Halil Rifat Pasha

Halil Rifat
Halil Rifat; Pasha
Mutasarrıf of Vidin
	In office; 1882–1886
Governor of Sivas Vilayet
	In office; 1886–1889
Governor of Aidin Vilayet
	In office; 1889–1891
Preceded by	Nafiz Pasha
Succeeded by	Abdurrahman Nurettin Pasha
Governor of Manastir Vilayet
	In office; 1891–1893
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
	In office; 7 November 1895 – 9 November 1901
Monarch	Abdülhamid II
Preceded by	Kâmil Pasha
Succeeded by	Mehmed Said Pasha
Personal details
Born	1820; Serres, Sanjak of Serres, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	9 November 1901; Istanbul (then Constantinople), Ottoman Empire
Nationality	Ottoman

Halil Rifat Pasha (Modern Turkish: Halil Rıfat Paşa; 1820[Notes 1]–9 November 1901) was an Ottoman statesman of probable Albanian descent and a Grand Vizier for six years between 1895 until his death in 1901, during the reign of Abdul Hamid II.

Education

He was born in Serres (Serez) and received education in an Islamic type parish school in Salonika (Selanik), then continued to Mekteb-i Mülkiye in Constantinople.

Life and career

After his education years, he started to work as a mailing clerk in Vidin, then worked as secretary in the office of the Governor of Salonika.[1] He advanced by degrees and was appointed to higher official positions by passage of time, including at Rustchuk. In 1882 he was appointed as mutasarrıf of Vidin, then in 1886 he was appointed as governor of Sivas, where he started a road-building programme.[1] He was subsequently appointed governor of Aidin (1889) and later of Monastir, where he fought brigandage units which was rife in the province.[1] He was appointed as minister of internal affairs in 1893. Then he was appointed as grand vizier in November 1895. The most important events in his era as grand vizier were the riots of Sason (in 1895) and in Crete (in 1897), as well as the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 which ended with Ottoman victory.

Trivia

His motto in the road building campaign was "Any place where you can't go is not yours" (Turkish: Gidemediğin yer senin değildir.)

Notes and references

According to the obituary in The Times, he was born about 1807. This would make him almost 95 years old at the time of his death. Other sources give 1820.

"Obituary - Turkish Grand Vizier". The Times (36609). London. 11 November 1901. p. 10.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Kâmil Pasha	Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire 7 November 1895 – 9 November 1901	Succeeded by Mehmed Said Pasha

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] According to the obituary in The Times, he was born about 1807. This would make him almost 95 years old at the time of his death. Other sources give 1820.

[TTObituary-2] "Obituary - Turkish Grand Vizier". The Times (36609). London. 11 November 1901. p. 10.