Midhat Pasha

Leading champion of the Ottoman Empire's first constitution.

Life

Reformist official

Midhat Pasha was an official trained in the Tanzimat reforms who served as governor of the Danube and Baghdad provinces, known for building schools, roads and telegraph lines and for streamlining administration.

Father of the Constitution

In 1876 he took part in deposing Sultan Abdulaziz, became Grand Vizier, and pushed Abdul Hamid II to promulgate the empire's first constitution. The following year he was dismissed and exiled by the sultan.

Exile

In 1881 he was sentenced to death for the murder of the former sultan; the sentence was commuted to exile in Taif on the Arabian Peninsula, where he was killed in prison in 1884.

Legacy

Midhat Pasha is regarded as the forerunner of the Ottoman constitutional movement, and in 1908 the Young Turks honored him as their spiritual leader.

Did you know? His remains were later secretly brought back to Turkey and buried in Istanbul in 1951.

Key dates

• 1864Governor of the Danube Province
• 1869Governor of Baghdad Province
• 1876Becomes Grand Vizier, pushes for a constitution
• 1877Dismissed and exiled
• 1884Killed in Taif