Rami Mehmed Pasha

Rami Mehmed
Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
January 25, 1703  August 22, 1703
Monarch Mustafa II
Preceded by Daltaban Mustafa Pasha
Succeeded by Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha
Ottoman Governor of Egypt
In office
1704–1706
Preceded by Baltacı Süleyman Pasha
Succeeded by Dellak Ali Pasha
Personal details
Born 1645
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died 1706 (aged 6061)
Rhodes, Ottoman Empire
Nationality Ottoman
Religion Sunni Islam

Rami Mehmed Pasha (1645–1706) was an Ottoman statesman and poet who served as Grand Vizier (1703) and governor of Cyprus and of Egypt (1704–06). He was known as a poet of divan literature (the epithet Rami is his nom de plume in his poems).

Early years

He was born in 1645 in Istanbul to Terazici Hasan Aga. After completing his education, he started his career as a bureaucrat. In 1690, he was appointed as a clerk in the office of the reis ül-küttab. In 1696, he was promoted to be the reis ül-küttab (a post roughly equivalent to foreign minister) and three years later he represented the Ottoman Empire in the peace talks of the Treaty of Karlowitz which ended the War of the Holy League.[1] The Ottoman Empire was defeated in the war, but Mehmed Rami tried his best to minimize the losses.

As a grand vizier

On January 25, 1703, he was promoted to the post of Grand Vizier, the highest post of the Ottoman Empire other than that of the Sultan. However he soon realized that the Sheikh ul-Islam Feyzullah, who wielded great influence on the sultan Mustafa II, was the de facto ruler of the empire. The Sultan gave strict orders to Rami Mehmed to seek Feyzullah's approval in all of his decisions, a regulation which reduced the status of the Grand Vizier to a subordinate of the Sheikh ul-Islam. Even under this unfavorable situation, Rami tried to reform the post-war economy and the navy, but his term was too short to carry these reforms through.

Both Feyzullah’s almost unlimited authority and the Sultan’s insistence on residing in Edirne rather than Istanbul, the capital, caused reactions among the soldiers and the citizens in Istanbul. In the summer of 1703, they revolted against the Sultan. At the end of this revolt known as Edirne event, Rami Mehmed as well as the Sultan were deposed on August 22, 1703.[2]

Death

Rami Mehmed was then appointed as the governor of Cyprus and then Egypt, but in 1706 he was exiled to Rhodes island (now a part of Greece), where he died.[1]

As a man of letters

He was poet and a friend of the famous Ottoman poet of Nabi. He also wrote about his diplomatic career. His book named Karlofça Sulhnamesi is about the talks during the Treaty of Karlowitz.[1]

Legacy

A suburb of modern Istanbul, which was once a farm owned by Rami Mehmed, is now named Rami after him.

See also

Political offices
Preceded by
Daltaban Mustafa Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
January 25, 1703 – August 22, 1703
Succeeded by
Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha
Preceded by
Baltacı Süleyman Pasha
Ottoman Governor of Egypt
1704–1706
Succeeded by
Dellak Ali Pasha

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ayhan Buz: Osmanlı sadrazamları, Neden Kitap, İstanbul, 2009 ISBN 978-975-254-278-5, pp 154-156
  2. Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 247-250
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, October 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.