Mahmud Shevket Pasha

Mahmud Shevket Pasha
Mahmud Shevket Pasha

Mahmud Shevket Pasha (1856 - 15 June 1913)[1] was an Ottoman general and statesman of Arab[2] and Georgian descent[3]. Some sources also note Chechen[4] or Circassian[5] ancestry. He was born in Baghdad where he finished his primary education before going on to the Military Academy (Turkish: Mekteb-i Harbiye) in Constantinople.[6] He joined the army in 1882 as lieutenant. He spent some time in France investigating military technology and was stationed in Crete for a while. Then he returned to Military Academy as a faculty member.

He worked under Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (Goltz Pasha) for a while and traveled to Germany. He was then appointed as governor of Kosovo where he commanded the 3rd Army, which was later known as Hareket Ordusu after its involvement in 31 March Incident.

He played an important role in ending the 31 March Incident and the reign of Abdul Hamid II. He served as a Grand Vizier to Mehmed V, between 23 January 1913 and 15 June 1913, when he was assassinated in Constantinople.[1] Among other things, he is credited with the creation of the Ottoman military aviation in 1911 and bringing the first automobile to Constantinople.

References

  1. ^ a b David Kenneth Fieldhouse: Western imperialism in the Middle East 1914-1958. Oxford University Press, 2006 p.17
  2. ^ Ali Bilgenoğlu, Osmanlı Devleti'nde Arap milliyetçi cemiyetler, Müdafaa-i Hukuk Yayınları, 2007, p. 87.]
  3. ^ "New York Times, May 17 1909". http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0E12FF355512738DDDAE0994DD405B898CF1D3. 
  4. ^ İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 101. (Turkish)
  5. ^ Nâzım Tektaş, Sadrazamlar: Osmanlı'da ikinci adam saltanatı, Çatı Kitapları, 2002, p. .
  6. ^ Finkel, Caroline, Osman's Dream, (Basic Books, 2005), 57; Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930...
The pistols carried by Mahmud Shevket Pasha's assassins

, originally from Chechnya

Preceded by
Kibrisli Mehmed Kamil Pasha
Grand Vizier
1913
Succeeded by
Said Halim Pasha