Ahmet Tevfik Pasha
Ahmed Tevfik Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: احمد توفیق پاشا; 11 February 1845 – 8 October 1936), later Ahmet Tevfik Okday after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was an Ottoman statesman of Crimean Tatar origin. He was the last grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire.[1] He held the office three times, the first in 1909 under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and from 1918 to 1919 and from 1920 to 1922 under Mehmed VI during the Allied occupation of Istanbul. In addition to his premiership, Ahmet Tevfik was also a diplomat, a member of the Ottoman Senate, and long time Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"Tevfik Pasha" redirects here. For khedive of Egypt, see Tewfik Pasha. For the Arab Pan-Islamist, see Tawfiq Bay.
Ahmet Tevfik
Office abolished
İsmet İnönü, as Prime Minister of Turkey
11 February 1845
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
8 October 1936 (aged 91)
Istanbul, Turkey
Elisabeth Tschumi (1859-1949)
5
Early life[edit]
Ahmet Tevfik was born on 11 February 1845 in Constantinople. His father, Ferik Ismail Hakkı Pasha, was a Crimean Tatar descended from the Giray dynasty.[2] He was a participant of the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War.
Ahmet Tevfik entered military service but left after becoming a junior officer, entering government bureaucracy training. After 1872, he held various foreign ministry posts. After serving as an ambassador in Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Athens, he served as the Ottoman chargé d'affaires and ambassador to Germany in Berlin from 1885 to 1895.[2] After returning to Istanbul, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkish: Hariciye Nazırı) from 1899 to 1909. After the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era in 1908, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha was appointed to a seat in the revived Senate of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish: Ayan Meclisi), the upper house of the also-revived parliament, the General Assembly (Turkish: Meclis-i Umûmî).
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire[edit]
First term (1909–1910)[edit]
Ahmet Tevfik Pasha's first period of office as grand vizier was one of the direct outcomes of the failed counterrevolutionary 31 March Incident (which actually occurred on 13 April) in 1909. When the absolutists declared the countercoup, they demanded and received the resignation of the previous Grand Vizier Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha. Although their preferred replacement was not Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, his appointment at least fulfilled their demands for the removal of Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha.[3] Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, who had only reluctantly taken up the post at the urging of the pro-absolutist Sultan Abdul Hamid II, formed a government made up of mostly non-partisan and neutral members and took precautions to limit the growth of violence that had begun in Istanbul and Adana. After the Hareket Ordusu (English: Army of Action) entered Istanbul and restored the constitutional government, and Abdul Hamid was deposed, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha resigned and Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha returned as grand vizier. Afterwords he served as ambassador to the Court of St. James's.
Second term (1918–1919)[edit]
After World War I and the resignation of Ahmed Izzet Pasha, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha was again appointed grand vizier on 11 November 1918. Two days after his term began, the Allies began their occupation of Constantinople. The Allies pressured Sultan Mehmed VI to dissolve the parliament on 21 December 1918, and for a few weeks, Ahmet Tevfik Pasha's government was dissolved as well. He formed his government again on 12 January 1919, but after the invaders forced him to dissolve it once more, he resigned as grand vizier on 3 March 1919.[4] A political scandal that contributed to the fall of the government was the escape of Mehmed Reshid from prison and his subsequent suicide, who was high ranking CUP member who was known as the "butcher of Diyarbakır" during World War I. Damat Ferid Pasha accused Tevfik of being soft on the Unionists, which prompted Tevfik Pasha to arrest key committeemen after the event. Ferid Pasha succeeded Tevfik on the 4 March 1919.[5]