Ibrahim Edhem Pasha (; 1819–1893) was an
Ottoman statesman, who held the office of
Grand Vizier
Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
in the beginning of
Abdul Hamid II's reign between 5 February 1877 and 11 January 1878.
He resigned from that post after the Ottoman chances on winning the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) had decreased. He furthermore served numerous administrative positions in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
including minister of foreign affairs in 1856, then
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1876, and to
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
from 1879 to 1882.
He also served as a military engineer and as Minister of Interior from 1883 to 1885.
In 1876–1877, he represented the Ottoman Government at the
Constantinople Conference.
Early life
He was born in
Chios
Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...
of
Greek ancestry,
in a Christian
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
village
on the island of
Chios
Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...
.
His connection to Chios is not well-documented: his son
Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey (30 December 1842 – 24 February 1910) was an Ottoman Turkish administrator, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering painter. He was the Ottoman Empire's first modern archaeologist, and is regarded as the ...
claimed that he was a member of the Skaramanga family, but Edhem Pasha himself tried to efface his Greek connections.
As a young boy in 1822, he was orphaned and captured by Ottoman soldiers during the
massacre of the Greek population of Chios.
He was sold into slavery,
brought to Constantinople, and adopted by the (later) grand vizier
Hüsrev Pasha. Lacking his own children and family, Hüsrev Pasha raised about ten children who had been orphaned or bought as slaves, many of whom ascended to important positions.
The child, now named İbrahim Edhem, quickly distinguished himself with his intelligence and after having attended schools in the Ottoman Empire, he was dispatched along with a number of his peers, and under the supervision of his foster father, then grand vizier, and of the sultan
Mahmud II
Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...
himself, to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
to pursue his studies under state scholarship. There he returned a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
, and was one of the top pupils at the
École des Mines.
He was a classmate and a friend of
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...
. He thus became Turkey's first mining engineer in the modern sense, and he started his career in this field.
Family and legacy
Ibrahim Edhem Pasha was the father of
Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey (30 December 1842 – 24 February 1910) was an Ottoman Turkish administrator, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering painter. He was the Ottoman Empire's first modern archaeologist, and is regarded as the ...
, a well-known archaeologist and painter, as well the founder of the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum and the
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Another son,
Halil Edhem Eldem took up the archaeology museum after Osman Hamdi Bey's death and had been a deputy for ten years under the newly founded
Turkish Republic. Yet another son,
İsmail Galib Bey, is considered as the founder of
numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
as a scientific discipline in Turkey. Later generations of the family also produced illustrious names. The architect
Sedat Hakkı Eldem, a cousin, is one of the pillars of the search for modern architectural styles adopted by the
Republic of Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
(called the ''Republican style'' in the Turkish context) in its early years and which marks many important buildings dating from the period of the 1920s and the 1930s. A great-grandson,
Burak Eldem, is a writer while another,
Edhem Eldem, is a renowned historian. More descendants include
Erol Eldem,
Tiana Eldem,
Levent Eldem and
Ercan Eldem, an architect.
See also
*
List of Ottoman grand viziers
*
Greek Muslims
Greek Muslims, also known as Grecophone Muslims, are Muslims of Greeks, Greek ethnic origin whose adoption of Islam (and often the Turkish language and identity in more recent times) dates either from the contact of early Arabic dynasties of th ...
References
External links
*
Chamber of Mining Engineers of Turkey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim Edhem Pasha
1819 births
1893 deaths
19th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire
Ambassadors of the Ottoman Empire to Austria-Hungary
Ambassadors of the Ottoman Empire to Germany
Converts to Sunni Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy
Former Greek Orthodox Christians
Government ministers of the Ottoman Empire
People from the Ottoman Empire of Greek descent
Greek slaves in the Ottoman Empire
Pashas
Politicians from Chios
Greek Muslims
Greek former Christians
Ottoman people of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
19th-century diplomats
Ministers of foreign affairs of the Ottoman Empire
Members of the Senate of the Ottoman Empire
19th-century slaves in the Ottoman Empire