Koca Ragıp Pasha Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Koca Damat
Mehmet Ragıp
Honorific-Suffix:Pasha
Office1:Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
Monarch1:Osman III
Mustafa III
Term Start1:12 January 1757
Term End1:8 April 1763
Predecessor1:Köse Bahir Mustafa Pasha
Successor1:Tevkii Hamza Hamid Pasha
Office2:Ottoman Governor of Egypt
Term Start2:1744
Term End2:1748
Predecessor2:Yedekçi Mehmet Pasha
Successor2:Yeğen Ali Pasha
Birth Date:1698
Birth Place:Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Death Place:Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Nationality: Turkish
Blank1:Origins
Spouse:Saliha Sultan
Profession:Civil servant

Koca Mehmet Ragıp Pasha (1698–1763) was an Ottoman statesman who served as a civil servant before 1744 as the provincial governor of Egypt from 1744 to 1748 and Grand Vizier from 1757 to 1763. He was also known as a poet. His epithet Koca means "great" or "giant" in Turkish.

Early years

His father was Şevki Mustafa, a bureaucrat in the Ottoman Empire. After completing his education, Mehmet Ragıp worked in various parts of the empire as a civil servant. He served as the chief treasurer in Baghdad (then a part of the Ottoman Empire). He was a member of Ottoman representatives in the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739. He was promoted to the post of reis ül-küttab (equivalent to a modern foreign minister) in 1740. He was the governor of Ottoman Egypt from 1744 to 1748,[1] [2] when he was forced to step down by local troops.[3]

As Grand Vizier

He was appointed as Grand Vizier on 12 January 1757 by the sultan Osman III. When Osman III died ten months later, Mehmet Ragıp Pasha continued under the new sultan Mustafa III with whom he had very good relations. He married Saliha, the sultan's sister, and gained the title damat (English: bridegroom).

Ragıp's term was during an Ottoman decline. He nevertheless enacted reforms to Ottoman administration and treasury. For the first time Ottoman revenues exceed expenditures.[4] He was an adherent of peace policy. His term in the office almost coincides with the Seven Years' War in Europe (1756-1763). Despite the danger of war, he was able to keep the Ottoman Empire out of conflict.[5] Upon his death, Mustafa III wrote an elegy (Turkish: ağıt) expressing his sorrow for his good friend.[6]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: 'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti. Thomas Philipp. Moshe Perlmann. Abd Al-Rahmann Al-Jabarti's History of Egypt. 1. 1994. Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart. 248.
  2. Book: Yılmaz Öztuna. Büyük Osmanlı Tarihi: Osmanlı Devleti'nin siyasî, medenî, kültür, teşkilât ve san'at tarihi. 10. 1994. Ötüken Neşriyat A.S.. tr. 975-437-141-5. 412–416.
  3. Book: 'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti. Thomas Philipp. Moshe Perlmann. Abd Al-Rahmann Al-Jabarti's History of Egypt. 1. 1994. Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart. 250–251.
  4. https://www.biyografya.com/biyografi/7430 Bio page
  5. Gabor Aboston-Bruce Masters: Ottoman Encyclopaedia, Facts on File Inc,, p411
  6. Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt III, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 35