Nevesinli Salih Pasha (; , died 16 September 1647) was an Ottoman Bosnian civil servant 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 ...

Early years

Salih Pasha was of South Slavic descent from

Nevesinje Nevesinje ( sr-cyrl, Невесиње) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,162 inhabitants, while the municipality has 12,961 inhabitants. Geography The municipality o ...

Sanjak of Herzegovina The Sanjak of Herzegovina (; ) was an Ottoman administrative unit established in 1470. The seat was in Foča until 1572 when it was moved to Taşlıca (Pljevlja). The sanjak was initially part of the Eyalet of Rumelia but was administrated int ...

Bosnia Eyalet The Eyalet of Bosnia (; By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters ; ), was an eyalet (administrative division, also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the Ottoman Empire, mostly based on the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ...

, and was sent to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

at a young age. During the reign of Sultan

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 ...

(r. 1623–1640), he was a civil servant specialized in treasury. He served in some other posts as well, and finally during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim (r. 1640–1648) in 1644, he was appointed defterdar, the highest position in the treasury. In 1645, grand vizier Sultanzade Mehmet Pasha was dismissed from the post. The first choice of the sultan for the post was Yusuf Pasha. However, Yusuf Pasha did not accept, and Salih Pasha was appointed as grand vizier on 17 December 1645.Ayhan Buz: ''Osmanlı Sadrazamları'',Neden Kitap,İstanbul, 2009 pp.100-101

Grand Vizierate

The most important issue in 1646 was the war in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, an important island in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, which was a dependency of

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in the first half of the 17th century (see

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 ...

). Salih Pasha sent Sultanzade Mehmet Pasha, his predecessor, to Crete as the general commander (). When Mehmet Pasha died soon afterwards,

Gazi Hüseyin Pasha Gazi Hüseyin Pasha ("Hüseyin Pasha the Warrior"; died 1659), also known as Deli Hüseyin Pasha ("the Mad") or Sarı Hüseyin Pasha ("the Blonde") or Baltaoğlu Hüseyin Pasha ("of the Baltadji, Axe"), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman military o ...

was appointed the next commander. He was successful in capturing

Rethymno Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...

. Another mainstream issue at the time was the disobedience of the

Mingrelia Mingrelia or Samegrelo ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr ; ) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelians, a subgroup of Georgians. Geography and climate Mingr ...

(also known as Samegrelo, in western

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

) principality, which was a

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...

of the Ottoman Empire. Salih Pasha was able to maintain order there.Joseph von Hammer:''Osmanlı Tarihi'' cilt II (condensation: Abdülkadir Karahan), Milliyet yayınları, İstanbul. p 237-238

Death

According to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Sultan Ibrahim, an unbalanced monarch, had given strict orders to ban any horse carts in

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. Seeing that his order was violated, he ordered the execution of his grand vizier, Salih Pasha. During a

divan A divan or diwan (, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental cou ...

meeting, Salih Pasha was arrested and executed on 16 September 1647.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salih Pasha, Nevesinli Year of birth unknown 1647 deaths Converts to Sunni Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy Pashas 17th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire Defterdar Executed people from the Ottoman Empire People from Nevesinje People from the Ottoman Empire of Bosnian descent Executed Bosnia and Herzegovina people 17th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire

Early years

Grand Vizierate

Death

See also

References