Giritli Sırrı Pasha ("Sırrı Pasha the Cretan") was a 19th-century Ottoman administrator and man of letters of Turkish Cretan origin. He was born in 1844 in Kandiye,

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, Ottoman Empire as the son of Helvacızade Salih Tosun Efendi. He started out as a clerk in the local Ottoman bureaucracy in

and later came to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, pursuing an education with a particular religious emphasis. Climbing through the hierarchy, he served as governor of

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

Kastamonu Kastamonu, formerly Kastamone/Castamone () and Kastamon/Castamon (), is a city in northern Turkey. It is the seat of Kastamonu Province and Kastamonu District.

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

and

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, and was noted as a successful administrator. He published his writings of a personal and political nature under the title "Letters of Sırrı Paşa" (''Mektubat-ı Sırrı Paşa''). Yet another collection is his commentaries ( tefsir) of various verses of the

Koran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, united under the titles ''Sırr-ı Kur'an'' (the secret of Koran), ''Sırr-ı insan'', ''Sırr-ı Tenzil'', ''Sırr-ı Meryem'' and ''Ahsenü'l-Kasas''. The last one in particular, on the theme of the stories of

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

and

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

, remains a work of reference in Turkish literature. Sırrı Pasha married the poet and composer

Leyla Saz Leyla Saz, also called Leyla Hanımefendi (1850–1936), was an Ottoman and later a Turkish composer, poet and writer. Biography Born in 1850, she was the daughter of İsmail Hakkı Pasha, (often called Hekim İsmail Pasha (İsmail Pasha t ...

, and was the father of Vedat Tek, a groundbreaking figure of Turkish architecture. He died at a relatively early age in 1895.

Sources

Ottoman Researches Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirri Pasha, Giritli 1844 births 1895 deaths Pashas Politicians from Heraklion 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Cretan Turks Ottoman governors of Baghdad Baghdad vilayet Hanafis Maturidis