Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha



Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Paşa (Mehmed Emin Pasha the Cypriot; 1813–1871), was an Ottoman statesman of Turkish Cypriot origin who served at the top post of grand vizier during three different times under the reign of the sultan Abdülmecid I. His uncle was in charge of Mahmud II's private treasury, secured him for palace service while he was young, and he then entered the Hassa regiment (1833–1834). He then studied abroad, in France,at the Sultan's expense. He served in a military capacity, as serasker, in Acre (1844–1845), Jerusalem (1845–1847), during which time he suppressed a serious Bedouin revolt, Tirnova (1847) and then Belgrade (1847–1848). During this period, many rumours circulated about his mismanagement practices, but they were dismissed by the Sultan as malicious gossip. He was appointed vezir in 1848

In 1850-1851 he served as governor of Aleppo, at the end of which he was appointed müsir (Field marshal), in the province of Syria.

His periods of administration were, the first time between 29 May and 23 November 1854, the second time between 18 November 1859 and 24 December 1859 and for the last time between 28 May 1860 and 6 August 1861. As such, he was also the last great vizier of Abdülmecid. He is not to be confused with a notable and contemporary namesake, Emin Pasha, the explorer of Sudan, a German Jewish possible convert to Islam who had entered the service of the Ottoman Empire, or with other past notables of the same name.

Like many other prominent Ottoman statesmen of the Tanzimat period, Mehmed Emin Pasha rose from the Dragoman's office, largely Turkified by the 19th century, and climbing through the foreign office of the Ottoman Empire, held consecutive ambassadorial or governorship posts, also becoming grand vizier during three different periods.

Mehmed Emin Pasha died in his yalı in Kandilli, İstanbul, in 1871.

After his death, his first wife, Melek Hanım, wrote her memoirs of the harem, in the 19th century context of that institution, as well as a controversial account of the high spheres of the Ottoman society, published in New York in 1874, treating much the same period as the memoirs of Leyla Saz, written much later in the 1920s.