Tayyar Mehmed Pasha

Tayyar Mehmed Pasha (?-1638) was an 17th century Ottoman grand vizier.

Early years

His father was Uçar Mustafa Pasha. Tayyar Mehmed worked under Nasuh Pasha as his kethüda (chamberlain). After the slaughter of Osman II, he joined the rebellious forces of Abaza Mehmed, but during the battle of Kayseri in 1624, he changed sides [1] and was appointed as the beylerbey (high governor) of Diyarbakır (in South east Turkey).

As a grand vizier

During the campaign of Murad IV on Baghdad (see Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639)), he was tasked with guarding Mosul. But when Bayram Pasha the grand vizier died on the way to Baghdad, the sultan appointed him as the new grand vizier.[2]

The siege of Baghdad took more than 40 days. The impatient sultan reprehended Tayyar Mehmed, who was directing the siege cautiously to minimize the human losses. After this incident, Tayyar Mehmed decided for a general attack and he personally took part in the fighting on 24 December 1638. Although the attack was successful, Tayyar Mehmed was killed during the fighting.[3] The sultan expressed his sorrow saying "O Tayyar, You are worth one hundred castles (cities) like Baghdad" . Following Hadim Ali Pasha in 1511 and Hadim Sinan Pasha in 1517, Tayyar Mehmed was the third Ottoman grand vizier to be killed in a battle field.[1] It is interesting to note that his father had also been killed during a siege of Baghdad in 1625.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Joseph von Hammer: Geschichte der osmanischen Dichtkunst Vol II (translation: Mehmet Ata) Milliyet yayınları, p 184 and 221.
  2. ^ Ayhan Buz: Osmanlı Sadrazamları, Neden Yayınları, İstanbul, 2009 ISBN 978-975-254-278-5 p 94
  3. ^ Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 81-82
  4. ^ Historian İlber Ortaylı's essay on Milliyet newspaper (Turkish)
Preceded by
Bayram Pasha
Grand Vizier
27 August 1638 – 24 December 1638
Succeeded by
Kemankeş Mustafa Pasha