Nuri Killigil

Nuri Killigil, also known as Nuri Pasha (1889–1949) was a general in the Ottoman Army. He was the half-brother of Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha. During World War II, he founded the Turkestan legion of the Schutzstaffel, the major paramilitary of Nazi Germany.

Libya
Infantry Machine-Gun Captain Nuri Efendi was sent to Libya on an illegal Greek ship with Major Jafar al-Askari Bey and 10,000 gold. His mission was to archive operations of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa forces with local forces against Italian and British forces. They landed on the shore between Tobruk and Sallum on February 21, 1915 and then went to Ahmed Sharif es Senussi in Sallum. In 1917, in an attempt to organize the efforts which was dispersed by the British, the Ottoman General Staff established the “Africa Groups Command” (Afrika Grupları Komutanlığı), of which the primary objective was the coastal regions of Libya. Lieutenant Colonel Nuri Bey was appointed its first commander. And his chief of Staff was Staff Major Abdurrahman Nafiz Bey (Gürman).

Caucasus
Nuri Bey's elder brother Enver Pasha, who couldn't resist the lure of Pan-Turanism, called back Nuri Bey from Libya. Enver Pasha promoted him Mirliva Fahri (honorary) Ferik and gave the mission to form and command the Army of Islam. Nuri Bey came to Yelizavetpol (present day: Ganja) on May 25, 1918 and began to organize his forces. The Army of Islam was formed officially on July 10, 1918

At the end of the war, Nuri was arrested by British troops and held in detention in Batum, awaiting trial for wartime crimes. In August 1919, his supporters ambushed guards escorting him and helped him escape to Erzurum.

Later life
In 1938, Killigil bought a coal mining plant in Turkey. He began to organize the production of guns, bullets, gas masks, and other war equipment. After some time, he announced the end of the production of weapons, but still secretly continued production. Killigil established contact with the Nazi Germany ambassador in Ankara in 1941 in order to win the support of Pan-Turkic cause. With his assistance, the Turkestan legion was formed by the Schutzstaffel. During World War II, Killigil was in Germany attempting to achieve the recognition of the independence of Azerbaijan. The attempts were unsuccessful.

He was killed on March 2, 1949 from an explosion in his factory that also killed 26 other people.