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

defterdar This is a list of the top officials in charge of the finances of the Ottoman Empire, called ( Turkish for bookkeepers; from the Persian , + ) between the 14th and 19th centuries and ''Maliye Naziri'' (Minister of Finance) between 19th and 20th ...

(finance minister).

Early life

Ahmed was a son of a professional soldier of probable Albanian 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

, 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 navy blocked the strait of Çanakkale (

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

), and Venice also seized control of the important fort of

Klis Klis ( hr, Klis, it, Clissa, tr, Kilis) is a Croatian municipality located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in the region of Dalmatia, located just northeast of Solin and Split near the eponymous mountain pass. I ...

(in modern

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

); see Cretan War (1645-1669). 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