Vehib was born in 1877 in Yanya,
Janina Vilayet (present day:
Ioannina,
Greece), then part of the
Ottoman Empire. Coming from a prominent family of the city his father, Mehmet Emin Efendi, had served as its mayor. He was an
Albanian or Turkish
War of Independence Vehib did not participate in the
Turkish War of Independence. After his return to Constantinople at the end of World War I, he was prosecuted for misuse of his office and jailed in Bekirağa prison. He escaped to Italy. His
citizenship was revoked by the new government of Turkey. He spent some time in Italy, Germany, Romania, Greece and Egypt. His dislike of
Mustafa Kemal was well known and he never hid his contempt for the new leader of
Turkey who had once fought under his command at
Gallipoli. He did not return to
Istanbul until 1940.
Abyssinia When the Italians invaded Ethiopia in
Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the mid-1930s, Vehib volunteered to fight for the Ethiopians. In Ethiopia, he was known as
Wehib Pasha, and served as the Chief-of-Staff to
Ras Nasibu, the Ethiopian Commander-in-Chief on the southern front. In an interview with
The New York Times, he remarked "Out there will be the grave of Italian Fascism. When the Italian native troops hear of ME they will desert." Vehib designed a strong defensive line for the Ethiopians which was known as the "Hindenburg Wall", in reference to the famous German defensive line of
World War I, the
Hindenburg Line. However, the Italians broke through these defenses during the
Battle of the Ogaden in April 1936. After the war was lost, Vehib left
Ethiopia and returned to
Istanbul.
Death He died in 1940 and was buried at
Karacaahmet Cemetery in Istanbul. ==See also==