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{{Short description|Ottoman politician, reformist and statesman (1822–1883)}}{{family name hatnote|Ahmed Şefik Midhat|Pasha||lang=Ottoman Turkish}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}

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)| blank1 = ParliamentGeneral Assembly of the Ottoman Empire>Parliament of the Ottoman Empire| term_start1 = 19 December 1876| term_end1 = 5 February 1877| predecessor1 = Mehmed Rushdi Pasha| successor1 = Ibrahim Edhem Pasha| office2 = Abdulaziz ({{Reign>1861|1876}})| term_start2 = 31 July 1872| term_end2 = 19 October 1872| predecessor2 = Mahmud Nedim Pasha| successor2 = Mehmed Rushdi Pasha| office3 = | monarch3 = | term_start3 = | term_end3 = | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | office4 = | monarch4 = | term_start4 = | term_end4 = | predecessor4 = | successor4 = | birth_date = 1822| birth_place = Istanbul, Ottoman Empire| death_date = 26 April 1883 (aged 60)| death_place = Taif, Hejaz Vilayet, Ottoman Empire| nationality = | blank2 = Origins| data2 = | party = | spouse = | relations = | children = | residence = | alma_mater = | allegiance = | branch = | serviceyears = | rank = | battles = | occupation = | profession = | religion = | signature = | footnotes = }}Ahmed Shefik Midhat Pasha (; 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman politician, reformist and statesman. He was the author of the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire.Midhat was born in Istanbul and educated from a private {{Transliteration|ota|medrese}}. In July 1872, he was appointed grand vizier by Abdulaziz ({{Reign|1861|1876}}), though was removed in August. During the First Constitutional Era, in 1876, he co-founded the Ottoman Parliament. Midhat was noted as a kingmaker and leading Ottoman democrat. He was part of a governing elite which recognized the crisis the Empire was in and considered reform to be a dire need. Midhat was reportedly killed in al-Ta’if.

Early life and family

Ahmed Shefik Midhat Pasha was born in Istanbul in the Islamic month of Safar in 1238 AH, which began on 18 October 1822. His family consisted of well-established Muslim scholars. His father, Rusçuklu Mehmed EÅŸref, was a native of Ruse. The family seem to have been professed Bektashis. Born into an Ilmiye family, he received a private and medrese education.BOOK, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856-1876, 397, 1963, Roderic H. Davison, BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=Ws90DwAAQBAJ&q=midhat+pasha+democrat&pg=PA5, Re-Imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1780-1860, Innes & Philip, Joanna & Mark, 2018, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-879816-3, en, BOOK, Toby Dodge, Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied,books.google.com/books?id=wZlMFm0CNoEC&pg=PA57, 9 June 2013, 2003, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 978-1-85065-728-6, 57, He spent his youth in his parents’ home in Vidin, Lovech and later Istanbul, where his father held judicial office. In 1836 he worked in the secretariat of the grand vizier, and in 1854 the Grand Vizier Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha gave him the task of pacifying the province of Adrianople, and he succeeded in putting down banditry in the Balkans in 1854–1856. In 1858 he spent six months traveling in western Europe for studies, including in Vienna, Paris, Brussels and London.BOOK, Hanioglu, M. Sukru,books.google.com/books?id=fU7azFR3AqcC&pg=PA30, The Young Turks in Opposition, 1995, Oxford University Press, 0195358023, 6 May 2017, BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=B-iDgNPVuhAC&pg=PA260, The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation : Bilād Al-Shām from the 18th to the 20th Century, 1998, Franz Steiner Verlag, 3515073094, 260, 6 May 2017,

Early political career

(File:MithatPaÅŸa.jpg|thumb|left|185px|Midhat Pasha in his middle age)In 1861 he was appointed governor of NiÅ¡, where he was instrumental in introducing the vilayet system in the Balkans. Faud Pasha in order to implement the 1864 Vilayet Law began with a pilot program in the form of the model and experimental vilayet of the Danube, in which Midhat Pasha was appointed its first Vali. He was governor of the Danube Province from 1864 to 1868. He played a major role in the accommodation of Muslim refugees from Serbia, who were expelled by the government in 1862.JOURNAL, Özkan, AyÅŸe, The Expulsion of Muslims from Serbia after the International Conference in Kanlıca and Withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire from Serbia (1862-1867),dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/73930, Akademik Bakış, During his governorship, he built countless schools and educational institutes, built hospitals, granaries, roads and bridges, paying for these projects through voluntary contributions from the people.BOOK, M. Th. Houtsma, E.J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936,books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&pg=PA481, 9 June 2013, 1993, BRILL, 978-90-04-09791-9, 481, Within two years Midhat Pasha restored order, introduced the new reformed hierarchy, provided agricultural credits (through the first agricultural credit co-operatives),BOOK, Lewis, Bernard,global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-emergence-of-modern-turkey-9780195134605?cc=pk&lang=en&, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 2002, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-513460-5, 3rd, Studies in Middle Eastern history, New York, 459, extended roads, bridges, and waterways, started industries, opened schools and orphanages, founded a newspaper, and increased the revenues of the province from 26,000 to 300,000 purses.BOOK, Lewis, Bernard,global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-emergence-of-modern-turkey-9780195134605?cc=pk&lang=en&, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 2002, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-513460-5, 3., Studies in Middle Eastern history, New York, 390, He clashed with the Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Ali Pasha, which led to his appointment as governor of Baghdad in 1869, as the appointment to such a remote posting was intended as a punishment.After his arrival in Baghdad in 1869, he opened a series of government schools, as the city previously had no state educational institutions. He also emphasized reforming the Sixth Army, and to that end he opened military schools. The military schools were to have the more lasting impact: by 1900, the civil preparatory high school was attended by only 96 students, compared to 256 for the military preparatory school, and 846 for the military middle school in the same year.BOOK, J. Rgen Nielsen, Jørgen S. Nielsen, Religion, Ethnicity and Contested Nationhood in the Former Ottoman Space,books.google.com/books?id=lARL9Bh5nG0C&pg=PA121, 9 June 2013, 9 December 2011, BRILL, 978-90-04-21133-9, 121, He helped modernize the province, and he re-established Ottoman rule in al-Hasa. He enacted the vilayet system in Baghdad, and applied the 1858 land decree under which miri land could be granted to individuals, under a system known as nizam tapu. Sir Henry Dobbs recognised the three years of Midhat Pasha’s governorship as the most stable and secure period of Ottoman rule in the region. He left the post in 1872, returning to Istanbul.

Grand Viziership

(File:Mithat pasa.jpg |thumb|right|Midhat Pasha played a major role in the abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire)In 1872, he was appointed grand vizier by Abdulaziz ({{Reign|1861|1876}}). His first tenure came to an abrupt end, mainly due to his clashes with Abdulaziz over financial and economic issues. He was dismissed after two months. He also served as Minister of Justice in 1873 and 1875, but his tenure in these offices was short-lived, owing to his inclination towards a constitutional regime.The emerging internal, financial and diplomatic crises of 1875–1876 provided him with a chance to introduce the constitution of 1876.On 15 June 1876, an Ottoman infantry officer named Çerkes Hasan assaulted a meeting in the mansion of Midhat Pasha, where all the chief ministers were present. The Minister of War Huseyin Avni Pasha was shot, and the Foreign Minister Rashid Pasha was killed, as was one of Midhat’s servants, named Ahmed Aga. In total, 5 were killed and 10 were wounded, and Hasan was sentenced to death for the crime, in an incident known as the Çerkes Hasan Olayı.BOOK, James J. Reid, Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878,books.google.com/books?id=Zgg6c_Ndtu4C&pg=PA311, 9 June 2013, 2000, Franz Steiner Verlag, 978-3-515-07687-6, 311–313, Midhat Pasha was again appointed Grand Vizier, in place of Mehmed Rushdi Pasha, on 19 December 1876. When he was appointed, he promised to continue on the path of reform, and announced on 23 December 1876 that a constitution would be promulgated and a representative parliament established. Though not a member of the commission that drafted the constitution, he played an important part in its adoption. The constitution provided for equal rights for all citizens without distinction of race or creed, abolition of slavery, an independent judiciary based on civil (rather than religious) law, universal elementary education, and a bicameral parliament, with a Senate appointed by the Sultan and a directly elected Chamber of Deputies. Midhat Pasha asserted in the Nineteenth Century that “in Islam the principle of government rests upon bases essentially democratic, inasmuch as the sovereignty of the people is therein recognized.“BOOK, Lewis, Bernard,global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-emergence-of-modern-turkey-9780195134605?cc=pk&lang=en&, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 2002, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-513460-5, 3., Studies in Middle Eastern history, New York, 166, Popular support for the constitution began to plummet when it became known that it was to grant equal rights for non-Muslims. The (wikt:en:softa|softas), which had been Midhat’s supporters just months earlier, became largely opposed. Midhat Pasha managed to pressure Abdul Hamid II into approving the constitution, but the Sultan was able to include the notorious article 113, which gave him the power to banish anyone from the empire without trial or other legal procedure.BOOK, Victor Roudometof, Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans,books.google.com/books?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&pg=PA87, 9 June 2013, 2001, Greenwood Publishing Group, 978-0-313-31949-5, 87, Abdul Hamid had no real interest in constitutionalism, and on 5 February 1877, he exiled Midhat Pasha. Sent to Brindisi on the imperial yacht, from there he visited France, Spain, Austria-Hungary and the United Kingdom, where he wrote memoranda supporting the Ottoman cause in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and a pamphlet defending Ottoman reforms.BOOK, Brill Academic Publishers, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume 6, Fascicules 114a: Preliminary Matter and Binder,books.google.com/books?id=wtcUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1034, 11 June 2013, 1990, BRILL, 978-90-04-09249-5, 1034, Midhat’s popularity in Europe, coupled with British pressure, led Abdul Hamid to allow him to return from exile, and he arrived in Crete on 6 September 1878.After the war ended, Sultan Abdul Hamid II dismissed the government and returned to despotic rule.

Governorship of Syria

File:Mithat PaÅŸa Anıtı.JPG|thumb|right|185px|Statue of Midhat Pasha in AnkaraAnkaraThe intervention of the British led to his appointing as governor again, and he became governor of the Vilayet of Syria on November 1878, a post he held until 31 August 1881. During his tenure he endeavoured to reform the province. He used a charitable association for education, which had been formed by some of Beirut’s prominent Muslim citizens, into a centrepiece of his educational reform, and encouraged the formation of similar associations in Damascus and elsewhere.BOOK, J. Rgen Nielsen, Jørgen S. Nielsen, Religion, Ethnicity and Contested Nationhood in the Former Ottoman Space,books.google.com/books?id=lARL9Bh5nG0C&pg=PA117, 9 June 2013, 9 December 2011, BRILL, 978-90-04-21133-9, 117, He admitted many Arabs in the civil service, including in the positions of qaimaqam and mutasarrif, and gave minorities broad representation in the administration. He encouraged the development of the press, and the number of newspapers rose to more than twelve. He took an interest in the construction of roads, and in the maintenance of security. He involved local notables in the financing of local projects, such as the tramway system in Tripoli and the founding of the Beirut Chamber of Commerce.BOOK, Ê»Abd al-Ê»AzÄ«z DÅ«rÄ«, The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation: A Study in Identity and Consciousness,books.google.com/books?id=4KQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA165, 9 June 2013, 1987, Taylor & Francis, 978-0-7099-3471-4, 165–166, He then resigned the post, as he felt Istanbul was offering him an insufficient amount of support. His reputation in Europe was that his reforming zeal was an aberration, based on individual strength of personality. They believed Midhat Pasha could not succeed, citing the inefficient and corrupt nature of the Ottoman state, and the fractured nature of its society.BOOK, Toby Dodge, Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied,books.google.com/books?id=wZlMFm0CNoEC&pg=PA54, 9 June 2013, 2003, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 978-1-85065-728-6, 54,

Imprisonment and death

He served briefly in Ä°zmir as governor of the vilayet of Aydin,BOOK, MoÅ¡e Šārôn, Studies in Islamic History and Civilization: In Honour of Professor David Ayalon,books.google.com/books?id=0_wUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA372, 9 June 2013, 1986, BRILL, 978-965-264-014-7, 372, but on 17 May 1881, after only a few months on that post, he was arrested.BOOK, Caroline Finkel,books.google.com/books?id=hslOx5bvOzkC&pg=PA6, Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923, 19 July 2012, John Murray, 978-1-84854-785-8, 6–7, 11 June 2013, Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, the justice minister, brought him to Istanbul, where he was charged with the murder of Sultan Abdulaziz. The interrogation and court proceedings took place at Yildiz. In conclusion, he was convicted and charged with the murder, and was sentenced to death. However the execution was commuted to life imprisonment in Taif in Hejaz.File:Osman Pasha-1.2 V01-1.1 cropped and rotated.jpg|thumb|Governor and the Commander of Hejaz, Osman Nuri Pasha (not to be confused with Ghazi Osman Nuri PashaOsman Nuri PashaSome historians claim that these to be trumped-up accusations as they believe that confessions were extracted from some suspects through the use of torture, and the use of forged evidence and paid witnesses led to his conviction.BOOK, Halide Edib, House with Wisteria: Memoirs of Turkey Old and New,books.google.com/books?id=thQZt7zpxXMC&pg=PA203, 9 June 2013, 2011, Transaction Publishers, 978-1-4128-1540-6, 203–204, However, they claim that the British pressure impeded his execution,BOOK, Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire,books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA378, 9 June 2013, 2009, Infobase Publishing, 978-1-4381-1025-7, 378–379, so he was imprisoned in the fortress of Taif, in Hejaz.BOOK, Selçuk AkÅŸin Somel, The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire,books.google.com/books?id=tBoyoNNKh78C&pg=PA188, 9 June 2013, 2010, Rowman & Littlefield, 978-0-8108-7579-1, 188, It was reported that, soon after his arrival, the Emir of Mecca received a message from Istanbul demanding the death of Midhat from “an accident”.BOOK, Randall Baker, King Husain and the Kingdom of Hejaz,books.google.com/books?id=n706ShSYt-sC&pg=PA8, 11 June 2013, 1979, The Oleander Press, 978-0-900891-48-9, 8–9, The incumbent Emir Abdul Muttalib was a close friend of Midhat however, and no action was taken by him. As a result, Osman Pasha (Uthman Pasha), governor of Hejaz, surrounded the Emir’s summer residence in Taif and imprisoned him. After that, Midhat Pasha’s fate was sealed. He was assassinated in his cell on 26 April 1883.BOOK, Zvi Yehuda Hershlag, Introduction to the Modern Economic History of the Middle East,books.google.com/books?id=awoVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA36, 9 June 2013, 1980, Brill Archive, 978-90-04-06061-6, 36–37, Midhat Pasha’s remains were brought from Taif and interned in the Monument of Liberty on 26 June 1951, in a ceremony attended by President Celâl Bayar.Hürriyet Åžehidimiz Mithat PaÅŸa Dün ToÄŸraÄŸa Verildi, Milliyet Gazetesi, 27.06.1951

Legacy

The British historian Caroline Finkel describes Midhat as “a true representative of Tanzimat optimism, who believed that separatist tendencies could be best countered by demonstrating the benefits of good government.” The Midhat Pasha Souq in Damascus still bears his name. Bernard Lewis describes Midhat Pasha “one of the ablest administrators in the Ottoman service.” Going on to state “[his] term of office as Vali of the Danube province showed that, given the necessary goodwill and ability, the new system could work very well.” Midhat Pasha is described as a person with a liberal attitude.

Gallery

File:MidhatPashaVanityFair.jpg|Midhat Pasha on the cover of Vanity Fair, 30 June 1877File:MithatPasa-Sultanahmet.jpg|Bust of Midhat Pasha in IstanbulFile:Пашин конак у Нишу.jpg|Midhat Pasha’s palace in NiÅ¡

References

{{reflist|2}}

External links

{{Commons category|Midhat Pasha}}

• Death of Midhat Pasha, the Career of the Great Reformer in Turkey from the New York Times (12 May 1884)
• The life of Midhat Pasha (1903 biography)
  • Page images at the Internet Archive
  • transcribed text at Project Gutenberg
• EB1911, Midhat Pasha, 18, 418, George Frederick, Barwick, 1,

{{Grand Viziers of Ottoman Empire}}{{Governors of the Aidin Vilayet}}{{Authority control}}