Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine life of Nikolaki Yorgiyadis Efendi appointed as a member of Senate (Meclis-i Âyan) during the Second Constitutional Period, his political activities, and his first punishment in Senate (Meclis-i Âyan). Yorgiyadis Efendi was born in Galos District of Crete in 1844. From 1854, he received education in Athens and İstanbul. Afterwards, he went to Germany to have legal education and completed his PhD in law there. He started working as a clerk of the court, and he had different duties such as Head of Maritime Commercial Court (Mahkeme-i Ticaret-i Bahriye Reisliği) and a member of Supreme Court of Appeal (Mahkeme-i Temyiz-i Hukuk Dairesi) in İstanbul. He had to leave from the duty of Sisam governor that he was assigned on 28 August 1907 in the same year on 26 December. After that, he was appointed to the membership of Council of State (Şura-yı Devlet). Yorgiyadis Efendi was appointed to the membership of Senate (Meclis-i Âyan) on 16 December 1908 and carried out this duty until he died on 9 June 1915.
Yorgiyadis Efendi who was of Greek-origin had a different place in Turkish parliamentarian history because he was the only person who was reprimanded in two legislative sessions of Senate (Meclis-i Âyan). Another feature of Yorgiyadis Efendi was that he acted upon the ideas of Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası which could not have a group in Senate (Meclis-i Âyan).
This article evaluated especially the speeches and discussions of Yorgiyadis Efendi, who could be described as an unusual portrait, in Senate (Meclis-i Âyan) due to which he was punished. The main sources of the study were Ottoman Archive Documents of the Presidency , and the Official Records of Senate (Meclis-i Âyan) and First Turkish Parliament.