Melek Ahmed Pasha ("Ahmed

Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

the Angel"; 1604–1662) was an Ottoman statesman and

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 ...

during the reign of

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV (; ; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693), nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to b ...

Early years

He was of Abkhaz (or

Abazin The Abazin, Abazinians or Abaza ( Abaza and Abkhaz: Абаза; Circassian: Абазэхэр; ; ; ) are an ethnic group of the Northwest Caucasus, closely related to the Abkhaz and Circassian peoples. Today, as a result of atrocities committ ...

) origin. According to one source, his father was a sea captain named Pervane. During the reign of

Murad IV Murad IV (, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; , 27 July 1612 – 8 February 1640) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad I ...

, he was appointed as the governor of

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

. During Ibrahim's reign, he was appointed to the governorships of

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

and

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. In 1644, he married İsmihan Kaya Sultan, Murad's daughter, and gained the title ''

damat Damat (, from {{langx, fa, {{nq, داماد (dâmâd) "bridegroom") was an official Ottoman title describing men that entered the imperial House of Osman by means of marriage, literally becoming the bridegroom to the Ottoman sultan and the dyn ...

'' (groom). But all of the provinces (even Erzurum a part 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 ...

) he was assigned, were quite far from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, the capital, and during most of his assignments, his wife stayed in Istanbul. During the reign of

, he finally returned to Istanbul as a vizier. But in 1652, to the dismay of his wife, he was appointed as the governor of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, another post far from Istanbul. Kaya Sultan tried to persuade the regent,

Turhan Sultan Hatice Turhan Sultan (, "''merciful"'' or "''noble''"; 1627 – 4 August 1683) was the first Haseki sultan of the Ottoman sultan Ibrahim (), and Valide sultan as the mother of Mehmed IV () as well as the Official Regent of the Ottoman Empi ...

(Mehmed IV's mother) to revoke the decision, but she couldn't succeed. Nevertheless, before Melek Ahmed left Istanbul, the Grand Vizier

Kara Murat Pasha Kara Murat Pasha, or Kara Dev Murad Pasha, lit. ''Courageous Giant Murat Pasha'' in Ottoman Turkish; (1595 – 1655), was an Ottoman Albanian statesman and military officer. He served as Kapudan Pasha and twice as Grand Vizier. His epithet ''K ...

resigned, complaining of the intrigues of the palace people. The queen regent offered the post to Melek Ahmed, who accepted the offer on the condition that the palace people would not meddle with the governance of the state. Kaya Sultan died on 28 February 1658. He was the brother-in-law of the Haydarzade Mehmed Pasha, the

Ottoman governor of Egypt The Ottoman Empire's governors of Egypt Eyalet, Egypt from 1517 to 1805 were at various times known by different but synonymous titles, among them ''beylerbey'', viceroy, governor, governor-general, or, more generally, ''wāli''. Furthermore, th ...

from 1646 to 1647, who married his sister.

Grand Vizier

When Melek Ahmed took office, he realized that the empire was almost bankrupt. The

Cretan War (1645–1669) The Cretan War (; ), also known as the War of Candia () or the fifth Ottoman–Venetian war, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies (chief among them the Knights of Malta, the Papal States and France) against the Ottoman ...

was very costly, and tax revenues from

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

were much less than the expected amount because of the

Jelali revolts The Celali rebellions () were a series of rebellions in Anatolia of irregular troops led by bandit chiefs and provincial officials known as ''celalî'', ''celâli'', or ''jelālī'', against the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th and ...

. He attempted to balance the budget, but without a real knowledge of financial affairs, his economic measures worsened the economy instead of improving it. Among his measures was the

debasing A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins, while continuing to circulate it at face value. A coin is said to be debased ...

of coinage by reducing the gold content. This caused reactions among both the merchants and the soldiers, whose salaries were paid by the new coins. The sultan was forced to relieve him of his post on 22 August 1651.

Later years

After 1651, he was again assigned as a provincial governor, but this time in

Silistra Silistra ( ; ; or ) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Silistra is the administrative center of the ...

(now in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

), much closer to capital. Soon, he was able to return to Istanbul. In 1654, Mustafa İbşir Pasha had been appointed as the Grand Vizier, but delayed his arrival in Istanbul. During this period, Melek Ahmed functioned as his deputy. This aroused İbşir Pasha's suspicions, and Melek Ahmed was exiled to

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

and

Malkara Malkara () is a municipality and district of Tekirdağ Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,243 km2 (the largest in Tekirdağ Province), and its population is 50,988 (2022). It is located at 55 km west of Tekirdağ and 190 km from Ist ...

. However, after İbşir Pasha was deposed, Melek Ahmed Pasha was able to regain his former titles. After working in some provinces in the European part of the empire, he was married for a second time to Fatma Sultan (the daughter of the late sultan

Ahmed I Ahmed I ( '; ; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 to 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal fratricide; henceforth, Ottoman rulers would no ...

) in 1662. On their wedding night, Fatma demanded that her new husband guarantee her an income five times higher than that of the deceased Kaya Sultan. When he told her that he did not have such wealth, she threatened to divorce him and immediately withdraw her dowry, which amounted to one year's taxes of the provinces of Egypt. Faced with this blackmail, Melek had to give her what she wanted. Melek Ahmed Pasha died in 1662, only months after marrying Fatma Sultan.

Aftermath

In the Ottoman Empire, the minting of devalued coinage continued after 1651 and provided the major reason for a wide-scale rebellion, the

Çınar Incident Çınar, also spelled chinar and çinar, is a Turkic word meaning Platanus tree (commonly called " plane tree" or "sycamore tree" depending on the English dialect, derived from the Persian word chenar (Persian: چنار), and may refer to: Plac ...

, in 1656.

Issue

By Kaya Sultan, he had a son and two daughters: *Fatma Afife Hanımsultan (1652–1727). She married Süleyman Pasha. She was the stepmother of his children by his first marriage, Mahmud Bey and Ahmed Bey, but she appears to have had no children of her own. She was very devoted and took care of her mother's charitable foundations after her death. She was buried in the

Şehzade Mosque The Şehzade Mosque () is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his son Şehzade Mehmed who died in 1543 ...

. *Sultanzade Abdüllah Bey (1655–1655). Born prematurely at seven months, he lived less than a day. *''Fülane'' Hanımsultan (24 February 1658 - 1658?). Kaya died four days after her birth. As there is no information about her, she is supposed to have died at birth or shortly thereafter. Another son, Ibrahim Bey, born to an unknown mother before his marriage to Kaya or during Melek Ahmed's widowhood, is mentioned in his will.

Evliya Çelebi and Melek Ahmed Pasha

Evliya Çelebi and Melek Ahmet Pasha were milk brothers as a result they happened to be very close to each other. Although not a particularly successful Grand Vizier, details about both Melek Ahmed Pasa and his wife Kaya Sultan (as well as his later marriage to Fatma Sultan) are well known because of

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

's books. Evliya Çelebi was one of the most important Turkish travel writers of his time, and his mother was the milk-sister of Melek Ahmed Pasha, and Evliya Çelebi used this opportunity to travel with Melek Ahmed Pasha.On line history
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed Pasha, Melek 17th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire Abazins 1662 deaths People from Galata Pashas Year of birth uncertain People from the Ottoman Empire of Abkhazian descent 1600s births Ottoman governors of Aleppo Ottoman governors of Diyarbekir