Gregory "Ligor" Aristarchis (Greek: Γρηγόριος Αριστάρχης; French: Grégoire Aristarchi; 1843[1]–1914[2]), also known as Aristarchi Bey, was an Ottoman diplomat of Phanariote[3] Greek ethnicity, compiler of a corpus of Ottoman legislation.
Education and career
Originally a provincial jurist, he became the director of foreign correspondence of Crete beginning in 1861, and then from 1867 the Smyrna (Izmir) directeur politique ("political director") and vice-governor.[1]
He served as Ottoman Minister in Washington from 1873 to 1883[citation needed] with Alexandros Mavrogenis.[citation needed] The Ottoman government dismissed him from his post. Sinan Kuneralp, author of "Ottoman Diplomatic and Consular Personnel in the United States of America, 1867-1917," argued that his relationship with Midhat Pasha was the "more likely" reason why he was fired, while the official accusation was that Aristarchis misused money from a weapons deal.[3] After 1883 he lived in Paris where he worked as advisor to Alfred Nobel. After the fall of Abdul Hamid II he served as an Ottoman envoy to the Netherlands, where he died.
Strauss wrote that Aristarchis was a "popular figure" in the United States,[1] and Kuneralp wrote that in his youth he "was a dashing young bachelor known for his many feminine conquests."[3] He appeared as the main character in a novel by Henry James.[1]
^ abcKuneralp, Sinan. "Ottoman Diplomatic and Consular Personnel in the United States of America, 1867-1917." In: Criss, Nur Bilge, Selçuk Esenbel, Tony Greenwood, and Louis Mazzari (editors). American Turkish Encounters: Politics and Culture, 1830-1989 (EBSCO Ebook Academic Collection). Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 12 July 2011. ISBN144383260X, 9781443832601. Start: p. 100. CITED: p. 101.
^Sinan Kuneralp (2000) Ottoman diplomacy and the controversy over the interpretation of the Article 4 of the Turco-American Treaty of 1830. The Turkish Yearbook, vol. 31, pp.13, 14. Available online in pdf format.
Kuneralp, Sinan. "The last of the Phanariotes: Grégoire d'Aristarchi Bey (1843-1914), an Ottoman diplomat and publicist in search of identity". The Greek world under Ottoman and Western domination. Info page. Archived 16 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine