Abaza Siyavuş Pasha (died 23 February 1688) was a short term
grand vizier of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
who held the post during one of the most chaotic periods of the empire.
Early years
He was of
Abkhazian origin. He was a servant of
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha ( ota, كپرولی محمد پاشا, tr, Köprülü Mehmet Paşa; or ''Qyprilliu'', also called ''Mehmed Pashá Rojniku''; 1575, Roshnik,– 31 October 1661, Edirne) was the founder of the Köprülü political dynas ...
, an able grand vizier who died in 1661. By marrying Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's daughter, he became a relative of the powerful
Köprülü family
The Köprülü family ( tr, Köprülü ailesi) was a noble family of Albanian origin in the Ottoman Empire.Ivo Banac''The national question in Yugoslavia: origins, history, politics'' , Cornell University 1988 page 292. The family hailed from th ...
. Together with his brothers-in-law (
Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha and
Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha
Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha (" Köprülü Mustafa Pasha the Wise", also known as Gazi Fazıl Mustafa Köprülü ( sq, Fazlli Mustafa Kypriljoti; tr, Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Paşa; 1637 – 19 August 1691, Slankamen) served as the G ...
), he participated in a number of military campaigns. In 1684,
Buda (a part of
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, the capital of modern
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
, then a part of Ottoman Empire) had been besieged by the
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
s under the command of
Maximilian. Siyavuş Pasha stormed the Austrians and forced them to lift the siege. This was one of the few Turkish victories in the
Great Turkish War.
As a grand vizier
Ottoman sultan
Mehmet IV
Mehmed IV ( ota, محمد رابع, Meḥmed-i rābi; tr, IV. Mehmed; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693) also known as Mehmed the Hunter ( tr, Avcı Mehmed) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the a ...
("the Hunter") was inattentive to state affairs, especially in the war. The soldiers as well as the other subjects of the empire accused him as well as grand vizier
Sarı Süleyman Pasha
Sarı Süleyman Paşa ( sh, Sari Sulejman-paša; died 14 October 1687) was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 18 November 1685 to 18 September 1687.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 197 ...
of the failures in the war. In 1687, the army returned from the front and staged a coup in which both the sultan and the grand vizier were forced to abdicate and resign, respectively. Siyavuş became the new grand vizier on 18 September, and
Süleyman II
Suleiman II (15 April 1642 – 22 June 1691) ( ota, سليمان ثانى ''Süleymān-i sānī'') was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1687 to 1691. After being brought to the throne by an armed mutiny, Suleiman and his grand vizier Fazıl ...
became the new sultan on 8 November. However, Siyavuş was not successful as a grand vizier. He failed to control the troops which encamped in the outskirts of Constantinople. The soldiers demanded for the payment of bonus salary (traditional payments of the new sultans, tr, Cülus bahşişi). But the treasury was unable to make the payment and the soldiers caused unrest in the city. Although, Siyavuş was their candidate for the post, they soon began to oppose Siyavuş and his brother in law Köprülü Mustafa Pasha. The
Janissaries raided his house and killed him on 23 February 1688.
[Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi'' Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 199-201]
See also
*
List of Ottoman Grand Viziers
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siyavus Pasha, Abaza 2
Abazins
17th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire
Year of birth unknown
1688 deaths
People from the Ottoman Empire of Abkhazian descent
Pashas