Жоғары комиссар лауазымының тарихы мен маңызы

Title of various high ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment
the film known as The High Commissioner

High commissioner is the title of various high ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment. The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages.

In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat (ranking as an ambassador) in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. In this usage, a Commonwealth nation's high commission is its embassy to another Commonwealth nation.

Historically, in the British Empire (most of which would become the Commonwealth) high commissioners were envoys of the imperial government appointed to manage protectorates or groups of territories not fully under the sovereignty of the British Crown, while Crown colonies (which were British sovereign territory) would normally be administered by a governor and the most significant possessions, large confederations and the independent Commonwealth Dominions would be headed by a governor general. An example was the island of Cyprus. Until 12 July 1878, Cyprus was under the Ottoman rule based in Istanbul. From that date, it was under British administration, but Istanbul retained nominal sovereignty until Cyprus was fully annexed by Britain on 5 November 1914. There were nine successive high commissioners, all but one already knighted, from 22 July 1878 until on 10 March 1925. Cyprus became a crown colony, and the last incumbent stayed on as its first governor. The high commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan, who administered Mandatory Palestine, had a considerable effect on the history of Zionism and the early stages of what would become the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. A high commission could also be charged with the last phase of a decolonisation, as in the crown colony of the Seychelles, granted autonomy on 12 November 1970: the last governor, Colin Hamilton Allen (1921–1993), stayed on as the only colonial high commissioner from 1 October 1975, when self rule under the Crown was granted, until 28 June 1976 when the Seychelles became an independent republic within the Commonwealth.

The role of High Commissioner for Southern Africa was coupled with that of British Governor of the Cape Colony in the 19th century, giving the colonial administrator responsibility both for administering British possessions and relating to neighbouring Boer settlements. The best known of these high commissioners, Alfred Milner, who was appointed to both positions in the 1890s, is considered responsible by some for igniting the Second Boer War. Historically, in southern Africa, the protectorates of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland (now Eswatini) were administered as High Commission Territories by the governor general of South Africa, who was also the British high commissioner for Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland, until the 1930s, with various local representatives, and subsequently by the British high commissioner (from 1961 ambassador) to South Africa, who was represented locally in each territory by a resident commissioner. The British governor of the crown colony of the Straits Settlements, based in Singapore, doubled as high commissioner of the Federated Malay States, and had authority over the resident general in Kuala Lumpur, who in turn was responsible for the various residents appointed to the native rulers of the Malay states under British protection. The British Western Pacific Territories were permanently governed as a group of minor insular colonial territories, under one single part time Western Pacific High Commissioner (1905–1953), an office attached first to the governorship of Fiji, and subsequently to that of the Solomon Islands. He was represented in each of the other islands units by a resident commissioner, consul or other official (on tiny Pitcairn a mere chief magistrate). Currently there is still one high commissioner who also serves in an additional capacity as a governor: the British high commissioner to New Zealand serves ex officio as British colonial Governor of the Pitcairn Islands.

In the (post )colonial sense, some other powers have or previously had high commissioners, or rather the exact equivalent in their language.

In the Kingdom of Denmark, high commissioners (Rigsombudsmanden, , ) represent the crown and the Kingdom Government (Regeringen) in Greenland and the Faroe Islands (two self governing regions of the kingdom – the unity of the Realm) and take part in negotiations on policies and decisions affecting their region including negotiations with the devolved legislatures and the Kingdom Parliament (Folketinget). Greenland and the Faroe Islands have one commissioner each.

In early May 1919, the Kingdom of Greece was given a mandate by the Supreme Allied War Council for the city of Smyrna (today İzmir) and its hinterland, which it proceeded to occupy on 12 May. A civilian administration was set up in the "Smyrna Zone", headed, from 21 May 1919 until 9 September 1922, when Greece lost Smyrna to Turkey, by the high commissioner (Ὕπατος Ἁρμοστὴς) Aristeidis Stergiadis (1861–1950).

While being a U. S. protectorate from 1905 to 1941, the Dominican Republic had first various native regimes, then U. S. military Governors 29 November 1916 – 24 July 1922, and just before it again had the first of its own presidents on 21 October 1922, a single U. S. high commissioner, Sumner Welles, who served from 1922 to 1924. Haiti, the other (western) half of the island of Hispaniola, had a similar experience. It was a U. S. protectorate from 1915 to 1936, after five U. S. military commanders, there was one high commissioner, John H. Russell, Jr., who served from 11 February 1922 to 16 November 1930. Following World War I, Rear Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol served as United States high commissioner for Turkey from 1919 to 1927. The Philippines became a United States unincorporated territory on 13 August 1898. After gaining autonomy on 15 November 1935, it had the following high commissioners:
1935–1937 William Francis "Frank" Murphy, who was also the last governor general over the Islands. 1937–1939 Paul V. McNutt (first commission)
1939 – 7 September 1942 Francis Bowes Sayers (exiled in the U. S. from 24 December 1942 during the Japanese Occupation). 7 September 1942 – 4 July 1946 Paul V. McNutt (second commission; exiled in the U. S. until August 1945 during the Japanese Occupation). Term ended when the Philippines achieved full sovereignty. Okinawa and Ryukyu Islands (Japanese archipelago), and later just Okinawa had six U. S. high commissioners:
4 July 1957 – 1 May 1958 James Edward Moore. Moore was also the last Deputy governor and Commanding General, Ryukyu Islands Command. 1 May 1958 – 12 February 1961 Donald Prentice Booth. 16 February 1961 – 31 July 1964 Paul Wyatt Caraway. 1 August 1964 – 31 October 1966 Albert Watson II. 2 November 1966 – 28 January 1968 Ferdinand Thomas Unger. 28 January 1968 – 15 May 1972 James Benjamin Lampert. On 15 May 1972 Okinawa reverted to Japanese sovereignty as a prefecture; therefore, the office of U. S. high commissioner on Okinawa ceased to exist.

Following the capitulation of the Ottoman Empire in the Armistice of Mudros, on 8 December 1918 the Allies occupied the shores of the Bosporus, the Dardanelles, the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara up to 15 km deep, and the islands of Imbros, Lemnos, Samothrace and Tenedos. The entire area demilitarised (Zone of the Straits). This was complemented from 16 March to 10 August 1920 as the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital Constantinople (Istanbul). Until the termination of Allied occupation on 22 October 1923, there were at all times one British Senior Allied High Commissioner and one (junior) Allied High Commissioner (incumbents from France, thrice, Italy and the US, each twice).

As the 'world community' became a widely accepted ideal in diplomacy and was embodied first in the League of Nations and later the United Nations, these often came to play a key role in extraordinary situations that would earlier probably have been dealt with by states as above, sometimes reflected in the appointment of high commissioners under their auspices, sometimes just from the same leading powers, sometimes rather from 'neutral' member states. The title of High Commissioner was specifically used for the administrators during the 'emancipation from colonial rule' of League of Nations mandates and United Nations Trust Territories, i. e. non sovereign states under a 'transitional' regime established under the authority of the League of Nations or the UN, respectively, to prepare them for full independence. These 'guardianships' most often were simply awarded to the former colonial power or if that was a loser in the preceding World War, to the 'liberating' Allied victor(s). The trust territories have all now attained self government or independence, either as separate nations or by joining neighbouring independent countries.

After the former Italian colony of Eritrea had been under victor Britain's administration since 5 May 1941, a specific United Nations administration, under Britain, was installed on 19 February 1951, under a UN high commissioner, Edoardo Anze Matienzo (Bolivian, b. 1902), whose office ceased on 15 September 1952 when it was federated with Ethiopia under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian emperor.