Öküz Mehmed Pasha

"Öküz" Mehmed Pasha ("Mehmed Pasha the Ox"), also known as Kara Mehmed Pasha ("the Black") or "Kul Kıran" Mehmed Pasha ("the Disciple-breaker"), was an Ottoman Turkish statesman, administrator, and military figure of the early 17th century. He served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire twice: October 17, 1614 – November 17, 1616 (during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I), and January 18, 1619 – December 23, 1619 (during the reign of Osman II).İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish) He also served as the Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1607 to 1611.

Öküz Mehmed's nickname, "Kul Kiran" (disciple-breaker), came from his success in crushing the mutiny in Egypt during the early 1600s. Soldiers were often known as a ''kul'', meaning disciple or acolyte in the Ottoman military context.

Background

Öküz Mehmed Pasha was born in the Karagümrük district of Istanbul. He was of Turkish ancestry. His father was reportedly an oxen blacksmith.Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı, (1954) ''Osmanlı Tarihi III. Cilt, 2. Kısım, XVI. Yüzyıl Ortalarından XVII. Yüzyıl Sonuna kadar)'', Ankara: Türk Tarih KurumuAvcı, Casim, "Mehmed Paşa (Öküz, Damat)" (1999) ''Yaşamları ve Yapıtlarıyla Osmanlılar Ansiklopedisi'', İstanbul:Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık A.Ş. C.2 s.164 ISBN 975-08-0072-9 He was nicknamed "Black" and "Ox" by his enemies, alluding to his father's profession. Before his governmental duties, Mehmed Pasha served as a ''silahdar'', a high-ranking position responsible for safeguarding the sultan.

He married Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Ahmed I and Kösem Sultan in 1612. They had a son who died in infancy.

Governor of Egypt

Before his first term as grand vizier, Mehmed Pasha was appointed as Ottoman governor of Egypt in 1607, a post he held until 1611. In 1604, three years before he assumed office, the governor of Ottoman Egypt, Maktul Hacı Ibrahim Pasha, was murdered by mutinying sipahi soldiers from his own troops. This event caused three years of instability in Egypt, with the subsequent two governors, Hadım Mehmed Pasha and Yemenli Hasan Pasha, unable to completely quell the rebellion.

Upon assuming office, Mehmed Pasha's strong leadership allowed him to suppress the sipahis and abolish the illegal '''tulba protection tax they had been imposing on the Egyptian countryside. After landing at Alexandria, he gained public support by visiting the tombs of local saints and treating the Mamluks well, ordering repairs on Mamluk-built buildings and structures. He then proceeded to execute district governors who had allowed the sipahis to impose the ''tulba'' and warned others of the same fate.

Tensions peaked in February 1609, when the rebels gathered in the city of Tanta and met at the tomb of Ahmad al-Badawi, Egypt's most popular saint, to swear resistance to Mehmed Pasha's efforts. They then began to gather troops and pillage villages for supplies. Mehmed Pasha also gathered troops, although some of his officers suggested diplomacy, which Mehmed agreed to. He sent a mufti named Altıparmak Mehmed Efendi and an officer to negotiate with the rebels. The mufti advised the rebels to give in to "those in authority," and upon their refusal, Mehmed Pasha's forces began to mobilize.

Mehmed Pasha's forces met the rebels just north of Cairo. The rebels, discouraged, lost the battle, and the pasha's forces summarily executed over 250 of them, while others were later exiled to Yemen.

In the aftermath, Mehmed Pasha became known as ''Kul Kıran'' ("slavebreaker" in Turkish) for subjugating the Mamluks and the soldiers to Ottoman rule. He promoted public works and attempted to reform the fiscal and military organization of the Egypt Eyalet, reducing the number of local beys to 12, although this measure was later abandoned. In 1611, he was recalled to the capital, Constantinople, by the sultan.

Grand Vizierates

Mehmed Pasha was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from October 17, 1614, to November 17, 1616, and again from January 18, 1619, to December 23, 1619. While in office, he was usually called Kara Mehmed Pasha; the nickname "ox" was invented behind his back (though he almost certainly overheard it) due to his heavy build and his father's profession as a blacksmith for cattle in the Karagümrük quarter of Constantinople. History retained this nickname rather than ''Kara'', which means "black" in Turkish and may refer to one's complexion or hair or, figuratively, to courage and daring.

One episode during his time as grand vizier involved an attack on Vienna with only 47 raiders, without informing the sultan or any other authority in the Ottoman capital. It ended in complete failure and nearly cost him his life. Some historians consider this foray a third siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks, alongside the better-known incidents, undertaken first by sultan Süleyman the Magnificent in 1529 and later by grand vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha in 1683.

First Grand Vizierate

After the execution of Nasuh Pasha, Mehmed was made grand vizier, October 17, 1614. An ambassador, İncili Çavuş, had been sent to Persia in 1612, but had not sent back word for two years, nor had Persia sent tribute. For this reason, Mehmed was ordered east with an army. In the meantime, word came that İncili Çavuş and a Persian ambassador had arrived in Van. Mehmed’s expedition was not called off, however, and the army set out in June 1615. The army wintered in Maraş and set out again in April 1616, reaching Erivan in September 1616. On the advice of the agha of the Janissaries, Mehmed had not brought heavy artillery or siege weapons. Erivan was besieged for a month or two (44, 55, or 60 days), but unsuccessfully, because of lack of weapons. The Ottomans agreed to a reduction in tribute from Persia and retreated to Erzurum in November 1616. Mehmed was dismissed as grand vizier for this failure, 17 November 1616.

Governor of Aidin

Between his two terms as grand vizier, he held the office of governor of Aidin Vilayet (then a province covering a large part of western Anatolia). His governorship is marked by the construction of a caravanserai in Kuşadası, named the Öküz Mehmed Pasha Caravanserai after him, intended to attract international trade through the port. Over time, trade shifted much more towards the port of İzmir due to the preference displayed by Europe and merchants. The caravanserai in Kuşadası is used as a luxury hotel and shopping center today. He also had another caravanserai built in Ulukışla on the way to a campaign against the Safavids during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18), which eventually ended with a decisive Ottoman defeat.

Second Grand Vizierate

When Grand Vizier Halil Pasha was dismissed, Mehmed was appointed in his place, on January 18, 1619. During this viziership, Mehmed began coinage reform and finalized the Treaty of Serav with Persia. However, later in 1619, Mehmed fell out with the sultan’s current favorite, Güzelce Ali Pasha. This conflict led to Mehmed’s dismissal and Ali’s appointment as grand vizier by Sultan Osman II on December 23, 1619.

Death and Burial

The new grand vizier had Mehmed's property confiscated and had him sent away from Istanbul to be governor of Aleppo. In Aleppo, Mehmed suffered financial difficulties and illness and died within one and a half years. He was buried near the Sheikh Abu Bakr Takiyya in Aleppo. (His wife was then married to Recep Pasha on December 9, 1621.)

Legacy

Mehmed funded and directed civil, religious, and military repair and construction in many of the places to which he was connected, such as ten mosques and '' mescit''s, foundation houses (''vakıf evler''), hamams, wells, water ways, fountains, shops, bakeries, inns, schools, and mills. Some of these works include
* a complex (''külliye'') made up of a mosque, fountain, and school in Karagümrük, Istanbul (burned in the Balat fire of 1729, but with the mosque reconstructed in 1987)
* a complex in Ulukışla, Niğde, with caravanserai, mosque, school, covered market (''arasta''), hamam, madrasa, fountain, bakery, coffeehouse, soup kitchen, and '' zawiya'' (the school, bakery, coffeehouse, soup kitchen and ''zawiya'' no longer standing)
* a caravanserai in Kuşadası, with mosque, school, hamam, han, textile market, bakery, coffeehouse, houses, warehouses, rooms, shops and a mill (the mosque, hamam, and han still standing)
* barracks for the Janissary and Azab corps in Cairo
* mosques in Egypt
* a ''vikâle'' (a kind of "city caravanserai" or "trade center") in Rashid, Egypt
* facilities for travelers along the roads to Mecca in Egypt and Syria
* a Mevlevi ''zawiya'' with shops in Cairo
* a mosque on Chios
* fountains in the Çanakkale

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