| Muhtar Pasha | |
| Parents: | Ali Pasha of Janina (Father), Emine (Mother) |
| Office: | Ruler of Karli-Eli and Eğriboz |
| Term Start: | 1788 |
| Term End: | 1822 |
| Birth Place: | Ottoman Empire |
| Relations: | Veli Pasha (Brother), Veli Bey (Grandfather), Hamko (Grandmother),Muhtar Bey (great-Grandfather), Kaplan Pasha of Gjirokastër (Grandfather), Mehmed (Newphew)Ismail (Nephew), Mustafa Yussuf (great great grandfather), Fikret İşmen Kaygı (descendant) Husein Pasha (descendant) Fatma Hikmet İşmen (descendant) |
Muhtar Pasha (also Mukhtar Pasha, born before 1770) was an Ottoman Albanian ruler and the son of Ali Pasha of the increasingly independent Pashalik of Yanina. He was appointed governor of the Sanjak of Karli-Eli and the Sanjak of Eğriboz in 1792, stretching Ali's control down to Livadia and the Gulf of Corinth, except Attica. He also became governor of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1796–7, and of the Sanjak of Vlorë and Berat in 1810.
A member of the Albanian Meçohysaj clan, Muhtar was the first son of Ali Pasha and his wife Emine, the daughter of Kaplan Pasha of Gjirokastër.[1] [2] Muhtar was given powerful positions, as well as control over Karlieli and Euboea in 1792.[3] In 1794 Ibrahim Bey of Vlorë and Berat proposed to marry one of his daughters to Ali's son Muhtar and another daughter to Ali's son Veli, in order to acquire good relations with Ali Pasha.[4]
In 1796, upon the death of Kara Mahmud Bushati of Scutari in the battle of Krusi during his invasion of modern-day Montenegro, one of his holdings, the Sanjak of Ohrid, temporarily passed to Muhtar, formalizing the spread of Ali Pasha's influence in the north.[5] Around 1805, Ali Pasha's forces seized Elbasan and Muhtar took his residency there. In 1810 Muhtar was also appointed governor of the Sanjak of Vlorë and Berat.
Ioannis Kolettis (1774–1847) was recorded to have been a personal physician of Muhtar.[6]