Mahmud Şevket Pasha

Mahmud Şevket Pasha (1856 – 11 June 1913) was an Ottoman general and statesman of Iraqi Arab and Georgian descent. Some sources also note Chechen or Circassian ancestry. He was born in Baghdad, where he finished his primary education before going on to the Military Academy (Mekteb-i Harbiye) in Istanbul. He joined the army in 1882 as a lieutenant. He spent some time in France investigating military technology and was stationed in Crete for a while. He then returned to the Military Academy as a faculty member.

He worked under Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (Goltz Pasha) for a while and traveled to Germany. He was then appointed as governor of Kosovo, where he commanded the 3rd Army, which was later known as Hareket Ordusu after its involvement in suppressing the counterrevolutionary absolutist reactionaries in the 31 March Incident.

He played an important role in ending the 31 March Incident and with it, the reign of Abdul Hamid II. He served as a Grand Vizier to Mehmed V, between January 23, 1913 and June 11, 1913, when he was assassinated in Istanbul. Among other things, he is credited with the creation of the Ottoman Air Force in 1911 and bringing the first automobile to Istanbul.