Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha

Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office 14 February 1909 – 13 April 1909
Monarch	Abdülhamid II
Preceded by	Kâmil Pasha
Succeeded by	Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
In office 5 May 1909 – 12 January 1910
Monarch	Mehmet V Reşad
Preceded by	Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
Succeeded by	Ibrahim Hakki Pasha
Minister of the Interior
In office 1908–1909
Inspectorate-General of Macedonia
In office 1902–1908
Ambassador to Austria-Hungary
In office 1912–1918
Personal details
Born	1 April 1855 Lesbos, Ottoman Empire
Died	1922 Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Ottoman
Religion	Islam

Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: حسین حلمی پاشا‎, also spelled Hussein Hilmi Pasha) (1 April 1855 – 1922) was an Ottoman statesman of Greek descent and twice Grand Vizier^[1] of the Ottoman Empire around the time of the Second Constitutional Era. He was also one-time president of the Turkish Red Crescent.^[2] Hüseyin Hilmi was one of the most successful Ottoman administrators in the explosive Balkans of the early 20th century, becoming the Ottoman Inspectorate-General of Macedonia^[3] from 1902 to 1908, Minister of the Interior^[4] from 1908 to 1909, and ambassador to Austria-Hungary^[5] from 1912 to 1918.

Biography

Hüseyin Hilmi was born in 1855 in Lesbos to a family of Greek ancestry^[6][7][8][9] who had formerly converted to Islam.^[10] He did his primary studies in Lesbos and learned fluent French at an early age. He started out as a clerk in the Ottoman state structure and gradually climbed the ladder of the hierarchy, becoming the governor of Adana in 1897 and of Yemen in 1902. That same year in 1902, he was appointed Inspectorate-General with responsibility over virtually all of the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire at the time, namely the vilayets of Salonica, Kosovo and Manastir.

After the restoration of the Ottoman constitution in 1908, he was appointed as Minister of the Interior and then served as Grand Vizier, at first between February 14, 1909 and April 13, 1909 under Abdülhamid II and then, reassuming the post from Ahmet Tevfik Pasha a month later, between May 5, 1909 and December 28, 1909. As such, in his first vizierate, he was the last grand vizier of Abdülhamid II. His first term was suddenly interrupted because of the 31 March Incident (which actually occurred on April 13), when for a few days, reactionary absolutists and Islamic fundamentalists took back control of the Ottoman government in Constantinople until the arrival of an army from Salonica that suppressed the attempted countercoup.

After his second term as grand vizier under Mehmet V Reşad, Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha served as the Minister of Justice in the succeeding Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha cabinet. In October 1912, he was sent to Vienna as the Ottoman ambassador to Austria-Hungary, a position he held until the end of World War I. Due to health problems, he remained in Vienna until his death in 1922. He was buried in Beşiktaş, Istanbul.

See also

• List of Ottoman grand viziers
• Greek Muslims

References

1. Archivum ottomanicum v. 23. Mouton. 2006. p. 272. Hüseyin Hilmi (1855-1923), who was to become Grand Vezir twice in 1909
2. Trivedi, Raj Kumar (1994). The critical triangle: India, Britain, and Turkey, 1908-1924. Publication Scheme. p. 77. OCLC 31173524. the Ottoman Red Crescent Society of which Hilmi Pasha was the head, which he said, utilized their money for the purpose for which it had been contributed by Muslims in India.
3. Kent, Marian (1996). The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire. Routledge. p. 227. ISBN 0-7146-4154-5. Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855-1923) (Ottoman Inspector-General of Macedonia, 1902-8
4. Kent, Marian (1996). The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire. Routledge. p. 227. ISBN 0-7146-4154-5. Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855-1923) Minister for the Interior, 1908-9)
5. Kent, Marian (1996). The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire. Routledge. p. 227. ISBN 0-7146-4154-5. Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855-1923) Ambassador to Vienna, 1912-18
6. Prothero, George Walter (1920). Peace Handbooks: The Balkan states. H. M. Stationery Office. p. 45. OCLC 4694680. Hussein Hilmi Pasha, descended from a Greek convert to Islam in the island of Mitylene, was sent to Macedonia as High Commissioner.
7. Wheeler, Edward J, ed. (1909). Current Literature. Current Literature Pub. Co. p. 389. OCLC 4604506. His Excellency Hussein Hilmi Pacha is a Turk "of the isles." The politest Turks of all come from the isles. There is also Greek blood in his veins,
8. Great Britain. Foreign Office. Historical Section (1920). Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical section of the foreign office. H.M. Stationery off. p. 45. OCLC 27784113. Hussein Hilmi Pasha, descended from a Greek convert to Islam in the island of Mitylene, was sent to Macedonia as High Commissioner.
9. Abbott, George Frederick (1909). Turkey in transition. E. Arnold. p. 149. OCLC 2355821. For Hilmi is a novus homo. A native of Mytilene, of obscure origin, partly Greek, he began his career as secretary to Kemal Bey
10. Prothero, George Walter (1920). Peace Handbooks: The Balkan states. H. M. Stationery Office. p. 45. OCLC 4694680. Hussein Hilmi Pasha, descended from a Greek convert to Islam in the island of Mitylene.

• Emine Onhan Evered, "An educational prescription for the Sultan: Huseyin hilmi pasa's advice for the maladies of empire," Middle Eastern Studies, 43,3 (2007), 439-459.