Halil Rifat Pasha (

Modern Turkish Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...

: ''Halil Rıfat Paşa''; 1820According to the obituary in The Times, he was born about 1807. This would make him almost 95 years old at the time of his death. Other sources give 1820.–9 November 1901) was an Ottoman parliamentarian and statesman during the

First Constitutional Era The First Constitutional Era ( ota, مشروطيت; tr, Birinci Meşrutiyet Devri) of the Ottoman Empire was the period of constitutional monarchy from the promulgation of the Ottoman constitution of 1876 (, , meaning ' Basic Law' or 'Fundamen ...

. He furthermore served as the

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 ...

for six years between 1895 until his death in 1901, during the late

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

era.

Education

He was born in

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...

(Serez) and received education in an

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

type parish school in

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

(Selanik), then continued to

Mekteb-i Mülkiye The Faculty of Political Science of the University of Ankara ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi, more simply known as "''SBF''") is the oldest faculty of social science in Turkey, being the successor of the "Mekteb-i Mülkiye" ( ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Life and career

After his education years, he started to work as a mailing clerk in

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as o ...

, then worked as secretary in the office of the Governor of

. He advanced by degrees and was appointed to higher official positions by passage of time, including at

Rustchuk Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; bg, Русе ) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of ...

. In 1882 he was appointed as

mutasarrıf Mutasarrif or mutesarrif ( ota, متصرّف, tr, mutasarrıf) was the title used in the Ottoman Empire and places like post-Ottoman Iraq for the governor of an administrative district. The Ottoman rank of mutasarrif was established as part of a ...

, then in 1886 he was appointed as governor of

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...

, where he started a road-building programme. He was subsequently appointed governor of Aidin (1889) and later of Monastir, where he fought

brigandage Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded usa ...

units which was rife in the province. He was appointed as

minister of internal affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in 1893. Then he was appointed 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 ...

in November 1895. The most important events in his era as grand vizier were the riots of

Sason Sason ( hy, Սասուն, translit=Sasun, ku, Qabilcewz, ar, قبل جوز; formerly known as Sasun or Sassoun) is a district and town in the Batman Province of Turkey. It was formerly part of the sanjak of Siirt, which was in Diyarbakır vi ...

(in 1895) and in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

(in 1897), as well as the

Greco-Turkish War of 1897 The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...

which ended with Ottoman victory.

Trivia

His motto in the road building campaign was "Any place where you can't go is not yours" ( tr, Gidemediğin yer senin değildir.)

Notes and references

External links

Abdulhamid II Era
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060423080009/http://www.cumhuriyet.edu.tr/edergi/makale/638.pdf Halil Rifat Paşa (biography in Turkish in pdf format - abstract also in English)

Cumhuriyet University ) , established = , type = Public , head_label = Rector , head = Prof. Alim Yıldız , state = , students = ~ 51.544 , undergrad = , postgrad = 195677 , administrative_staff ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasha, Halil Rifat 1820 births 1901 deaths 19th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire 20th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire Ottoman governors of Aidin Ottoman people of the Greco-Turkish War (1897) Pashas Politicians from Thessaloniki Macedonian Turks

Education

Life and career

Trivia

Notes and references

See also

External links