The exact date of establishment is unclear or disputed. According to some researchers, the organization might have been established by Enver Pasha, who placed Süleyman Askeri in charge of the organization on 17 November 1913. Its establishment date is rather vague since it was really a continuation of various smaller groups established by Enver Pasa and friends in the aftermath of 1908 Young Turk Revolution. Enver Pasha assumed the primary role in the direction of the Special Organization and its center of administration moved to Erzurum. Many members of this organization who had played particular roles in the Armenian Genocide also participated in the Turkish national movement. In Thrace and western Anatolia the Special Organization assisted by government and army officials, deported all Greek men of military age to labor brigades beginning in summer 1914 and lasting through 1916. The first leader was Süleyman Askeri Bey. After his death, he was replaced by Ali Bach Hamba on 14 April 1915, who held the post until the Armistice of Mudros. During World War I Eşref Sencer Kuşçubası was allegedly the director of operations in Arabia, the Sinai, and North Africa. He was captured at Yemen in early 1917 by the British military and was a POW in Malta until 1920 and subsequently released in exchange for British POW. However, Ahmet Efe has written that the Ottoman military archives have detailed information on the organization's personnel, and that Kuşçubası is not mentioned. The last director, Hüsamettin Ertürk, later worked as an agent in Istanbul of the Ankara government following the Armistice. He also wrote a memoir called İki Devrin Perde Arkası. This list includes allegedly notable members, according to an interview with its purported former leader Eşref Kuşçubaşı by U.S. INR officer Philip H. Stoddard: Although the bulk of its 30,000 members were drawn from trained specialists such as doctors, engineers, and journalists, the organization also employed criminals denoted başıbozuk, who had been released from prison in 1913 by amnesty.
Disbanding
The organization was dismantled following a parliamentary debate and replaced by the Worldwide Islamic Revolt after World War I. This organization held its first meeting in Berlin. However, it was forced underground by the British, who refused to let these German allies operate. In 1921, Atatürk founded another secret organization called the National Defense Society, headed by the former chief of the Special Organization, Hüsamettin Ertürk.
