
Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha mansion (''
yalı'') in
Kandilli,
Boğaziçi,
İstanbul, acquired in
1840 and largely extended by the Pasha and owned today by his descendants
'Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Paşa' (''Mehmed Emin Pasha the Cypriot'') was an
Ottoman statesman of
Turkish Cypriot origin who served at the top post of
grand vizier during three different times under the reign of the sultan
Abdülmecid. His periods of administration were, the first time between
29 May and
23 November 1854, the second time between
18 November 1859 and
24 December 1859 and for the last time between
28 May 1860 and
6 August 1861. As such, he was also the last great vizier of Abdülmecid. He is not to be confused with a notable and contemporary namesake,
Emin Pasha, the explorer of
Sudan, a
German Jewish convert to
Islam who had entered the service of the Ottoman Empire, or with other past notables of the same name.
Like many other prominent Ottman statesmen of the
Tanzimat period, Mehmed Emin Pasha rose from the
Dragoman's office, largely
Turkified by the
19th century, and climbing through the foreign office of the Ottoman Empire, held consecutive ambassadorial or governorship posts, also becoming grand vizier during three different periods.
He died in his yalı in Kandilli, İstanbul, in
1871.
After his death, his first wife,
Melek Hanım, wrote her memoirs of the
harem, in the 19th century context of that institution, as well as a controversial account of the high spheres of the Ottoman society, published in
New York in
1874, treating much the same period as the memoirs of
Leyla Saz, written much later in the
1920s.
See also
★
List of Ottoman grand viziers