Karamani Mehmed Pasha

Karamanlı or Karamani Mehmed Pasha was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier in 1477–1481.

Early years

Born in Karaman he travelled to Constantinople (present day Istanbul) to study in the medrese founded by Mahmud Pasha. Later on, he worked as a teacher in the medrese. Being a man of letters, in various occasions he acted as a consultant to sultan. He was appointed as the court calligrapher (nisanci, Turkish: nişancı)^[1] and he contributed to the kanunname of Mehmed II, a series of laws regularising the Ottoman Empire. He also helped the sultan in writing letters of high literary value to Aq Qoyunlu sultan Uzun Hasan.^[2]

As a grand vizier

After conquering Constantinople and the execution of Grand Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha, Mehmed II had preferred to appoint Grand Viziers of devsirme origin instead of Ethnic Turks to avoid possible crises caused by over-powerful Grand Viziers.^[3] After executing his last Turkish , his next four grand viziers were of devsirme origin. Karamani Mehmed's appointment as Grand Vizier in 1476 therefore marks a notable exception, for he was a Turk from the recently conquered Karamanid territory in Anatolia. In his short term in the office, Karamani Mehmed tried to reform the Ottoman administration.

Death of Mehmed II and Karamani Mehmed

In 1481, Mehmed II died. In the Ottoman Empire, it was the duty of the Grand Viziers to delay the announcement of a Sultan's death before the claimant to throne arrived in the capital, in order to avoid chaos. However in this case, the sultan’s sons were far away; Bayezid (later Bayezid II) was in Amasya and Cem was in Karaman, Karamani Mehmed’s home town. Karamani Mehmed sent messengers to both princes,^[4] but as Karaman was nearer to the capital, Cem had a better chance to reach it before his older brother. Nevertheless, the Janissaries who were supporting Bayezid learned about the Sultan’s death and they further suspected that Karamani Mehmed was backing Cem. They revolted and killed Karamani Mehmed a few days after the death of the Sultan.^[5]

See also

• List of Ottoman Grand Viziers

References

1. ^ Ayhan Buz: Osmanlı Sadrazamları, Neden Yayınları, İstanbul, 2009 ISBN 978-975-254-278-5 p 25
2. ^ Biography of Karamanlı Mehmet (Turkish)
3. ^ Mevlut Uluğtekin Yılmaz: Osmanlı’nın Arka Bahçesi, Ankara, 1998
4. ^ Nicolae Jorga: Geschiste des osmanischen ( trans. by Nilüfer Epçeli) , vol 2 , p. 204 Yeditepe Yayınları, İstanbul, 2009, ISBN 975 6480 17 3
5. ^ Lord Kinross: The Ottoman Centuries (trans.Meral Gaspıralı), Altın Kitaplar, İstanbul, 2008 ISBN 978 975 21 0955 1 p 160