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Halil Rifat
Pasha
Mutasarrıf of Vidin
In office
1882–1886
Governor of Sivas Vilayet
In office
1886–1889
Governor of Aidin Vilayet
In office
1889–1891
Preceded byNafiz Pasha
Succeeded byAbdurrahman Nurettin Pasha
Governor of Manastir Vilayet
In office
1891–1893
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office
7 November 1895 – 9 November 1901
MonarchAbdul Hamid II
Preceded byKâmil Pasha
Succeeded byMehmed Said Pasha
Personal details
Born1820
Serres, Sanjak of Serres, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died9 November 1901
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
NationalityOttoman

Halil Rifat Pasha (Modern Turkish: Halil Rıfat Paşa; 1820[Notes 1]–9 November 1901) was an Ottoman parliamentarian and statesman during the First Constitutional Era. He furthermore served as the Grand Vizier for six years between 1895 until his death in 1901, during the late Abdul Hamid II era.

Education

He was born in Serres (Serez) and received education in an Islamic type parish school in Selanik (Thessaloniki), then continued to Mekteb-i Mülkiye in Constantinople.

Life and career

After his education years, he started to work as a mailing clerk in Vidin, then worked as secretary in the office of the Governor of Salonika.[1] He advanced by degrees and was appointed to higher official positions by passage of time, including at Rustchuk. In 1882 he was appointed as mutasarrıf of Vidin, then in 1886 he was appointed as governor of Sivas, where he started a road-building programme.[1] He was subsequently appointed governor of Aidin (1889) and later of Monastir, where he fought brigandage units which was rife in the province.[1] He was appointed as minister of internal affairs in 1893. Then he was appointed as grand vizier in November 1895. The most important events in his era as grand vizier were the riots of Sason (in 1895) and in Crete (in 1897), as well as the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 which ended with Ottoman victory.

Trivia

His motto in the road building campaign was "Any place where you can't go is not yours" (Turkish: Gidemediğin yer senin değildir.)

Notes and references

  1. ^ According to the obituary in The Times, he was born about 1807. This would make him almost 95 years old at the time of his death. Other sources give 1820.
  1. ^ a b c "Obituary - Turkish Grand Vizier". The Times. No. 36609. London. 11 November 1901. p. 10.

See also

External links

Political offices Preceded byKâmil Pasha Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire 7 November 1895 – 9 November 1901 Succeeded byMehmed Said Pasha
Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire
Governors of the Aidin Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire
Authority control databases
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