Ali Çetinkaya, also known as "Kel

Baldness

Baldness implies partial or complete lack of hair and can be understood as part of the wider topic of "hair thinning". The degree and pattern of baldness can vary greatly, but its most common cause is male and female pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia, alopecia androgenetica or...

" Ali Bey (1878—21 February 1949) was an Ottoman Army officer and Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 politician who served eight terms in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

Grand National Assembly of Turkey

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...

, including a period in 1939–40 as his country's first Minister of Transport.
He was born in Kara Hisâr-i Sâhib (present day Afyonkarahisar

Afyonkarahisar

Afyonkarahisar is a city in western Turkey, the capital of Afyon Province. Afyon is in mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean coast, south-west of Ankara along the Akarçay River. Elevation...

) as a son of Ahmed Efendi. He studied in the Bursa Military High School (Bursa Askerî İdadisi ). After graduating from military highschool, he entered the Ottoman Military Academy (Mekteb-i Füsûn-u Harbiyye-i Şâhâne ) In 1898 he graduated academy and joined the Ottoman military as an Second Lieutenant (Mülâzım-ı Sani ). During the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he served for the army in the Caucasus and Galicia fronts.

When the Greek forces were landing at Smyrna

Greek landing at Smyrna

The Greek landing at Smyrna, also known as the Greek invasion of Smyrna and the Greek invasion of Izmir was event early in the Greco-Turkish War that led to a Greek occupation of the area....

 in May 15, 1919, he was a lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 and the commander of 172nd Infantry Regiment stationed in the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 coastal town of Ayvalık

Ayvalik

Ayvalık is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. It is a district of the Balıkesir Province.It was alternatively called by the town's formerly indigenous Greek population, although the use of the name Ayvalık was widespread for centuries among both the Turks and the Greeks...

. His regiment was under the command of the 56th Division of Hürrem Bey. Ali played a key role in the first stage of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, starting with the opening battle.

He was briefly able to hold back the advance into the city of Greek occupation forces. His action is considered to mark the first shots fired by regular forces in the 1919–22 Greco-Turkish War

Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)

The Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign or the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, was a series of military events occurring during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May...

, although there were earlier confrontations in which irregular militias participated, including the battle involving Hasan Tahsin

Hasan Tahsin

Hasan Tahsin Receb was an Ottoman Turk.A member of the Ottoman special Organization, he unsuccessfully tried to assassinate the Buxton Brothers: Noel Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton and Charles Roden Buxton in Romania during World War I.He was the first to open fire on the Greek soldiers that...

 in İzmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, as well as actions in Urla

Urla

Urla may refer to:* Urla, İzmir, a district of İzmir Province inf Turkey* Urla, Raipur - a town in Chhatisgarh, India...

 and Ödemiş

Ödemis

Ödemiş is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey. North of Ödemiş, which is 113 km southeast of İzmir, are the ruins of Hypaiapa...

.

After the war, Ali Çetinkaya was elected to Turkish Grand National Assembly for eight successive terms and served until 1942, holding ministerial posts in six different governments, including, with the formation of a Ministry of Transport, becoming Turkey's first Minister of Transport.

Ali Cetinkaya died in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 in the year of his 71st birthday.

External links

• Hasan Kundakçı, "Ali Çetinkaya'yı Anarken", Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, Sayı 38, Cilt: XIII, Temmuz 1997