Gedik Ahmed Pasha

Gedik Ahmed Pasha (died 18 November 1482) was an Ottoman statesman and admiral who served as Grand Vizier and Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy) during the reigns of sultans Mehmed II and Bayezid II.[1][2]

For other people named Ahmed Pasha, see Ahmed Pasha (disambiguation).
Gedik

Ahmed

Pasha
احمد پاشا کدك
16th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
1474–1477
MonarchMehmed II
Preceded byMahmud Pasha Angelović
Succeeded byKaramanlı Mehmed Pasha
Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet
Sanjakbeyi of Avlonya
In office
1478 – c.1481
MonarchMehmed II
Preceded byunknown
Succeeded byMesih Pasha
Beylerbeyi of Anatolia
In office
c.1462 – 1470
MonarchMehmed II
Preceded byIshak Pasha
Succeeded byKoca Davud Pasha
Beylerbeyi of Rum
In office
c.1451–1462 – c.1451–1462
MonarchMehmed II
Personal details
Born
Punoševce, near Vranje, Serbian Despotate
Died18 November 1482
Edirne Palace, Edirne, Ottoman Empire
Cause of deathStrangling
CitizenshipOttoman
EducationEnderun School
ProfessionStatesman
HousePossibly minor Serbian nobility
EthnicityAlbanian, Slavic or Byzantine Greek
Military service
Allegiance Ottoman Empire
Branch/service Ottoman Army (c.1450s–1477 and 1481–1482)
Ottoman Navy (1478–1481)
RankArmy Commander
Grand Admiral
Battles/warsOttoman-Karamanid wars
Ottoman-Aq Qoyunlu wars
 • Battle of Otlukbeli
Ottoman-Genoese War
Ottoman invasion of Otranto

There is not much information about his background with sources claiming either Albanian, Slavic, or Byzantine Greek descent.[3][4] He undertook virtually all of his construction enterprises in Anatolia.

Leading the Ottoman Army, he defeated the last Anatolian beylik (principality) resisting Ottoman expansion in the region, the Karamanids.[5] The Karamanids had been the strongest principality in Anatolia for nearly 200 years, even stronger than the Ottomans in the latter's beginning. They effectively succeeded the Sultanate of Rûm in the amount of possessions they held, among them the city of Konya, the former Selçuk capital. Gedik Ahmed Pasha's victory against the Karamanids in 1471, conquering their territory as well as the Mediterranean coastal region around Ermenek, Mennan and Silifke, proved crucial for the future of the Ottomans. .

Gedik Ahmed Pasha also fought against Venetians in the Mediterranean and was dispatched in 1475 by the Sultan to aid the Crimean Khanate against Genoese forces. In Crimea, he conquered Caffa, Soldaia, Cembalo and other Genoese castles as well as the Principality of Theodoro with its capital Mangup and the coastal regions of Crimea. He rescued the Khan of Crimea, Meñli I Giray, from Genoese forces.[5] As a result of this campaign, Crimea and Circassia entered into the Ottoman sphere of influence.

In 1479, when he was a sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Avlona,[6] Sultan Mehmet II ordered him lead a siege force of between 10,000 and 40,000 troops in the siege of Shkodra.[7]:365 Later that year, the sultan ordered him to lead the Ottoman Navy in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the war against Naples and Milan. During his campaign, Gedik Ahmed Pasha conquered the islands of Santa Maura (Lefkada), Kefalonia, and Zante (Zakynthos). Since he had conquered Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II saw himself as the inheritor of the Roman Empire and seriously considered the conquest of Italy to reunite Roman lands under his dynasty. As part of this plan, Gedik Ahmed Pasha was sent with a naval force to the heel of the Italian peninsula.[2]

After a failed attempt to conquer Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, Ahmed successfully took the Italian harbor city of Otranto in 1480.[8] However, due to lack of food and supplies, he had to return with most of his troops to Albania in the same year, planning to continue the campaign in 1481.

The death of Mehmed II prevented this. Instead, Ahmet sided with Bayezid II in the struggle for who would succeed the sultan. However, Bayezid II did not fully trust Ahmed and had him imprisoned and later killed on 18 November 1482.[3][9]

See also

References
  1. Lewis, Bernard (2001). The Muslim Discovery of Europe. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-3932-4557-8.
  2. Kia, Mehrdad (2017). The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-1-6106-9389-9.
  3. Stavrides, Théoharis (August 2001). The Sultan of Vezirs: The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angeloviu (1453–1474) (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage Series, Volume 24). Brill Academic Publishers, Inc. pp. 65–66. ISBN 90-04-12106-4.
  4. Heath W. Lowry (2003). The Nature of the Early Ottoman State. SUNY Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7914-8726-6. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  5. Imber, Colin (2019). The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power. Macmillan. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-3520-0414-4.
  6. Setton, Kenneth M. (1978), The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume II: The Fifteenth Century, DIANE Publishing, p. 340, ISBN 0-87169-127-2
  7. Babinger, Franz. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978.
  8. Ágoston, Gábor (2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 427. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7.
  9. Lambton, Ann; Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-5212-9135-4.

Further reading
  • E. Hamilton Currey, Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean, London, 1910
  • Bono, Salvatore: Corsari nel Mediterraneo (Corsairs in the Mediterranean), Oscar Storia Mondadori. Perugia, 1993.
Political offices
Preceded by
Mahmud Pasha Angelovic		 Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
1474–1477		 Succeeded by
Karamanlı Mehmed Pasha
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