Süleyman Askerî

Süleyman Askerî Bey, also known as Suleyman Askeri, Sulayman Askari, Sulaiman al-Askari (Modern Turkish: Süleyman el-Askerî ) and unofficially known as Suleyman Askeri Pasha (1884 in Prizren, Kosovo Vilayet – April 14, 1915 in Berjasiya) was a military officer who served for the Ottoman Army.

Süleyman Askerî was born to General Vehbi Pasha, who served as military staff at Edirne in 1898 and then in Anatolia, in 1884 in Prizren. He gradıated from the Ottoman Military Academy in 1902 and graduated from the Ottoman Military College on November 5, 1905 as Distinguished Captain (Mümtaz Yüzbaşı ).

He was assigned to Monastir (present-day Bitola) under the command of the Third Army stationed at Salonica (present-day Thessaloniki). During the days he stayed in Monastir, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress and he married Fadime Hanım, who was an aristocrat of Filibe (present-day Plovdiv). They had two daughters, Fatma and Dilek. He sheltered Mülâzim Atif Efendi (Atıf Kamçıl), who assassinated Shemsi Pasha in July 7, 1912, and participated in the Young Turk Revolution. He was closest friend of Kuşçubaşzade Eşref (Sencer). According to Philip Hendrick Stoddard, he was a brother-in-law of Mehmed Nuri (Conker), who was the oldest friend of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).

In 1909, he was promoted to the rank of Kolağası and appointed to the gendarmerie regiment in Baghdad. In 1911, after the Kingdom of Italy invaded the vilayet of Tripoli (present-day Libya), he went there and participated in operations in Benghazi. In 1912, he took part in the Balkan Wars as the chief of staff of Trabzon Redif Division and then became the Chief of the General Staff of the provisional government (August 31, 1913 - October 25, 1913) established in Western Thrace. On November 13, 1913, he was appointed to the chief of the Ottoman Special Organisation when it was officially formed.