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Tevfik Rüştü Aras (1883, Çanakkale – January 5, 1972 Istanbul) was a Turkish politician, serving as deputy and foreign minister of Turkey during the Atatürk era (1920-1939).

He graduated from the medical school of Beirut. He served as a doctor in Izmir, Istanbul, and Thessaloniki (Turkish: Selanik ). He became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress, and during his membership he met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

In 1918 he was a member of the high commission of health (Turkish: Yüksek Sağlık Kurulu ). At that time he married the journalist Evliyazade Makbule, who was the daughter of a wealthy family from Izmır.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) opened in 1920. Aras was elected to the parliament from Mugla. In his first period as a Member of Parliament (MP), he was appointed to the Independence Court of Kastamonu. In the autumn of 1920, he became one of the founders of the Communist Party of Turkey. Tevfik Rustu visited the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with Ali Fuat Cebesoy, when Mr. Cebesoy was appointed as ambassador to Moscow. He served as MP for Izmir in the second, third, fourth and fifth periods of TGNA, between 1923 and 1939.

When the Law on the Maintenance of Order was effected on March 4, 1925, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the third Ismet Inonu government. He stayed in office by keeping his position in all the cabinets until Atatürk died. He was the best implementer of the Atatürk's foreign policy, including good relations with neighbouring countries and opposition to hegemonic powers. He visited Russia three times at the invitation of Maxim Litvinov, the Foreign Minister of Russia. These visits took place in 1926 (Odessa), and in 1936 and 1937 (Moscow).

Aras was elected as the president of League of Nations during the Special Session of the Assembly Convened for the Purpose of Considering the Request of the Kingdom of Egypt for Admission to the League of Nations in Geneva, on May 26 - May 27, 1937. ^[1] He was appointed as ambassador to the United Kindom in 1939 and stayed in London for three and a half years. He retired in 1943 and published some stories in the Istanbul press (especially in the newspaper Tan). He supported the establishment of the Democratic Party. He took office as chairman of the board of Turkiye Is Bankasi, a Turkish Bank.

The speeches he gave during his ministerial period were collected in a book called "10 Years in Pursuit of Lausanne" (Turkish: Lozan'ın izlerinde 10 yıl) by Mr. Numan Menemencioglu in 1937. He also collected his stories (published in the daily press between 1945-63) into a book called My Views (Turkish: Görüşlerim). He died in 1972 in İstanbul.^[2]

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Political offices
Preceded by Şükrü Kaya	Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mar 4, 1925–Nov 11, 1938	Succeeded by Şükrü Saracoğlu
Honorary titles
Preceded by Carlos Saavedra Lamas	Presidents of General Assembly of League of Nations 1937–1937	Succeeded by Sir Muhammad Shah Aga Khan

v • d • e Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Bekir Sami Kunduh • Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu • Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk • İsmet İnönü • Şükrü Kaya • Tevfik Rüştü Aras • Şükrü Saracoğlu • Numan Menemencioğlu • Hasan Saka • Necmettin Sadak • Mehmet Fuat Köprülü • Adnan Menderes • Fatin Rüştü Zorlu • Ethem Menderes • Selim Sarper • Feridun Cemal Erkin • Hasan Esat Işık • İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil • Osman Olcay • Haluk Bayülken • Turan Güneş • Metin Esenbel • Gündüz Ökçün • Hayrettin Erkmen • Ertuğrul Ekrem Ceyhun • İlter Türkmen • Vahit Melih Halefoğlu • Mesut Yılmaz • Ali Bozer • Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin • Safa Giray • Hikmet Çetin • Mümtaz Soysal • Murat Karayalçın • Erdal İnönü • Coşkun Kırca • Deniz Baykal • Emre Gönensay • Tansu Çiller • İsmail Cem • Şükrü Sina Gürel • Yaşar Yakış • Abdullah Gül • Ali Babacan • Ahmet Davutoğlu

v • d • e Presidents of the Assembly of the League of Nations Paul Hymans (1920–21) · Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek (1921–22) · Agustín Edwards (1922–23) · Cosme de la Torriente y Peraza (1923–24) · Giuseppe Motta (1924–25) · Raoul Dandurand (1925–26) · Afonso Costa (1926) · Momčilo Ninčić (1926–27) · Alberto Guani (1927–28) · Herluf Zahle (1928–29) · José Gustavo Guerrero (1929–30) · Nicolae Titulescu (1930–32) · Paul Hymans (1932–33) · Charles Theodore Te Water (1933–34) · Richard Johannes Sandler (1934) · Francisco Castillo Nájera (1934–35) · Edvard Beneš (1935–36) · Carlos Saavedra Lamas (1936–37) · Tevfik Rüştü Aras (1937) · Aga Khan III (1937–38) · Éamon de Valera (1938–39) · Carl Joachim Hambro (1939–40, 1946)