Mehmed Fuad Pasha

Mehmed Fuad Pasha (1814 – February 12, 1869), sometimes known as Keçecizade Mehmed Fuad Pasha and commonly known as Fuad Pasha, was an Ottoman administrator and statesman, who is known for his prominent role in the Tanzimat reforms of the mid-19th-century Ottoman Empire, as well as his leadership during the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war in Syria. He represented a modern Ottoman era, given his openness to European-style modernization as well as the reforms he helped to enact.

Among other posts, he served as Grand Vizier, the equivalent of Prime Minister, on two occasions between 1861 and 1866. He is often regarded, along with Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, as one of the most influential Ottoman statesmen, who favoured a French-inspired civil code for the newly established civil courts in 1868.

Fuad Pasha was a fervent supporter of keeping the empire an absolute monarchy, rejecting the ideas of being legally bounded or restricted by a constitution or legislature. He often clashed with liberal Young Ottoman intellectuals like Namık Kemal, Ziya Pasha and İbrahim Şinasi.

Early life

Fuad Pasha was born in 1814 to a prominent ulema family. His father, , was a famous poet, and Fuad continued this trend as both a littérateur and a poet. He received a medrese education but had to leave his education when his father was dismissed and banished to the provinces. His mother was a descendant of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, a 17th-century grand vizier. He studied in the medical school Tibhane-i Amire for four years with no family support and then proceeded to serve as a doctor for the Admiralty.

Career beginnings

Fuad Pasha was fluent in French, which led him to a job as scribe to the governor of Tunisia, Tahir Pasha, from 1832 to 1836. Upon the governor's death, Fuad Pasha entered the service of the Grand Vizier, Mustafa Reşid Pasha, and began working with Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha. His title, "Pasha", was given to a high-ranking member of the Ottoman government and could only be given by the Sultan as an honorary title. Mehmed Emin Aali had been in the Grand Vizier's service for a considerable amount of time. While Mustafa Reşid and Mehmed Emin Aali were on a diplomatic trip to London, Fuad secured a position as the First Translator of the Porte, a position which he held from 1838 to 1852.

Fuad continued to study history, modern languages, international law, and political economics with the hope of rising to a diplomatic career. The Council of the Tanzimat was established to codify the actions enacted by the Tanzimat reforms. These reforms were designed to centralize power through “modernization [and] centralization” to “increase revenue [and] prevent fragmentation”. It was enacted on November 3, 1839 through an imperial decree given by Mustafa Reşid Pasa called the Edict of Gülhane. This period demonstrated the Empire's increased efforts towards Westernization and acceptance by the Concert of Europe, as well, as Western schools were opened to train bureaucrats for future governmental positions. Councils of State, Justice, and Education were all established, as well as provincial councils to represent all religious and social groups residing in the Empire. Fuad hoped that the Tanzimat reforms would, “find salvation for the empire by creating among its peoples the bond of equal citizenship based on Ottoman nationality”. He was sent by Sultan Abdulmecid along with the new Western-style army to work with a newly established International Commission (Britain, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia) to bring stability to the region. Fuad began what some have called a “reign of terror” His rather strict reaction to the Mount Lebanon crisis reflected a push towards modernity and order throughout the Empire, as well as a growing sentiment of nationalism called Osmanlilik, Fuad chaired the aforementioned International Commission, called the Beirut Committee, which established the reorganization of Mount Lebanon in March 1861. In this, Mount Lebanon would remain a subject of the Sublime Porte and would be “ruled by a non-local Christian governor, independent from the governors of Beirut and Damascus.”

He was buried in the Fuad Paşa Mosque in the Çemberlitaş district of Istanbul, which he had built in 1870 over the remains of a destroyed 15th-century mosque, Uzun Şüca Mosque.

Personality and ideology

Fuad was described as being tall, handsome, and loquacious. Compared to Âli, Fuad was couth in western mannerisms, as well as having a more prestigious upbringing and family. Fuad Pasha was an early advocate of laïcité, and to that end, secularism, in the Ottoman/Turkish politics, the belief that the state should be above religion. He was generally willing to go farther than Âli in reform.

Personal life

Mehmed Fuad married Emine Behiye Hanım, and had two sons, Ahmed Nazım Bey and Kazım Bey. His elder son, Nazım Bey (died 1863) daughter of Şevket Bey, and had two sons, Mustafa Hikmet Bey (2 July 1857 – 6 August 1911) and Reşad Fuad Bey (6 June 1861 – 12 June 1921). Reşad Fuad married Behiye Hanım, daughter of Hayreddin Pasha and his fourth wife Kamer Hanım, and had four sons, Mehmed Hayreddin Fuad Keçeci, Mehmed Salih Keçeci (1893 – 1954), Mehmed Fuad Keçeci (died 1967), and Ali Şevket Fuad Keçeci.

Mehmed Fuad's younger son, Kazım Bey (died 1859) and his wife Rengi Gul Hanim. They had one son, Kazım Bey.

Fuad Pasha was a freemason.

References

Additional sources

Finkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic, 2006. Print.