Tezkereci Ahmed Pasha (died 8 August 1648), better known as Hezarpare Ahmed Pasha after his death, was an Ottoman

grand vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

and defterdar (finance minister).

Early life

Ahmed was a son of a professional soldier of probable

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origin. Instead of following his father's footsteps into the military, he chose to go into bureaucracy. He was appointed to several posts, one of which was the personal secretary (''tezkereci'') of the grand vizier Kemankeş Mustafa Pasha, gaining the epithet ''tezkereci'' after this appointment. In 1646, two years after Mustafa Pasha's execution, he was appointed as the defterdar, and in 1647, he was promoted to the rank of grand vizier, the highest post in Ottoman bureaucracy.

Grand Vizierate

Sultan

Ibrahim Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...

(sometimes called Ibrahim the Mad) was a rather unbalanced sultan. He was a connoisseur of sable skin coats and forced his grand vizier to buy huge quantities of sable skin for his palaces. Because of this, Ahmed Pasha was required to concentrate more of his time on the sable trade rather than on state affairs. During his term, the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

navy blocked the strait of Çanakkale ( Dardanelles), and Venice also seized control of the important fort of Klis (in modern

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); see

Cretan War (1645-1669) Cretan War may refer to multiple wars involving the island of Crete, including: *Cretan War (205–200 BC), a war between King Philip V of Macedon and Rhodes *Cretan War (1645–69), a war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire See ...

. Moreover, large scale sable skin purchases caused an extra deficit in a budget that was already under the pressure of the war.Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi'' Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 pp. 96-97

Death

In 1648, Ahmed Pasha levied a heavy tax to meet the heavy expenditures of the budget. However, this step caused anger and rebellion among the populace of the Ottoman Empire. He was lynched on 8 August 1648, and his body was cut into many pieces by the angry mob. The epithet ''Hezarpare'' is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

epithet he gained after his death, meaning "thousand pieces," referring to the fate of his corpse after his lynching. A few days after Ahmed Pasha's murder, the sultan Ibrahim was also killed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed Pasha, Hezarpare 17th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire Pashas 1648 deaths Defterdar Assassinated people from the Ottoman Empire Year of birth unknown

Early life

Grand Vizierate

Death

See also

References