# Öküz Mehmed Pasha

"Öküz" Mehmed Pasha ("Mehmed Pasha the Ox"; died December 23, 1619), also known as Kara Mehmed Pasha ("the Black") or "Kul Kıran" Mehmed Pasha ("the Disciple-breaker"), was an Ottoman Turks statesman, administrator, and military figure of the early 17th century. He held the office of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire twice: from October 17, 1614, to November 17, 1616 (during the reign of Ahmed I), and from January 18, 1619, to December 23, 1619 (during the reign of Osman II). He also served as the Ottoman Empire's governor of Egypt from 1607 to 1611.
Öküz Mehmed's nickname, "Kul Kiran" (disciple-breaker), stemmed from his success in crushing the mutiny in Egypt during the early 1600s (soldiers were often known as a kul, meaning disciple or acolyte in the Ottoman military context).

## Background

Öküz Mehmed Pasha had Turkish ancestry, born in the Karagümrük district of Istanbul. His father was reportedly an ox blacksmith. He was nicknamed "Black" and "Ox" by his enemies, after his father's profession. Before his governmental duties, Mehmed Pasha served as a silahdar, a high-ranking position that is liable for safeguarding the sultan.
He married the princess Gevherhan Sultan, who is the daughter of Sultan Ahmed I and Kösem Sultan. They had a son who died early in infancy.

## Governor of Egypt

Before his first term as grand vizier, Mehmed Pasha was appointed as Ottoman Empire's governor of Egypt in 1607, a post he held until 1611. In 1604, three years before he assumed office, the governor of Ottoman Egypt, Maktul Hacı Ibrahim Pasha, was murdered by mutinying sipahi soldiers from his own troops. This event caused three years of instability in Egypt, with the subsequent two governors, Hadım Mehmed Pasha and Yemenli Hasan Pasha, unable to completely quell the rebellion.
Upon assuming office, Mehmed Pasha's strong-handed methods and personality allowed him to suppress the sipahis and abolish the illegal tulba protection tax they had been imposing on the Egyptian countryside. After landing at Alexandria, he garnered public support by visiting the tombs of local saints and treating the Mamluks well, ordering repairs on Mamluk-built buildings and structures. He then proceeded to execute district governors who had allowed the sipahis to impose the tulba and warned others of the same fate.
Tensions peaked in February 1609, when the rebels gathered in the city of Tanta and met at the tomb of Ahmad al-Badawi, Egypt's most popular saint, to swear that they would resist Mehmed Pasha's efforts. They then began to gather troops and pillage villages for supplies. Mehmed Pasha also gathered troops, although some of his officers suggested diplomacy, which Mehmed agreed to. He sent a mufti named Altıparmak Mehmed Efendi and an officer to negotiate with the rebels. The mufti advised the rebels to give in to "those in authority," and upon refusal, Mehmed Pasha's forces began to mobilize.
Mehmed Pasha's forces met the rebels just north of Cairo. The rebels, discouraged, lost the battle, and the pasha's forces summarily executed over 250 of them, while others were later exiled to Yemen.
In the aftermath, Mehmed Pasha became known as Kul Kıran ("slavebreaker" in Turkish) for subjugating the Mamluks and the soldiers to Ottoman rule. He promoted public works and attempted to reform the fiscal and military organization of the Egypt Eyalet, reducing the number of local beys to 12, although this measure was later abandoned. In 1611, he was recalled to the capital, Constantinople, by the sultan.

## Grand Vizierates

Mehmed Pasha was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from October 17, 1614, to November 17, 1616, and again from January 18, 1619, to December 23, 1619. While in office, he was usually called Kara Mehmed Pasha; the nickname "ox" was invented behind his back (though he almost certainly overheard it) due to his heavy build and his father's profession as a blacksmith for cattle in the Karagümrük quarter of Constantinople. History retained this nickname rather than Kara, which means "black" in Turkish and may refer to one's complexion or hair or, figuratively, to courage and daring.
One episode during his time as grand vizier involved an attack on Vienna with only 47 raiders, without informing the sultan or any other authority in the Ottoman capital. It ended in complete failure and nearly cost him his life. Some historians consider this foray a third siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks, alongside the better-known incidents, undertaken first by sultan Süleyman the Magnificent in 1529 and later by grand vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha in 1683.

## Governor of Aidin

Between his two terms as grand vizier, he held the office of governor of Aidin Vilayet (then a province covering a large part of western Anatolia). His governorship is marked by the construction of a caravanserai in Kuşadası, named the Öküz Mehmed Pasha Caravanserai after him, aimed at attracting international trade through the port. Over time, trade shifted much more towards the port of İzmir due to the preference displayed by European merchants. The caravanserai in Kuşadası is used as a luxury hotel and shopping center today. He also had another caravanserai built in Ulukışla on the way to a campaign against the Safavids during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18), which eventually ended with a decisive Ottoman defeat.

## Death

He was strangled to death in office in 1619 by a young Janissary whose favors he had sought.