Mehmed Said Pasha

Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office 18 October 1879 – 9 June 1880
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Ahmed Arifi Pasha
Succeeded by	Kadri Pasha
In office 12 September 1880 – 2 May 1882
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Kadri Pasha
Succeeded by	Abdurrahman Nureddin Pasha
In office 12 July 1882 – 30 November 1882
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Abdurrahman Nureddin Pasha
Succeeded by	Ahmed Vefik Pasha
In office 3 December 1882 – 24 September 1885
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Ahmed Vefik Pasha
Succeeded by	Kâmil Pasha
In office 9 June 1895 – 3 October 1895
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Ahmed Cevad Pasha
Succeeded by	Kâmil Pasha
In office 13 November 1901 – 15 January 1903
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Halil Rifat Pasha
Succeeded by	Mehmed Ferid Pasha
In office 22 July 1908 – 6 August 1908
Monarch	Abdul Hamid II
Preceded by	Mehmed Ferid Pasha
Succeeded by	Kâmil Pasha
In office 30 September 1911 – 22 July 1912
Monarch	Mehmed V
Preceded by	İbrahim Hakkı Pasha
Succeeded by	Ahmed Muhtar Pasha
Personal details
Born	1838 Erzurum, Erzurum Sanjak, Erzurum Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Died	10 January 1914(1914-01-10) (aged 75–76) Constantinople, Constantinople Vilayet Ottoman Empire
Nationality	Ottoman

Mehmed Said Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: محمد سعيد پاشا‎‎; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha ("Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkatibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman monarchist, senator, statesman and editor of the Turkish newspaper Jerid-i-Havadis.^[1] He was among the statesmen who were disliked by the CUP, the political party which came to power after the Ottoman coup d'état of 1913.^[2]

Biography[]

He became first secretary to Sultan Abdul Hamid II shortly after the Sultan's accession, and is said to have contributed to the realizations of his majesty's design of concentrating power in his own hands; later he became successively minister of the interior and then governor of Bursa, reaching the high post of grand vizier in 1879.^[1] He was grand vizier seven more times under Abdul Hamid II, and once under his successor, Mehmed V. He was known for his opposition to the extension of foreign influence in Turkey.^[1]

In 1896, he took refuge at the British embassy in Constantinople, and, though then assured of his personal liberty and safety, remained practically a prisoner in his own house.^[1] He came into temporary prominence again during the revolution of 1908.^[1] On 22 July he succeeded Mehmed Ferid Pasha as grand vizier, but on the 6 August was replaced by the more liberal Kâmil Pasha,^[1] at the insistence of the Young Turks. Also during 1908, Mehmed Said Pasha bought the famed Istanbul arcade in the Beyoğlu district, today known as Çiçek Pasajı ("Flower Passage"). The modern name became common in the 1940s; during Mehmed Said Pasha's ownership in the 1900s and 1910s, the arcade was known as Sait Paşa Pasajı ("Said Pasha Passage").^[3]

During the Italian crisis in 1911–12, he was again called to the premiership. He was again removed from power by the Savior Officers (who backed the Freedom and Accord Party (Liberal Union) against the Committee of Union and Progress) and replaced by a new cabinet supported by the Officers and the Freedom and Accord Party.^[4] The CUP would return to power, however, the next year after the Ottoman coup d'état of 1913.

References[]

External links[]

• Bibliography of Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha (in Turkish)
• Newspaper clippings about Mehmed Said Pasha in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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