npg

The printed text implies he built battleships. Looking at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_German_Navy suggests this could be Hans Bürkner. See www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz7194.html Shipbuilder, born Jan 11, 1864 in Dresden, died October 29, 1943 in Ringelheim (Harz).

Confirmed by photo in www.gettyimages.com/detail/nachrichtenfoto/ingenieur-gehei... Dr. Hans Bürkner, Ingenieur, Geheimer Oberbaurat, Abteilungschef im Marineamt

Thanks, swanq and B-59, for fuller info.

www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q53640464

Ibrahim Hakki Pasha (Turkish: İbrahim Hakkı Paşa, 1862–1918) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Hakki_Pasha The Turkish and the German wikipedia entry indicates that he was Ambassador to Germany from 1915 to 1918. Ahmet Nesimi Sayman or Ahmed Nesimi Bey (1876 - 1958) tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Nesimi_Sayman He was Minister of of Trade and Acriculture (1914-1917) and of Foreign Affairs (1917-1918), s. also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(Ottoman_Empire) and books.google.com/books?id=VKVSHjjUT2UC&pg=PA116&l... Another photo is in twitter.com/stephanearmenew/status/576796289385500672

B-59 : It looks as though İbrahim Hakkı Paşa is at right seated and Ahmet Nesimi Sayman is standing at left. Do you agree? Since İbrahim Hakkı Paşa died in 1918, the photo is no later than 1918.

Both men get mentioned in www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/MECMEB/mmbd01ic04c001/... (dated 1911) which is about a "Second Inquiry." and in www.turkiyatjournal.com/Makaleler/2129154376_14.pdf But both are too long for Google Translate! millicumhuriyet.com/2013/02/26/meshur-turk-masonlari-ve-m... suggests they were both masons. İbrahim Hakkı Paşa was definitely at Brest-Litowsk [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk] in 1917-1918. A photo with him looking similar is at www.granger.com/results.asp?image=0128213&itemw=4&... According to page 233 of "Turkey Before and After Ataturk: Internal and External Affairs," these two men both signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. Given the blackletter script, it seems likely that the photo was taken in Germany, while İbrahim Hakkı Paşa was ambassador -- between 1915 and July 1918, when he died. The spelling of "Pascha" also seems German.

swanq 1. Sure! 2. The mark "NPG" stands for "Neue Photographische Gesellschaft", a German company. (de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Photographische_Gesellschaft) There are other photographs of this company of Turkish people in this stream as well. I do not think that one can deduce that this photographs were taken in Germany.

There is other mark on the right, "Phot. Bufa, B(erlin)", which means "Bild- und Filmamt", a propaganda department of the German army. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild-_und_Filmamt

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Dittmann "Wilhelm Dittmann (1 November 1874, Eutin – 7 August 1954, Bonn), was a German Social Democratic politician. From 1917 to 1922 was secretary to the Central Committee of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD)."

Thanks, swanq!