Öküz Kara Mehmed Pasha

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Öküz Mehmet Pasha (Mehmet Pasha the Oxen) or Kara Mehmet Pasha was an Ottoman statesman and military commander of the early 17th century, who held the office of Grand Vizier twice, the first time from 17 October 1614 to 17 November 1616 (during the reign of Ahmet I), and the second time from 18 January 1619 to 23 December 1619, (under Osman II the Young) (see List of Ottoman Grand Viziers).

In between the above two periods as Grand Vizier, he held the office of Governorship of the Ottoman Vilayet (province) of Aydın (then covering a large part of western Anatolia), and his governorship is marked by the construction of a remarkable caravanserail in Kuşadası, aimed at attracting international trade through the port there (which shifted, in time, much more towards the port of İzmir upon the preference displayed by European merchants). The caravanserail in Kuşadası is used as luxury hotel and shopping center today. He has had another solid caravanserail built in Ulukışla on the way to a campaign against Iran of the Safavids.

During his offices he was usually called Kara Mehmet Pasha, the nickname oxen having been invented behind his back (although he certainly must have overheard it) by virtue of his heavy build and his father having been a blacksmith for cattle in the Karagümrük quarter of İstanbul. History retained this nickname rather than Kara, which means black in Turkish and which may refer to one's complexion or hair or, in the figurative, to courage and daring.

He certainly did distinguish himself with his courage and daring all along his career, although one less known episode involving an attack on Vienna accompanied with only 47 raiders, and without having informed the Sultan or any other authority in the Ottoman capital, ended in complete failure and was nearly going to cost him his head. Some historians consider his foray as a third siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks, alongside the better known incidences, undertaken first by Süleyman the Magnificent in 1529 and later by Kara Mustafa Pasha in 1683.

He had been strangled to death in 1619 by a young Janissary whose favors he sought.