Saydam was born in
Istanbul in 1881 as the son of Hacı Ahmet Efendi of
Çankırı. After completing primary and secondary education in Fatih Military Junior High School, he entered to Military School of Medicine in 1899. He went on a training course at Gülhane as of graduating with the rank of doctor captain on 4 November 1905. He was assigned as a doctor at Maltepe Military Hospital and Feshane Factory between the years 1907-1910 and improved his expertise in military camps and hospitals by being sent to Germany in 1910. He was then sent to
Berlin from 1910 to 1912 to train and study as part of an Ottoman initiative to reform the army through the selection of officers via competition. Saydam stayed in this program until he was ordered back to the Ottoman Empire. He was a medic in the
Ottoman Army during the
dissolution of the empire. He created a medicine to cure
typhus, which was used largely by the
Central Powers. Saydam was one of the key people of the
Independence War. He landed at
Samsun with
Mustafa Kemal (later named: Atatürk) in 1919 to start the resistance in
Anatolia. He was known as a reformist while he was the Prime Minister. Just three years after his death, the
one-party period came to an end in Turkey.
Political life Saydam became the vice-president of the Department of Health of the Ministry of War on 1 December 1913 and was promoted to the rank of major on 1 June 1915. Meanwhile, he established the Institute of Bacteriology and his vaccines against epidemics and especially typhus had been effective. After the truce, he assigned to the order of 9th Army Inspectorship and passed to Anatolia along with Mustafa Kemal as the health inspector of the army, soon named as the 3rd Army Inspectorship, on 15 May 1919. He attended to Erzurum and Sivas Congresses, came to Ankara with the delegation committee and joined to the opening ceremony of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey with the elections held for the first term as the deputy of Bayazıt on 23 April 1920. He was elected as the Minister of Health in the Council of Ministers under the presidency of
Fevzi Pasha, as the Minister of Health and Social Relief upon the resignation of Adnan, and resigned from ministry suggesting his sickness on 14 December 1921. Being elected as Istanbul deputy, he officiated as the Minister of Health under the cabinet of
Ismet Pasha in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th sessions. After the death of
Atatürk, at the Second
Bayar Government formed on 11 November 1938, Saydam performed as the Minister of Interior and was assigned as the general secretary of the
Republican People's Party. He was appointed to Prime Ministry of the
11th and
12th government of Turkey by President
İsmet İnönü as Istanbul Deputy at the 6th session elections on 25 January 1939. During this duty, he died in
Istanbul on 8 July 1942 and was buried in
Ankara. Endeavoring to extend the health services and establishing health facilities, especially the Hıfzıssıha Foundation which is today known with his name, at the period of his health ministry, he also tried to protect the nation from the negative impacts of
World War II during the period of prime ministry. He was never married. File:İsmet İnönü ve Refik Saydam, 1939.jpg|
Ismet Inonu and Refik Saydam, 1939 File:Refik Saydam, Cebeci Asri Mezarlığı - 2023 Temmuz.jpg|Grave of Refik Saydam at
Cebeci Asri Cemetery ==See also==