Köprülüdür. Ahkâm-ı dîvâniyye defterlerinde mezkûr olduğu üzere Köprülü Debbağ Mehmet Ağa’nın oğludur. Amasya’da Debbağ-hâne ustalarından olup hayli servet ü sâmân edindi. Ba’dehû mukâta’ât mültezimi olup gayr-ı Türklerin tehakküm ve istibdâdından bîzâr olarak arkadaşı Deli Mustafa Ağa ile 1001’de gayr-ı Türklerin aleyhine açtığı ihtilâl bayrağının altına canı yanmışlardan hayli adamları toplayıp kıyâm etdi. Yıllarca Amasya Beylerini yordu.
Amasyalı Hüseyin Paşa Amasya sancağıyla Anadolu Müfettişi ve eşkıyâyı te’dîbe me’mûr oldukta bunun şecâ’at ve cesâretini takdîr ederek 1006 senesi şevvâlinde Kara [476] Hisâr-ı Şarkî mirlivâlığına nasb etdirdi. Bu suretle başında toplanan eşkıyâyı Kapıkulu şeklinde tedâbîr-i hakîmâne ile inkıyâd etdirip düşman aleyhine kullandı.
1008 senesi muharreminde ihtilâl fırkası kumandanı olup Amasya Sancağı Beyi olarak ilân-ı saltanat ve istiklâl eden Urfalı Karayazıcı Abdülhalîm Bey’in ref’ıne me’mûr oldu. Ma’iyyetinde rüfekâ-yı ma’hûdesiyle gelip Amasya’yı erbâb-ı şekâvet elinden kurtardı. Hayli yüz aklığı gösterdi.
Celâlî eşkıyâsı buna hasm-ı bî-emân olup üç yıl kadar onlarla mücâdele ederek mutasarrıfı olduğu Amasya Sancağı’nı eşkıyâdan kurutdu. Lâkin 1010 senesinde Serdâr Hasan Paşa’yı Tokat’da muhâsara ve şehîd eden eşkıyâ olanca kuvvetleriyle 1011 senesi recebinde Amasya üzerine yüklendikleri esnâda Amasya’dan çekildi.
Bâb-ı âlî, Hasan Paşa’nın şehâdetini ve Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Karahisâr-ı Şarkî erbâb-ı ihtilâlin eline geçtiğini haber aldıkta sâhib-i tercemeyi eşkiyâya iltihâk eder korkusuyla 1011 senesi zilka’desinde Demir [477] Kapı Eyâleti Beylerbeyi nasb etdiğinden ma’iyyet-i mevcûdesiyle eyâlet-i mezkûranın merkezi olan Bakü’ye gitdi. İranlılarla hayli çarpışıp Kafkas ilini idâre ve müdâfaa etdi.
1012’de Revan vâlîsi Şerîf Mehmed Paşa’nın İranîlere karşı mağlup ve esir olduğuna binâ’en Revan Beylerbeyi olup İranîleri oradan tard ve def’e me’mûr oldu. Fakat Şirvân halkı ve rü’esâsının İran Şâhına tebeiyyet etmeleri üzerine 1014’de Şirvân Muhâfızı oldu.
Bu esnada Anadolu, ihtilalcilerin teğallüb ve istîlâsı elinde bulunduğundan ve devletce kendisine yardım edilemediğinden, gâh İranîlerle ve gâh Şirvânîlerle çarpışa çarpışa 1016 sâline doğru ma’iyyet-i mevcûdesiyle mahvolup gitdi. Gayet şeci’, kahramân-sîret, evâsıt-ı hâlinde âsî olduğu halde, sonra fevkalâde sâdık idi. “Deli Ahmed Paşa” da denirdi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Köprü. According to what is written in the registers of imperial rulings, he was the son of Köprülü Debbağ (tanner) Mehmed Ağa. He was one of the tannery masters in Amasya and acquired considerable wealth and property. Then he became a tax farmer of mukataas. Weary of the oppression and arbitrary behaviour of the non-Turks, together with his friend Deli Mustafa Ağa, in 1001 [1592-93], under the banner of revolt raised against the non-Turks, he rose up, gathering many aggrieved men. For years he gave the beys of Amasya trouble.
When Hüseyin Pasha of Amasya, as Anatolian inspector together with the sanjak of Amasya, was charged with punishing the bandits, he appreciated his bravery and courage and had him appointed in Shawwal 1006 [1598] to the sanjak governorship of Karahisâr-ı Şarkî (Şebinkarahisar). In this way Ahmed brought the bandits who had gathered around him to obedience with wise measures, in the order of the kapıkulu soldiers, and used them against the enemy.
In Muharram 1008 [1599] he was charged with eliminating Karayazıcı Abdülhalim Bey of Urfa, who was the commander of the rebels and, as sanjak governor of Amasya, had proclaimed sovereignty and independence. Coming with his known comrades, he rescued Amasya from the hands of the bandits. He earned considerable honour.
The Celali bandits became his implacable enemy. For about three years he fought them and cleared the sanjak of Amasya under his administration of bandits. However, in 1010 [1601-02] the bandits besieged Serdar Hasan Pasha in Tokat and killed him as a martyr, and in Rajab 1011 [1602-03], when they pressed on Amasya with all their forces, they withdrew from Amasya.
When the Sublime Porte learned that Hasan Pasha had fallen and that Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, and Karahisâr-ı Şarkî had passed into the hands of the rebels, it feared that this man, whose biography we are writing, would join the bandits, and in Dhu al-Qa'dah 1011 [1603] it appointed him beylerbeyi of the province of Demirkapı (Derbend). With the force he had with him he went to Baku, the centre of this province. Fighting the Iranians at length, he governed and defended the land of the Caucasus.
In 1012 [1603-04], when Şerif Mehmed Pasha, governor of Revan, was defeated by the Iranians and taken captive, he was charged with becoming beylerbeyi of Revan and driving the Iranians out and away from there. But when the people and notables of Shirvan submitted to the shah of Iran, in 1014 [1605-06] he became guardian of Shirvan.
Since Anatolia was at this time under the tyranny and invasion of the rebels and the state could not help him, fighting now with the Iranians and now with the Shirvanis, around 1016 [1607] he perished together with the force he had with him. He was an extremely brave man of a heroic nature; although he was a rebel in the middle period of his life, he later became extremely loyal. He was also called "Deli Ahmed Pasha."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- debbağ-hâne: tannery
- servet ü sâmân: property and possessions, wealth
- mukâta'ât mültezimi: a person who undertook a source of state revenue for a lump sum and collected it
- tehakküm ve istibdâd: tyranny and arbitrary rule
- bîzâr: weary, fed up
- kıyâm etmek: to rise up
- mirlivâ: sanjak governor
- inkıyâd: submission, obedience
- ref': removal, elimination
- rüfekâ-yı ma'hûde: the known comrades, those whose word carried weight
- hasm-ı bî-emân: implacable enemy
- mutasarrıf: the one who governs a sanjak, who has its administration in his hands
- sâhib-i terceme: the person whose biography is being written
- iltihâk: joining
- tard ve def': expelling, driving away
- teğallüb: seizing by force
- evâsıt-ı hâl: the middle period of life
Yaramaz Ahmed in Hüsameddin's Chronicle
In the third volume of his work Hüsameddin narrates Ahmed's story in detail within the Celali years of Amasya. There too he is introduced as "a tax farmer famous as Yaramaz Ahmed Ağa, one of the tannery masters"; unable to bear the injustices he had suffered, he joined with the tax farmer Deli Mustafa Ağa, gathered a few hundred horsemen, and began striking the villages around Amasya. First Durak Ağa, voivode of Köprü, was sent against them, and then the Anatolian inspector Hüseyin Pasha took the course of calming the revolt by giving them sanjaks: Karahisâr-ı Şarkî was given to Ahmed and the sanjak of Erzincan to Deli Mustafa. The chronicle ties Ahmed's epithet "Yaramaz" to his having rebelled because of the cruelties of Deli İbrahim Pasha, and says that in Sha'ban 1008, when the sanjak of Çorum was given to Abdülhalim, Ahmed became bey of Amasya. With the help of the sipahis of Amasya he defeated Abdülhalim's forces on the plain of Geldiklan and protected the city from the real villains who had emerged from among the bandits. In 1010-1011 the mirliva of Amasya was still "Yaramaz Ahmed Bey."
It should be noted that Hüsameddin interprets these revolts as a Turkish reaction against the oppression of the "non-Turks." Present-day research on the Celali revolts, by contrast, seeks the causes more in economic and social conditions, in the long wars leaving Anatolia defenceless, and in the madrasa students and sekbans being left without work. The emphasis on "non-Turks" in the entry reflects the author's own period's view.
Karayazıcı and Sokulluzâde Hasan Pasha
Karayazıcı Abdülhalim was of the Kılıçlı tribe in the Urfa region; he took this epithet (Karayazıcı, "Black Clerk") because he was a clerk of the sekbans. When he asked for quarter at Urfa, where he was besieged, he was promised the sanjak of Amasya or of Antep, and then the government appointed him sanjak governor of Çorum. On the ground that he oppressed the people in Çorum, Sokulluzâde Hasan Pasha was sent against him. The account that Karayazıcı proclaimed sovereignty is placed after his defeat of Hacı İbrahim Pasha on the plain of Kayseri on 14 Rabi' al-awwal 1009 (23 September 1600). Present-day research does not take this claim to sovereignty seriously; it thinks his real aim was to obtain a sanjak or a beylerbeyiship. Hüsameddin's information for Muharram 1008, "proclamation of sovereignty as sanjak governor of Amasya," differs in this respect. Sokulluzâde Hasan Pasha defeated Karayazıcı at the place Sepetli near Elbistan on 12 Safar 1010 (12 August 1601); Karayazıcı withdrew wounded to the Canik mountains and died there. His brother Deli Hasan withdrew to the fortress of Tokat; according to Hüsameddin, it was he who besieged and killed Serdar Hasan Pasha at Tokat in Dhu al-Hijjah 1010.
His Last Years in the Caucasus
The text gives the centre of the province of Demirkapı as Baku. During Ottoman rule (1578-1607), however, Derbend was the centre of a beylerbeyiship made up of seven sanjaks. From 1603 Shah Abbas mounted campaigns into Azerbaijan and Shirvan, and in 1607 he brought the region back under Safavid rule. The last link of this campaign is the siege of Shamakhi. In the siege that began in January 1607 and ended with the fall of the fortress at the end of June, the commander of the Ottoman garrison was "Ahmed Pasha, beylerbeyi of Shirvan." After the fall of the fortress Ahmed Pasha was taken prisoner and released, while his deputy Şemseddin Pasha was executed; in the same days Baku and Derbend also surrendered to the Iranians. It is highly probable that the Ahmed Pasha whom Hüsameddin calls "guardian of Shirvan in 1014" and says perished with his retinue around 1016 and the Ahmed Pasha who defended Shamakhi are the same person; the date and the post agree. However, these accounts do not state the identity of the commander of Shamakhi and write that he was released, not that he died. For this reason a certain identification cannot be made.
Bibliography
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