 August 1896) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery. News of his death also appeared in Servet-i Fünûn, one of the important illustrated publications of the period.
Epitaph
The late Mehmed Cemal Bey, buried here, possessed refinement and virtue. With his extraordinary intelligence and high morals, he was one of those rare mature men. His true aim was to serve his homeland and nation. Through his efforts he rose to first-rank civil office and to the Deputy Directorate of Important Affairs in the Foreign Ministry’s Correspondence Office. Alas, while still only 29 years old, his sacred soul flew to Paradise. Those brethren in faith who visit the grave of this embodiment of virtue are asked to gladden his soul with a Fatiha. May Allah’s mercy be upon him. 13 August 1896.
A Fatiha for his/her soul