Accused of treason against the state and killed in 1145 (1732), Ârifî Ahmed Pasha was an eighteenth-century statesman who rose from the scribal service to the post of reisülküttâb (chief of the scribes), then to the rank of vizier, and served as commander (serasker) at Revan in the Iranian campaigns. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar records him as the son of a family that Sultan Murad IV brought from Gence to Amasya on his way back from the Revan campaign, and calls him "âlim, şâir, inşâ ve kitâbette mahâreti müsellem" (learned, a poet, of acknowledged mastery in prose composition and secretarial writing). One couplet of his has come down to us; it is given on a separate page in this category. Since some sources make the pasha a man of Istanbul, his connection with Amasya rests on Hüsameddin alone.

Hüsameddin's Record

Several people of Amasya who bore the pen name Ârifî stand side by side in the "ayn" section of the eleventh volume, and the pasha's entry is among them. The full text is on this site as Ârifî Ahmed Paşa-Gencelizâde; in the version below the parts listing his provincial appointments have been shortened:

Dördüncü Sultân Murad'ın Revân Harbi'nden avdetinde Gence'den beraber Amasya'ya gelen ve Sultân Bâyezîd imâreti şeyhi olup 1058'de vefât eden Genceli Veli Bey'in birâderi Behram Beyzâde Ali Ağa'nın oğludur. Amasya'da müfessir Hızır Efendi'nin tilmîz ve dâmâdı fuzalâdan Hacı Osmân Feyzi Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl ve Fazlızâde Mustafa Efendi'den temeşşuk edib Amasya Evkâf-ı Sultânîyye kâtibi olmuştu. Bu esnâda Samsun-Amasya yolunu kesen Gavur Murad sergerdeliğinde toplanan eşkiyâyı tenkîl etmeye me'mûr olarak 1106'da Çakırcıbaşı Topal Yûsuf Ağa İstanbul'dan Amasya'ya gelmişti. Bunun hat ü kitâbeti ilm ü kiyâseti senâ edildiğinden maiyyetine kâtib aldı. Yûsuf Ağa, Rumeli pâyesiyle Anadolu müfetdişi oldukda mühürdârı ve 1109'da müşârün-ileyhin vezâretinde divân kâtibi ve bunun vesâtatıyla sâdâret mektûbî kalemine çerağ oldu. Burada tefeyyüz ederek hulefâdan olup 1122 senesi rebîülâhirinde Köprülüzâde Nu'man Paşa'nın sadâretinde mektûbçu ve Osmancıklı Baltacı Mehmed Paşa'nın sadâretinde 1123 senesi saferinde reîsülküttâb olarak temâyüz etdi. [...] 1129 senesi recebinde Ordu-yı Hümâyûn'da bulunan Reîsülküttâb Kadri Efendi'ye rikâb-ı hümâyûnda vekil ve Ramazân Kadri Efendi'nin azliyle asâleten Reîsülküttâb olup Ordu-yı Hümâyûn'a gönderildi. 1130 senesi ramazanının ikinci günü rütbe-i vezâretle Teke Sancağı mutasarrıfı ve Tuna havâlîsinin kat'-ı hudûduna me'mûr oldu. [...] 1143 rebîülevvelinde Erzurum vâlisi oldu. Ancak Gence ve havâlîsi halkına karşı müsâmahakârâne hareket ve Ordu-yı Hümâyûn'un idâresinde uygunsuz hâlâta cesâret etmesi yüzünden 1144'de azledilip Halep'de Taşlıbakır'da ikâmete me'mûr oldu. 1145 senesi muharreminde kendisine medâr-ı maîşet olmak üzere Teke Sancağı mutasarrıflığı verilmişdi. Ancak orduda yapılan tahkîkâtda ba'zı yolsuz harekâtı ordunun inhizâmına bâis olduğu arz edilmiş olmakla sene-i mezbûrenin cumâdelûlâsında i'dâm edildi. Âlim, şâir, inşâ ve kitâbette mahâreti müsellem, muktedir olmakla beraber hadîd ve müteazzım idi. Mahdûmları Ali, Behram beyler 1152'de Amasya'da görüldü. Divân kâtibi ve dâmâdı Süleyman Efendi ricâldendir. Amasya'da "Gencelioğulları" ma'rûfdur.

In English: He was the son of Behram Beyzâde Ali Ağa, brother of Veli Bey of Gence, who came with Murad IV from Gence to Amasya on the sultan's return from the Revan campaign, became sheikh of the soup kitchen (imaret) of Sultan Bayezid and died in 1058. In Amasya he completed his studies under the scholar Hacı Osman Feyzi Efendi, pupil and son-in-law of the Qur'an commentator Hızır Efendi, learned calligraphy from Fazlızâde Mustafa Efendi, and became secretary of the sultanic endowments of Amasya. At this time, in 1106, the head falconer (çakırcıbaşı) Topal Yusuf Ağa had come from Istanbul to Amasya, charged with suppressing the brigands gathered under the leadership of Gavur Murad who were cutting the Samsun-Amasya road. Because Ahmed's handwriting, secretarial skill, learning and intelligence were praised, he took him into his retinue as secretary. When Yusuf Ağa became inspector of Anatolia with the rank of Rumelia, Ahmed became his seal-bearer (mühürdar); in 1109, during Yusuf's vizierate, his divan secretary; and through him he entered the correspondence office of the grand vizierate. Trained there, he joined the senior clerks (hulefâ); in Rebiülâhir 1122 he became chief of correspondence (mektupçu) in the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Numan Pasha, and in Safer 1123, in the grand vizierate of Baltacı Mehmed Pasha of Osmancık, he distinguished himself as reisülküttâb. [...] In Receb 1129 he became deputy, at the sultan's side, of the Reisülküttâb Kadri Efendi, who was with the imperial army, and in Ramazan, on Kadri Efendi's dismissal, he became reisülküttâb in his own right and was sent to the army. On the second day of Ramazan 1130 he became governor of the sanjak of Teke with the rank of vizier and was charged with fixing the frontier along the Danube. [...] In Rebiülevvel 1143 he became governor of Erzurum. But because he acted leniently towards the people of Gence and its region and dared improper things in the management of the imperial army, he was dismissed in 1144 and ordered to reside at Taşlıbakır near Aleppo. In Muharrem 1145 he had been given the governorship of the sanjak of Teke as a means of livelihood. But as it was reported in the investigation made in the army that some of his irregular actions had caused the army's defeat, he was executed in Cemaziyelevvel of that year. He was learned and a poet, of acknowledged mastery and capable in prose and secretarial writing, but sharp-tempered and haughty. His sons Ali and Behram Beys were seen in Amasya in 1152. His divan secretary and son-in-law Süleyman Efendi was among the men of state. In Amasya they are known as the "Gencelioğulları".

Life

According to Hüsameddin, Ârifî Ahmed's road opens in Amasya. His family had come from Gence; his uncle Veli Bey of Gence came to Amasya with Murad IV on the sultan's return from the Revan campaign and died in 1058 (1648) as sheikh of the soup kitchen of Sultan Bayezid. Ahmed studied in Amasya, learned calligraphy from Fazlızâde Mustafa Efendi and became secretary of the sultanic endowments. The event that changed his career was his meeting with the head falconer Topal Yusuf Ağa, who came to Amasya in 1106 (1694-95) to deal with the brigands on the Samsun-Amasya road. Yusuf Ağa took him on as secretary and, as he himself rose, carried Ahmed with him to the posts of seal-bearer and divan secretary, and at last placed him in the correspondence office of the grand vizierate.

Abdullah Zararsız's archival study, published in Belleten in 2025, gives the pasha's career in Istanbul in greater detail. According to this study Ârifî Ahmed began as seal-bearer and divan secretary of Topal Yusuf Pasha, became tezkire-i evvel (first memorandum clerk) before October 1711, mukataacı (head of a tax-farm bureau) at the end of 1711 and then cavalry mukabeleci (registrar), and on 23 July 1716 chief of correspondence of the grand vizierate; on 7 September 1717 he became reisülküttâb. Because of his success in the negotiations before the Treaty of Passarowitz he was given the rank of vizier with the sanjak of Niğbolu on 2 August 1718 and charged with fixing the Ottoman-Habsburg frontier along the Danube. In the following years he governed Karaman, Adana, Aleppo and Diyarbekir; in the Iranian campaigns that began in 1723 he was first warden of Tiflis and then serasker of Revan, and in 1724 he took part in the capture of Revan.

On his death the two sources agree in outline. According to Zararsız, the pasha was accused of stirring up discord during his command in order to keep his predecessor İbrâhim Pasha from winning fame, and after his dismissal of corresponding with the Shah of Iran; his abuses as warden of Van were also the subject of complaints. His vizierate was revoked, he lived for a time as a fugitive, and then, under the appearance of a pardon, was sent to the sanjak of Teke as an arpalık (a post granted for its revenue) on 30 January 1732 and killed in Teke in September or October of the same year; his head was brought to Istanbul. The date given by Hüsameddin, Cemaziyelevvel 1145, falls in October-November 1732. In Müstakîmzâde's Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn the date 1145 is recorded for his death in the chronogram "Şehâdetü'l-Ârif Ahmed" (the martyrdom of Ârif Ahmed).

Contradictions in the Sources

Hüsameddin and the other sources part company most over the pasha's origin. As Zararsız reports, Ahmed Resmî Efendi and the Foreign Ministry yearbook (salname) of 1302 call him a native of Istanbul, while the Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn writes that he was "diyâr-ı şarktan bedîd", that is, he came from the lands of the east. From these Zararsız concludes that the family came to Istanbul from eastern Anatolia and that Ahmed grew up in Istanbul. Hüsameddin's account, on the other hand, says that the family came from Gence to Amasya and that Ahmed studied in Amasya and received his first post there. The "east" of the Tuhfe fits a Gence origin; the years of youth spent in Amasya are told by Hüsameddin alone.

Some of Hüsameddin's career dates also fail to agree with the archival documents. Hüsameddin puts the first reisülküttâb appointment in Safer 1123 (March 1711) and says that Ahmed was dismissed with the fall of Baltacı Mehmed Pasha; in Zararsız's documents, however, Ahmed was tezkire-i evvel and mukataacı in these years and came to the post of reisülküttâb in 1717. Hüsameddin's record of his appointment as reisülküttâb in his own right in 1129 agrees with this date. The names of the children also differ: Hüsameddin names Ali and Behram Beys as his sons; in the list Zararsız draws from the inventories of his estate his sons are Feyzullah, Behram and Hüsrev. Bursalı Mehmed Tâhir's Osmanlı Müellifleri states that the pasha was killed in Teke but gives the year of his death as 1115; this date contradicts all the other sources.

Works and Poetry

According to the information collected by Zararsız, Ârifî Ahmed Pasha wrote a commentary entitled el-Maʿârifü'l-Feyziyye on el-Muğnî fi'n-nahv, Ahmed Çarperdî's book of Arabic grammar, and an Arabic commentary on the Fatiha sura entitled Tefsîru Sûreti'l-Fâtiha; a commentary he began on Imam Birgivî's Muʿaddilü's-salât remained unfinished because of his death. According to the Osmanlı Müellifleri he had a small divan (divançe); the fate of this work is unknown.

Hüsameddin counts him as a poet and stresses his mastery of prose and secretarial writing. Of his poems only one couplet is in our hands today, quoted by the Osmanlı Müellifleri and republished by Zararsız: "Etmez tarîk-i Hakk'da olan halka ser-fürû / Eğmez minâre kâmetini bâd eserse de." This couplet, which says that one who is on God's path does not bow his head to the people, just as the minaret does not bend its stature though the wind may blow, is given with its original text, an English prose version and commentary on the page Couplet 1 — Etmez tarîk-i Hakk'da olan halka ser-fürû in this category.

Chronology

1058 (1648): His uncle Veli Bey of Gence dies in Amasya as sheikh of the soup kitchen of Sultan Bayezid (Hüsameddin).

1106 (1694-95): Topal Yusuf Ağa comes to Amasya and takes Ahmed into his service as secretary (Hüsameddin).

7 September 1717: He becomes reisülküttâb (Zararsız).

2 August 1718: He is given the sanjak of Niğbolu with the rank of vizier (Zararsız).

1724: As serasker of Revan he takes part in the capture of the fortress.

30 January 1732: The sanjak of Teke is granted to him as arpalık.

Cemaziyelevvel 1145 (October-November 1732): He is killed in Teke.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Abdullah Zararsız, "18. Yüzyılda Vezaretten İhanete Bir Osmanlı Devlet Adamı: Arifî Ahmed Paşa'nın Hayatı ve Muhallefatı", Belleten, 89(316), 2025, pp. 993-1040. https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin/3807/tur

Books

  • Bursalı Mehmed Tâhir, Osmanlı Müellifleri, vol. II, ed. M. A. Yekta Saraç, Ankara: TÜBA, 2016, p. 741 (as quoted by Zararsız).

Online sources