Mehmed Said Pasha

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 Committee of Union and Progress, the political party which came to power after the Ottoman coup d'état of 1913.[2]

Not to be confused with the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan Sa'id of Egypt (1854–63) and the earlier Ottoman grand vizier Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pasha (1757–58).
In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Mehmed Said, the title is Pasha, and there is no family name.
Küçük
Mehmed Said
Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
18 October 1879 – 9 June 1880
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byAhmed Arifi Pasha
Succeeded byKadri Pasha
In office
12 September 1880 – 2 May 1882
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byKadri Pasha
Succeeded byAbdurrahman Nureddin Pasha
In office
12 July 1882 – 30 November 1882
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byAbdurrahman Nureddin Pasha
Succeeded byAhmed Vefik Pasha
In office
3 December 1882 – 24 September 1885
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byAhmed Vefik Pasha
Succeeded byKâmil Pasha
In office
9 June 1895 – 3 October 1895
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byAhmed Cevad Pasha
Succeeded byKâmil Pasha
In office
13 November 1901 – 15 January 1903
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byHalil Rifat Pasha
Succeeded byMehmed Ferid Pasha
In office
22 July 1908 – 6 August 1908
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byMehmed Ferid Pasha
Succeeded byKâmil Pasha
In office
30 September 1911 – 22 July 1912
MonarchMehmed V
Preceded byİbrahim Hakkı Pasha
Succeeded byAhmed Muhtar Pasha
Personal details
Born1838
Erzurum, Erzurum Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Died10 January 1914(1914-01-10) (aged 75–76)
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
NationalityOttoman

He served as grand vizier for nine years in total, seven times during the reign of Abdülhamid and twice during the Second Constitutional Monarchy. In his last two grand vizierships, Said Pasha was supported by the CUP in the Chamber of Deputies, and his last grand vizierate ended in 1912 with a military memorandum against the Unionists.

Biography

According to his contemporary Petre Kharischirashvili, he was of Georgian descent.[3] 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 the Ottoman Empire.[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").[4]

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.[5] The CUP would return to power, however, the next year after the Ottoman coup d'état of 1913.

Said Pasha became head of the council of state and then as the head of the Ottoman Senate. Just before the start of World War I, he developed bronchitis and died on 1 March 1914 in Istanbul. He was buried at the entrance of Eyüp Sultan Mosque.

References
  1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Said Pasha" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1008.
  2. çIçEk, Talha; Çi̇Çek, M. Talha (2015). "Myth of the Unionist triumvirate the formation of the CUP factions and their impact in Syria during the Great War". Syria in World War I: 25.
  3. Öztuncay, Bahattin (2005). Hatıra-i uhuvvet: portre fotoğrafların cazibesi, 1846-1950 (in Turkish). Aygaz. p. 218. ISBN 9789759837204. Sultan Abdülaziz ve Abdülhamid devirlerinde İstanbul Gürcü Katolik Cemaati'nin lideri rahip Petre Charischiaranti notlarında Said Paşa'dan kesin bir dille "Gürcü asıllı Sadrazam" olarak bahsetmektedir [Priest Petre Charischiaranti, the leader of the Georgian Catholic Community in Istanbul during the reigns of Sultan Abdulaziz and Abdulhamid, speaks of Said Pasha unequivocally as the "Grand Vizier of Georgian origin" in his notes.]
  4. Çiçek Pasajı: History Archived August 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  5. The Decline of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and the 'Arab Awakening' before 1914 Archived September 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
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