Rami Mehmed Pasha (1645–1706) was an Ottoman statesman and poet who served as

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 ...

(1703) and governor of Cyprus and of Egypt (1704–06). He was known as a poet of divan literature (the epithet Rami, meaning "Obedient", is his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

in his poems).

Early years

He was born in 1645 in Constantinople to Terazici Hasan Aga. After completing his education, he started his career as a bureaucrat. In 1690, he was appointed as a clerk in the office of the '' reis ül-küttab''. In 1696, he was promoted to be the ''reis ül-küttab'' (a post roughly equivalent to foreign minister) and three years later he represented the Ottoman Empire in the peace talks of the Treaty of Karlowitz which ended the War of the Holy League.Ayhan Buz: ''Osmanlı sadrazamları'', Neden Kitap, İstanbul, 2009 , pp 154-156 The Ottoman Empire was defeated in the war, but Mehmed Rami tried his best to minimize the losses.

As a grand vizier

On January 25, 1703, he was promoted to the post of Grand Vizier, the highest post of the Ottoman Empire other than that of the

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

. However he soon realized that the ''

Sheikh ul-Islam Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

'' Feyzullah, who wielded great influence on the sultan

Mustafa II Mustafa II (; ota, مصطفى ثانى ''Muṣṭafā-yi sānī''; 6 February 1664 – 29 December 1703) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703. Early life He was born at Edirne Palace on 6 February 1664. He was the son of Sult ...

, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the empire. The Sultan gave strict orders to Rami Mehmed to seek Feyzullah's approval in all of his decisions, a regulation which reduced the status of the Grand Vizier to a subordinate of the ''Sheikh ul-Islam''. Even under this unfavorable situation, Rami tried to reform the post-war economy and the navy, but his term was too short to carry these reforms through. Both Feyzullah's almost unlimited authority and the Sultan's insistence on residing in Edirne rather than Constantinople, the capital, caused reactions among the soldiers and the citizens in Constantinople. In the summer of 1703, they revolted against the Sultan. At the end of this revolt known as

Edirne event The Edirne Incident ( ota, Edirne Vaḳʿası, script=Latn) was a janissary revolt that began in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1703. The revolt was a reaction to the consequences of the Treaty of Karlowitz and Sultan Mustafa II's absence fro ...

, Rami Mehmed as well as the Sultan were deposed on August 22, 1703.Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 247-250

Death

Rami Mehmed was then appointed as the governor of Cyprus and then Egypt, but in 1706 he was exiled to Rhodes island (now a part of Greece), where he died.

As a man of letters

He was poet and a friend of the famous Ottoman poet of

Nabi Nabi may refer to: People * Adil Nabi (born 1994), English footballer *Heiki Nabi (born 1985), Estonian wrestler *Isadore Nabi, satirical pseudonym of Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, scientists in the 1960s *Mohammad Nabi (born 1985), Afghan ...

. He also wrote about his diplomatic career. His book named ''Karlofça Sulhnamesi'' is about the talks during the Treaty of Karlowitz.

Legacy

A suburb of modern Istanbul, which was once a farm owned by Rami Mehmed, is now named ''Rami'' after him.

References