Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (‎; 11 February 1843 – 8 October 1936), later Ahmet Tevfik Okday after the Turkish

Surname Law The Surname Law () of the Republic of Turkey is a law adopted on 21 June 1934, requiring all citizens of Turkey to adopt the use of fixed, hereditary surnames. Prior to 1934, Turkish families in the major urban centres had names by which they were ...

of 1934, was an Ottoman diplomat and statesman of Crimean Tatar origin. He was the last

grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire The grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire ( or ''Sadr-ı Azam'' (''Sadrazam''); Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish: or ) was the ''de facto'' prime minister of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, sultan in the Ottoman Empire, with the absolute p ...

.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish) Tevfik Pasha had the misfortune of his terms as Grand Vizier coinciding with disastrous moments in late Ottoman history; his first term with the deposition of Abdul Hamid II, the second term with the

occupation of Istanbul The occupation of Istanbul () or occupation of Constantinople (12 November 1918 – 4 October 1923), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by United Kingdom, British, France, French, Italy, Italian, and Greece, Greek forces, took place in accordan ...

after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and the third term with the abolition of the Sultanate. In addition to serving as Grand Vizier, Ahmet Tevfik was also a diplomat, a member of the

Ottoman Senate The Senate of the Ottoman Empire (, or ; ; lit. "Assembly of Notables"; ) was the upper house of the parliament of the Ottoman Empire, the General Assembly. Its members were appointed notables in the Ottoman government who, along with the elected ...

, and long time

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Early life

Ahmet Tevfik was born on 11 February 1845 in

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

, Istanbul. His father, Ferik Ismail Hakkı Pasha, was a Crimean Tatar descended from the

Giray dynasty The House of Giray (, ; ), also the Girays, were the Genghisid/ Turkic dynasty that reigned in the Khanate of Crimea from its formation in 1431 until its downfall in 1783. The dynasty also supplied several khans of Kazan and Astrakhan between 1 ...

.Kalyoncu, Cemal A. "Son Sadrazamın Torunu." Aksiyon 20 Nov 1999: n. pag. Son Sadrazamın Torunu. Aksiyon.com.tr, 20 Nov 1999. Web. 1 Sep 2013. <>. He lost his mother Gülşinas Banu Hanım shortly after his birth. His aunt took care of his education, allowing him to speak Persian, Arabic and French fluently. Ahmet Tevfik entered military service but left after becoming a junior officer, entering government bureaucracy training. He left the military at the age of 22 (He was a participant of the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War) and entered the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...

Translation Office The Translation Office (, also spelled ''Terceme Odası'', // (), Google Booksbr>PT192 or Terdjuman Odasi; , also rendered as Bureau des Interprètes or Cabinet des Traducteurs) was an organ of the Government of the Ottoman Empire that translated do ...

. After 1872, he held various foreign ministry posts. After serving as an ambassador in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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. ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, and

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, in 1885 he served as the Ottoman

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

and ambassador to Germany in

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 ...

for ten years.

Foreign ministry

In 1895 Tevfik was appointed to the Foreign Ministry during the height of the Armenian crisis. He represented the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Constantinople, which ended the

1897 Greco-Turkish War The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War (), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the O ...

. Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

, as a reward for his work, gifted him a mansion, known first as the Italian Ministry Mansion, then the Foreign Ministry Mansion, finally the Tevfik Pasha Mansion. It was a neoclassical eclectic structure made largely of wood, and it became the headquarters of the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

. He retained his ministry following the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

, and in December 1908 he was appointed to the

Senate of the Ottoman Empire The Senate of the Ottoman Empire (, or ; ; lit. "Assembly of Notables"; ) was the upper house of the parliament of the Ottoman Empire, the General Assembly. Its members were appointed notables in the Ottoman government who, along with the electe ...

(), the upper house of the also-revived parliament, the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

(Turkish: ''Meclis-i Umûmî''). He resigned from the Foreign Ministry with the fall of the

Kâmil Pasha Mehmed Kâmil Pasha (; , "Mehmed Kâmil Pasha the Cypriot"), also spelled as Kâmil Pasha (1833 – 14 November 1913), was an Ottoman Anglophile statesman and liberal politician of Turkish Cypriot origin in the late-19th-century and early-20th ...

cabinet in early 1909, and was appointed ambassador to the

Court of St. James's The Court of St James's serves as the official royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The court formally receives all ambassadors accredited to the United Kingdom. Likewise, ambassadors representing the United Kingdom are formally a ...

on 6 April 1909, though he didn't arrive to his post due to the

31 March incident The 31 March incident () was an uprising in the Ottoman Empire in April 1909, during the Second Constitutional Era. The incident broke out during the night of 30–31 Mart 1325 in Rumi calendar ( GC 12–13 April 1909), thus named after 31 Mar ...

of 13 April.

First term as Grand Vizier (1909)

Ahmet Tevfik Pasha's first period of office as grand vizier was one of the direct outcomes of the failed counterrevolutionary

31 March Incident The 31 March incident () was an uprising in the Ottoman Empire in April 1909, during the Second Constitutional Era. The incident broke out during the night of 30–31 Mart 1325 in Rumi calendar ( GC 12–13 April 1909), thus named after 31 Mar ...

(which actually occurred on 13 April) in 1909. When the absolutists declared the countercoup, they demanded and received the resignation of the previous Grand Vizier

Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha ( , also spelled Hussein Hilmi Pasha) (1 April 1855 – 1922) was an Ottoman statesman and imperial administrator. He was twice the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire around the time of the Second Constitutional Era. He wa ...

. Although their preferred replacement was not Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, his appointment at least fulfilled their demands for the removal of Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha.Necati Çavdar, Siyasi Denge Unsuru Olarak 31 Mart Vakasında Ahmet Tevfik Paşa Hükümeti, ''History Studies, Samsun, Mart 2011''
Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, who had only reluctantly taken up the post at the urging of Sultan

, formed a government made up of mostly non-partisan and neutral members and took precautions to limit the chaos that had begun 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 ...

and

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

. After the Army of Action entered Istanbul and restored the constitutional government, and Abdul Hamid was deposed, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha resigned and Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha returned as grand vizier.

Ambassador to London

Afterwards he formally began his London ambassadorship, and was ambassador during the

July Crisis The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the Great power, major powers of Europe in mid-1914, Causes of World War I, which led to the outbreak of World War I. It began on 28 June 1914 when the Serbs ...

. He returned to Istanbul after war was declared on Britain. He visited Germany again in September 1918 as a member of a delegation announcing the accession of

Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as ''Şahbaba'' () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the penultimate Ottoman Cal ...

(Sultan since July 4, 1918).

Second term as Grand Vizier (1918–1919)

After

and the resignation of

Ahmed Izzet Pasha Ahmed Izzet Pasha (1864 – 31 March 1937 Ottoman Turkish: احمد عزت پاشا), known as Ahmet İzzet Furgaç after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish-Albanian soldier and statesman. He was a general during World War I and al ...

, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha was again appointed grand vizier on 11 November 1918. Two days after his term began, the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

began their occupation of Constantinople. The Allies pressured Sultan

to dissolve the parliament on 21 December 1918, and for a few weeks, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha's government was dissolved as well. He formed a new government on 12 January 1919, but after the Allies forced him to dissolve it once more, he resigned as grand vizier on 3 March 1919. A political scandal that contributed to the fall of the government was the escape of

Mehmed Reshid Mehmed Reshid (; 8 February 1873 – 6 February 1919) was an Ottoman politician and physician, official of the Committee of Union and Progress, and governor of the Diyarbekir Vilayet (province) of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He is ...

from prison and his subsequent suicide, who was high ranking

CUP A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

member who was known as the "butcher 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 World War I.

Damat Ferid Pasha " Damat" Mehmed Adil Ferid Pasha ( ;‎ 1853 – 6 October 1923), known simply as Damat Ferid Pasha, was an Ottoman liberal statesman, who held the office of Grand Vizier, the ''de facto'' prime minister of the Ottoman Empire, during two ...

accused Tevfik of being soft on the Unionists, which prompted Tevfik Pasha to arrest key Unionists after the event. Ferid Pasha succeeded Tevfik on the 4 March 1919.

Paris Peace Conference

After his second term as grand vizier, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha became the President of the

(which had not yet been dissolved, unlike the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

). He then attended the two Ottoman delegations to the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

to negotiate peace terms in 1919, which he was head of, and in 1920 though he understood the presented terms as unacceptable. The 1920 delegation which was headed by the Grand Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha accepted the terms and signed the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

.Turktarih.net sitesi Paris Barış Konferansı maddesi, Access date: June 24, 2011

Third term as Grand Vizier (1920–1922)

On 21 October 1920, he was once more appointed grand vizier, replacing Damat Ferit Pasha. Meanwhile, the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement (), also known as the Anatolian Movement (), the Nationalist Movement (), and the Kemalists (, ''Kemalciler'' or ''Kemalistler''), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resu ...

had established another government in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, proclaiming itself to be the sole government of Turkey and rejecting the so-called "Istanbul government". Ahmet Tevfik Pasha offered the nationalist Ankara government to join the Istanbul government to form a united front at the

Conference of London A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

in 1921. However, the leader in Ankara,

Mustafa Kemal Pasha Mustafa () is one of the names of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic language, Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in t ...

, refused the offer because of his belief that Ankara was the sole legitimate government of Turkey, and the two governments sent separate delegations to the conference, with Ahmet Tevfik Pasha himself leading the Istanbul delegation and

Bekir Sami Kunduh Bekir Sami Bey (known as Bekir Sami Kunduh in modern Turkish sources; ; 1867 – 16 January 1933) was a Turkish politician of Ossetian origin. He served as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey during 1920–1921. Biography Early ...

leading the Ankara delegation. However, once he arrived in London, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, in a surprising move, proclaimed that the Ankara government indeed was the sole rightful government 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 ...

and allowed Bekir Sami to be the only representative at the conference. After the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate on 1 November 1922, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha met with his government. With the Sultan

deposed and unable to find a reason to hold their offices any longer, the government began to resign one by one, and Ahmet Tevfik Pasha resigned on 4 November 1922. In an abnormal move he announced his resignation to the press instead of meeting with the Sultan and he kept the imperial seal instead of returning it. He never met Mehmed VI again, possibly out of shame after serving the state for almost three quarters of a century.

Later life and death

Tevfik Pasha withdrew from politics after the proclamation of 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 ...

. He turned his mansion in Ayaspaşa into a hotel in the 1930s, in accordance with his wife's wishes. The mansion became famous under the name " ''Park Otel''" under the management of restaurateur Aram Hıdır. When his eyesight began to fail, Tevfik settled in the hotel. After the 1934

, he adopted the last name "Okday". He died on 8 October 1936 in Istanbul at the age of 93, and is interred at the

Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery The Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery (), one of the largest burial grounds of Istanbul, Turkey, is located in the neighborhood of Edirnekapı of Eyüp district, in the European part of the city. It consists of an old, historical part and a mode ...

. His biography, written by his grandson Şefik Okday, was published in 1986 and is titled ''My Grandfather, the Last Grand Vizier, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha'' (Turkish: ''Büyükbabam Son Sadrazam Ahmet Tevfik Paşa'').

Family

While serving as chargé d'affaires in Athens, he met and married Elisabeth Tschumi, a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

woman working as a governess to the children of another diplomat, daughter of Jacob Tschumi. She changed her name to Afife following their wedding, but she chose to stay Protestant. However, a few days before Elisabeth's death in 1949, she decided to be buried next to her husband as a Muslim. They had five children together. According to his grandson Şefik Okday, Tevfik Oktay's first two children, İsmail Hakkı Pasha and Ali Nuri Bey (father of Şefik), were secretly baptized. A daughter, Zehra Hanım, married Mazlum Bey, the son of Minister of Internal Affairs Memduh Pasha. Naile and Gülşinas died young. Ali Nuri Bey married Edibe (Ayaşlı) Hanım, the granddaughter of

Sadullah Pasha Sadullah Pasha (1838 – 14 January 1891) was an Ottoman statesman in the late Tanzimat period. He is most notable as the Ottoman ambassador to Berlin following the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Early life and career Sadull ...

, whom he met during Tevfik Pasha's tenure as Ambassador to Berlin. Their wedding was the first to be gender integrated in the Ottoman Empire. İsmail Hakkı Pasha first married

Ulviye Sultan Fatma Ulviye Sultan (, "''one who abstain''" and "''exalted, lofty''"; 11 September 1892 – 25 January 1967) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Mehmed VI and Nazikeda Kadın. Early life Fatma Ulviye Sultan was born on 11 September ...

, daughter of the Sultan Mehmed VI, making him a

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 ...

, or imperial in-law. This made İsmail Hakkı Pasha a son of a grand vizier and son-in-law of the Sultan. He was one of the first officers to answer calls of resistance during the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. An apocryphal story has the officer of the imperial family meeting

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

, whereupon the renegade asked him, "What news did you bring from your father and the sultan?", İsmail Hakkı Pasha answered "

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

I came to fight." Tevfik Pasha, informed of his son's escapade by the angered sultan replied, "he went to fulfill his duty". Mehmed VI enacted a divorce on the couple. Following the Sultan's exile, İsmail Hakkı Pasha remarried with Ferhunde Hanım, the great-aunt of Prime Minister

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 197 ...

References

Sources

External links