Iliaş Colceag

Iliaş Colceag (? – 1743) ¨was a modavian officer in the 18th century. He entered the Ottoman army, being first posted in Bosnia, where he converted to Mahommedanism taking the name of Hussein. He distinguished himself in the S-a evidenţiat în timpul Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711 being promoted bölükbaşı. In 1717 sultan Ahmed III awarded him the title of pasha and named him chief of the Khotyn Fortress. Iliaş Colceag kept this position for 22 yearsi. In Turkish historiography he is also known as Kolchak-Pasha. [ Леонид Зубарев - Адмирал Колчак [http://www.whoiswho.ru/russian/Password/journals/61998/kolchakr.htm] ] In 1734 (accoding to other sources 1736) he was appointed vizier, but held this position only for a short time.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739 , Kolceak-Pasha was appointed commander in chief of the Ottoman armed forces of the Moldavian front. He did not see any major action, as the main battles were fought mainly in Crimea. However, in 1738, when the main hostilities moved to the Southern Bug, the command of the Ottoman army was taken over by Veli-Paşa, Kolchag keeping his position of commander of the Khotyn Fortress. [ Керсновский А.А. История Русской армии Глава II. От Петра до Елизаветы [http://militera.lib.ru/h/kersnovsky1/02.html] ]

After defeating the Turks in the battle of Stavuchan (now Stavceane, Ucraine), west of Khotyn, Russian general Burkhard Christoph von Münnich [ Русско-турецкие войны 17—19 вв [http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/098/300.htm] ] besieged the Khotyn Fortress. Kolcha-Pasha had only 900 men to face the over 60.000 strong Russian army.Von Münnich offered Kolchak honorable conditions of surrender following which, on August 30 (Ausgust 19 o.s.) 1739 the pasha capitulated. Kolchak and his son Mahmet-bey stayed prisoners of war in Saint Petersburg, until the end of the war, spending their time at the court of empress Anna Ivanovna. After the peace treaty was signer, Kolchak decided to return home. On his way he was informed that sultan Mahmud I had decised to decapitate him, considering the surrender of the Khotyn Fortress as an act of treason.

Iliaş Colceag settled in Poland, in the service of count Józef Potocki, at that time voivode of the Kiev Voivodeship, in Żytomierz (now Zhytomyr, Ucraine), where he died in 1743. His son, entered in the service of Russia, reconverting to orthodoxism. ["Я служу родине" [http://www.ng.ru/style/2000-01-27/16_rodine.html] ] [ Колчак Илиас Паша [http://genealogy.babr.ru/?RDE=382] ] [ Булюбаш-Колчак [http://genealogy.babr.ru/?RDE=1307] ] [ Колчак Мехмет-бей [http://genealogy.babr.ru/?IDE=1308] ]

Under empress Elizabeth of Russia the Kolchak family achieved aristocratic status and became landownersi. Most of Iliaş Colceag’s decendents followed military careers. Mahmet’s son, Lukyan Kolchak, had the rank of sotnik (senior lieuteneant) in the Bug Cossack army under tsars Pavel I and Alexandrer I, receiving as reward extensive land properties in the Kherson Governorate. The most famous of Lukyan’s descendents is admiral Alexander Kolchak

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