AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Efendi (Pasha)

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 238 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Köprülüdür. Bâkî Efendizâde Mehmed Sadık Efendi’nin oğludur. Köprü’de tahrîrât kâtibi, meclis-i idâre a’zâsı iken 1313’de vefât etdi. Edîb, sahî, rind meşreb, mümtezic bir kimse idi. Oğulları Hasan Fehmi, Mehmed İhsan Efendilerdir. Hasan Fehmi Efendi Köprü nüfus me’mûrudur. İhsan Efendi polis iken 1322’de vefât etdi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Köprü. He was the son of Bâkî Efendizâde Mehmed Sadık Efendi. He died in 1313 [1895-96] while serving as correspondence clerk and member of the administrative council at Köprü. He was a man of letters, generous, easygoing in temperament, and well able to get along with people. His sons are Hasan Fehmi and Mehmed İhsan Efendi. Hasan Fehmi Efendi is the population registrar of Köprü. İhsan Efendi died in 1322 [1904-05] while serving as a policeman.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • tahrîrât kâtibi: clerk who conducted official correspondence
  • meclis-i idâre a'zâsı: member of the administrative council
  • edîb: a cultured, literate person with an interest in letters
  • sahî: generous
  • rind meşreb: not bound by strict rules, relaxed and open by nature
  • mümtezic: sociable, getting along with everyone
  • nüfus me'mûru: official who kept population records

Where Köprü Is

The place Hüsameddin calls "Köprü" is today the Vezirköprü district of Samsun. In the Ottoman period the settlement was known by names such as Gedikara or Gedegra; it took the name Vezirköprü in the seventeenth century because Köprülü Mehmed Pasha became grand vizier and because of the Taşhan, the Taşmedrese, the mosque and the bridge that he or his family gave to the region. In the Ottoman administrative structure it was significant as the centre of a kaza or sanjak. A study based on the archive of the Meşihat also mentions a müderris named Mustafa Tevfik Efendi as "born in the town of Köprü in Amasya"; this record confirms that in Hüsameddin's time Köprü was a town attached to Amasya.

The Administrative Council

The meclis-i idare mentioned in the text is an institution of provincial government after the Tanzimat. According to the Provincial Administration Regulation of 1871, there were administrative councils in the province, the livâ and the kaza, meeting continuously under the chairmanship of the administrator. The judge, the secretary, the treasurer, the mufti and the non-Muslim religious leader were natural members of the councils; to these were added two Muslim and two non-Muslim members chosen by the people. The encyclopedia entry written on the same regulation also records that local notables found a way to keep their influence by entering the administrative councils, the municipalities and the courts as members after the new organization. In what capacity Mehmed Sadık Efendi sat on the council, whether elected or as a natural member, is not clear from the text. It is likewise not stated to which office the correspondence clerkship at Köprü belonged.

About the Family

Mehmed Sadık Efendi's sons also appear in state service: one a population registrar, the other a policeman. In other entries of the same volume too, posts such as clerk and population registrar can be seen to be places that Amasya notables held in the new civil bureaucracy. No information was found in other sources about Bâkî Efendizâde Mehmed Sadık Efendi, Hasan Fehmi and Mehmed İhsan.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 238–238. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Volume 6 contents