Aziz Ali al - Misri Aziz Ali al - Misri ( 1879 – 1965 ) was an Egyptian officer and politician . He co - founded of al - Qahtaniyya and al - ‘ Ahd ( The Covenant ) . Early life and background . Al - Misri was born of both Egypt ian and Circassia n ancestry . His father , Zakariya , and previous relatives on his father ’ s side of the family were Circassian , with the original family name before having moved to Egypt - Chahlpe . Al - Misri was not an Arab by origin . He was very conscious of this fact throughout his lifetime , and it affected his political affiliations . Al - Misri trained at the Ottoman Military Academy , where he graduated in 1901 , and moved onto the Staff College of the Ottoman Army . Shortly after , he become an officer in the Ottoman army . His first assignment as a member of the military was in Ottoman Vardar Macedonia . During his stay in the Balkans , al - Misri joined the ranks of the Committee of Union and Progress ( CUP ) , at first a secret organization , more commonly known as the Young Turks . It later became a political group that would eventually take control of the country in 1908 . Political career . Early years . In the formative constitutional years of the Ottoman Empire , al - Misri remained an advocate for Ottoman unity . He was a political moderate who wanted the three main political groups , Ottomanist , pan - Islamic , and Egyptian and Arab nationalist , to exist in cooperation . " He had come to the conclusion that in so composite a society as the Ottoman Empire the best way to maintain its integrity was not by attempting to suppress nationalities but by recognizing them , each as an autonomous unit within the Ottoman superstructure . " Fallout with the Committee of Union and Progress . Al - Misri ' s mixed ethnic background , combined with his sense of political moderation made him an easy target for the CUP . It also made him a popular hero among the Arab political groups , although he did not choose to ally himself with them . Al - Misri was labeled as sympathetic to the cause of Arab revolutionaries . Probably the greatest reason for his falling out with the CUP was a clash with Enver Pasha . The roots of this quarrel seem to be a mutual dislike for one another – for personal reasons . Arab revolutionaries appear to have joined in on al - Misri ' s admonition of Enver Pasha , although still not connected with him politically . Al - Misri was stuck in the middle of a complicated political situation in the years prior to World War I ( WWI ) . His personality was abrasive and unyielding , and both the CUP and Arab political groups played on this to their advantage . In April 1914 , al - Misri was arrested and removed from Istanbul by the CUP . Although this was not the direct doing of Enver Pasha , it gave him the impetus to " denounce al - Misri as an Arab revolutionary leader who sough an Arab rebellion , and much to al - Misri ’ s dismay , it put him in a somewhat different light in the eyes of those working for Turko - Arab collaboration . " Through the efforts of Jamal Pasha , al - Misri was pardoned . As a result of this falling out , he was forced to leave the Ottoman political scene , and the country entirely . Role the Arab Revolt . Al - Misri left the Ottoman Empire in 1914 and begun working under Sharif Husayn , the Sharif of Mecca . He played a prominent role in the early stages of Arab Revolt between 1916 and 1918 . This was an attempt by Sharif Husayn to create an independent Arab state , free from Ottoman control . Al - Misri encouraged the Sharif to ally with Germany for multiple reasons . First , he was enamored with the German military ethic . He also believed the prospect of an Arab state would be much closer to reality in the case of German victory . Al - Misri quickly fell out of touch with Sharif Husayn as well . He served as the Chief of Staff for the military , but only briefly . His career after World War I was in much more obscurity . Later military career in Egypt . He was deported to Spain after having returned to Egypt unwelcomed . He directed the Cairo Police Academy from 1927 to 1936 and was inspector general of the Egyptian army in 1938 . In 1939 , Premier Ali Mahir named him chief of staff , but he was dismissed from that post in 1940 at Britain ' s insistence . He deserted the Egyptian army and tried to reach the Axis forces in the Libyan desert but was caught and court - martialed in 1941 . Post - 1952 Revolution and death . After al - Misri had helped the Free Officers prepare for the revolution of 1952 , they named him ambassador to Moscow in 1953 and considered making him president in place of Muhammad Naguib , but he retired in 1954 . He died in 1965 in Cairo . Legacy . One of the longest streets in Greater Cairo was named after him .