Abdülhak Hüseyin Bey

Abdülhak Hüseyin was the son of the poet and diplomat Abdülhak Hâmid. He began his own diplomatic career working with his father in The Hague and London. As an embassy secretary in Washington, he became chargé d’affaires after Ahmet Rüstem’s departure in 1914. ^{1, 2, 3}

During the November 1914 dispute over shots fired toward a launch from the American cruiser Tennessee at Smyrna, Hüseyin publicly defended the Ottoman explanation that the shots warned the boat away from mines. He welcomed news that had reached Washington through the American ambassador, while acknowledging that his own embassy had received no cablegram for nearly a month. ⁴

He also sought American assistance for Ottoman subjects beyond the United States. On 2 April 1915 he appealed to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan after two Syrian merchants were executed at Torreón by forces loyal to Pancho Villa. A contemporary United Press dispatch reported their alleged offense as circulating counterfeit money and attributed the contrary account—that officials had already accepted the money as genuine—to information received by the Ottoman embassy. ⁵

In May 1916 Hüseyin corresponded with the State Department about Ottoman passengers removed from the steamship China. Citing information supplied through German officials in Peking, he stated that they were not expected to enter Ottoman military service. ⁶

His Washington service ended with the Ottoman government’s severance of diplomatic relations on 20 April 1917. Historian George Harris records his death in Atlantic City in 1919, citing a contemporary newspaper obituary. ^{7, 8}