DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE BIOGRAPHIES
Mehmet Naci PERKEL (1889-1969)
Mehmet Naci PERKEL, who was born in Istanbul in 1889, graduated from the War
College. In 1909 he joined the army as a Lieutenant and fought in the Balkan
War (1912 - 1913). During the First World War he fought at the Iraqi Front and
in 1915 the English captured him in Kut-al-Imara as prisoner of war and for
five years he was detained in the camps in India. When Mehmet Naci PERKEL was
released in 1920, he came to Istanbul and joined the National Army in 1922 and
fought at the Western Front.
In 1929, after the establishment of the Republic, Mehmet Naci PERKEL was appointed
to the Directorate of National Security Service (MAH) with the rank of Major.
In 1934 he was promoted to the post of Deputy Director of the MAH. Towards the
end of the same year he retired from the Turkish Armed Forces, but he continued
to work for the MAH as a civilian. When Sukru Ali ÖGEL left his post as Director
of the MAH, Mehmet Naci PERKEL was appointed to this post on August 1, 1941
and served as Director of the MAH until September 3, 1953. On October 13, 1953,
he was appointed as Ambassador to Baghdad. In 1954 he retired because of age
limit and died in 1969.
