MELİH RAUF ESENBEL ARCHİVE

Who is Melih Rauf Esenbel?

Born in Istanbul in 1915, Melih Rauf Esenbel is the grandson of Çorluluzade Mahmut Celalettin Pasha, who was a governor and minister during the reign of Abdulhamid II and was also a poet and composer, and the son of Şemsettin Ziya Bey, the Istanbul provincial correspondent. Having graduated from Galatasaray High School in 1933 and Istanbul Law Faculty in 1936, Melih Esenbel started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the same year. He worked at the Turkish Embassy in Paris in 1939 and returned to Turkey in 1943 after the Second World War. After working at the Washington Embassy starting in 1945, he was appointed as the General Director of International Economic Affairs when he returned to Ankara. This position was followed by the Deputy Director of Economic Affairs (1954-1957) and the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1957-1960). in 1960, he was appointed ambassador to Washington, this time as ambassador. However, the May 27 military coup also affected Esenbel's career and he was called to Ankara from Washington, where he served for a very short time. After being detained in Ankara for three years, he was appointed to the Tokyo Embassy in 1963 and to the Washington Embassy again in 1967. In November 1974, he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government headed by Sadi Irmak and held this post until March 30, 1975. Immediately after, he was appointed Ambassador to Washington again and held this position until his retirement in 1979. Melih Esenbel died on July 27, 1995.

What's in the collection?

Melih Esenbel's daughter and Boğaziçi University History Department faculty member Prof. Dr. This collection, donated by Selçuk Esenbel, contains notes, correspondence and photographs containing Esenbel's personal views on the important events of the period when he was an ambassador and a minister. The collection also includes interview notes of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov and Ismet Inönü; Esenbel's views on the Truman Doctrine and Marshall aid, personal assessments of the U-2 Incident and the US presidents, Decrees between Turkey and the US, notes on Cypriot and Turkish foreign policy, photographs and biography essays from his travels abroad and about Adnan Menderes are included.

The sorting and digitization works of the archive are waiting for their turn.