Alemdar Mustafa Pasha

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Alemdar Mustafa Pasha had always been a keen supporter of Sultan Selim III. With Mustafa IV on the throne and rebels commanded by Kabakçı Mustafa in command of the Ottoman capital, Alemdar summoned a council in Rusçuk and decided to take action.

On 21 June 1808, Alemdar and his army of about 15,000 men arrived in Constantinople in an event that came to be known as the Alemdar Incident (Turkish: Alemdar Vakası). They easily took control, and Alemdar ordered the rebels to be killed or exiled. [6]

After Mustafa IV learned of these events, he decided to have his uncle, Selim III, and his younger brother, Prince Mahmud, killed so that he should be the only surviving member of the imperial family. The executioners first arrived in Selim III's room in the palace. Selim III, who was playing a reed flute and had no weapons, resisted with his flute, but his efforts proved futile and he was strangled. His dead body was brought to Alemdar who wept, thinking that he had failed in all his objectives.

His men warned him that Mustafa IV's men planned to kill Prince Mahmud as well. The executioners had raided the prince's room, but the servants hid him on the roof. Alemdar and his men broke down the palace doors, killed the rebels and eventually saved the prince.

Alemdar Mustafa Pasha declared Mahmud the new sultan (Mahmud II), and became his grand vizier.

In the service of Sultan Mahmud II

But differences of opinion soon emerged between the new sultan and Alemdar. First of all, Alemdar made an agreement with the rebel representative from Anatolian lands, which was called the Charter of Alliance (Sened-i Ittifak). Sultan Mahmud thought that this agreement his authority and withdrew his support for the pasha.

Secondly, he re-established the army of Nizam-i Djedid ('New Order'), calling it the Sekban-I Cedid Army. The Nizam-ı Cedid Army was a hated rival to the Janissaries so the new name has been interpreted as an effort to appease them. Furthermore, Alemdar conducted an investigation into the Janissary corps and fired men who were not actually Janissaries but receiving Janissary salaries all the same.

Death

Alemdar's measures laid the ground for later reforms in the Ottoman Empire. But meanwhile, the ruling elite resented him. On 15 November 1808, about a thousand Janissaries raided Alemdar Mustafa Pasha's house. Realising he could not survive the assault, he ignited the gunpowder reserves in the cellar of his house, killing himself and approximately 400 Janissaries in the ensuing explosion. He was buried in the courtyard of the Zeynep Sultan Mosque in Istanbul.

A street in Istanbul near the Sublime Porte is named after Alemdar Mustafa Pasha., a plaque there stating that his father was a Janissary from Ruscuk.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kramers, J.H.; Bosworth, C.E. "Muṣṭafa Pas̲h̲a, Bayraḳdār". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition . Retrieved 1 February 2024 via Brill Reference Online.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gradeva, Rossitsa (2009). "Alemdar Mustafa Pasha (Alemdar Bayraktar) (b. 1765-d. 1808)". In Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce Alan (eds.). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York, NY: Facts On File. pp. 29–30. ISBN   9780816062591.
  3. 1 2 3 Beydi̇lli̇, Kemal (1989). "Alemdar Mustafa Paşa". İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Vol. 2. Üsküdar: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı. pp. 364–365.
  4. Danişmend, İsmail Hâmi (1971). Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Sadr-ı-A’zamlar (Vezir-i-A’zamlar), Şeyh-ül-İslamlar, Kapdan-ı-Deryalar, Baş-Defterdarlar, Reis-ül-Küttablar. Istanbul: Türkiye Yayınevi. p. 70.
  5. Mitko, Thimi (1981). Haxhihasani, Qemal (ed.). Vepra. Tirana: Academy of Sciences of the P.S.R. of Albania, Instituti i Kulturës Popullore. p. 261. OCLC   17071963. Mustafa Bajraktari, me origjinë prej fshatit Goskovë te Korçës, qeveritar i Rusçukut[…].
  6. "Istanbul During the Events of 1807 and 1808 | History of Istanbul". istanbultarihi.ist. Retrieved 2022-08-27.

General references

Mustafa
بیراقدار مصطفی پاشا
Mustafa bairakdar.jpg
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
29 July 1808 15 November 1808
Political offices
Preceded by Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
29 July 1808 – 15 November 1808
Succeeded by