Turkish statesman, born at Nikosia, Cyprus, in 1833 and studied at the military school at Alexandria. In early life he held various offices in Cyprus, and in 1876 was governor of the vilayet of Kosovo. Between 1878 and 1885 he was successively Minister of the Interior, Evkaf (pious foundations), Instruction, and Justice, and in the latter year was appointed Grand Vizier by ’Abdul Hamid, which post he held until 1891. In 1895 he again became Grand Vizier but, after a short period, was dismissed as a too ardent reformer and was made governor, first of Aleppo and then of Smyrna. In 1907 he was removed from Smyrna and banished to Rhodes. After the Turkish Revolution in 1908, he succeeded Said Pasha as the first Grand Vizier under the régime of the Committee of Union and Progress but, refusing to submit to its dictation, he resigned in 1909. He again became Grand Vizier in 1912, but was driven from office by the Young Turk coup d’état, and retired to Cyprus, where he died on the 14th of November 1913.
