Remembering an Ottoman grand vizier who was far ahead of his times
Güncelleme Tarihi:
GÜL DEMİR and NIKI GAMM
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 04, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Grand Vizier Ali Paşa is known to have called Ahmet Vefik Paşa a 'living library' and someone who would have made a good grand vizier under Sultan Süleyman. Ahmet Vefik Paşa is remembered more for his interest and contribution to the arts than his work as a politician and sultan’s grand vizier
Friday was the birthday of one of the most influential Ottomans of the 19th century. Born July 3, 1823, Ahmet Vefik Paşa is still remembered today more for his translations of Moliere and his support for Turkish theater than for his two terms as grand vizier or his other political activities.
His grandfather was the first Muslim to be appointed as one of the imperial court’s translators Ğ usually the translators were Greek. The sultans did not trust their own people enough to employ them and so relied on Greeks, at least up until the revolt by the Greeks in the Peloponnese of mainland Greece in 1821.
After his father, Mehmet Ruhuddin, was appointed as translator for the Ottoman ambassador to France, Vefik accompanied his family abroad in 1834 when he was 11 years old. He studied French until he was 14 at Lycee Saint Louis, where he also learned Italian, Latin and Greek. But it seems that he spent as much time as he could at the theater.
So from a background of translators and foreign study at a time when only a scattering of Turks were studying in Europe, Vefik incorporated these two streams into his private life and depending on the circumstances it also affected his public life.
He returned to Istanbul to work in the Translator’s Bureau in 1837 and in 1840 he was appointed to the Ottoman Embassy in London from where he went to other European cities on various assignments.
The renowned scholar Bernard Lewis described him in "The Emergence of Modern Turkey" as leading "a distinguished career as diplomat, statesman, and scholar." Lewis pointed to Vefik’s time as ambassador in Paris, his two turns as a grand vizier and later President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Ottoman parliament of 1877. He also highlights Vefik’s literary and scholarly achievements that included the Lehce-i Osmani, the first serious attempt at a Turkish dictionary by a Turk, and his translations and his adaptations of a group of Moliere’s plays. Lewis also credits Vefik with being the first "to stress that the Turks and their language were not merely Ottoman, but were the western-most branch of a great and ancient family stretching across Asia to the Pacific."
Ambassador to Tehran
In 1855 Vefik was appointed ambassador to Tehran giving him an opportunity to learn Persian and about the Persian culture. While there he noticed that the custom of hoisting the flag on official holidays was not followed. The Ottoman Embassy in Tehran didn’t do it and reciprocally the Persian Embassy in Istanbul didn’t either. So despite objections, he raised the flag and essentially declared that the land on which the embassy stood belonged to the Ottoman Empire in keeping with Western practices. Eventually the Persian Embassy in Istanbul did the same.
Vefik didn’t get along with the grand vizier of the time, Ali Paşa, and he was recalled. Still Ali Paşa described Vefik as someone who was a living library and someone who would have made a good grand vizier under Sultan Süleyman.
In 1861, he was sent as ambassador to Paris where several unusual events occurred, some of which were due to his behavior. Writer Sevim Guray attributes this to his strange temperament, fearlessness and deep sense of national honor. Vefik had a carriage made and painted white, the same color as the carriage used by the French Emperor Napoleon III. This caused confusion among Parisians who would think it was the emperor coming whenever he used his carriage. When a complaint was launched, Vefik pointed out that the French ambassador in Istanbul had a caique (a wooden fishing vessel) made for himself that resembled the Ottoman sultan’s caique. The French ambassador backed down and Vefik had his carriage painted black and the incident was resolved.
Later he served as an inspector in Anatolia but proved to be so good at rooting out corruption that he once again courted complaints. It seems that the people of İzmit were so outraged by Vefik and wrote so many petitions to have him removed that they ran out of paper and had to have more brought in from Istanbul.
During the times the grand vizier supported him, he was employed in important duties by the state; however, when the grand vizier did not, he spent his free time writing and translating or adapting French works for the stage, such as Moliere’s plays.
Over time Vefik was considered to become very autocratic both in public and in his private life. He was given to telling deputies when they were speaking in parliament to shut up and stop speaking nonsense, even going so far as to shout at one of them: "Shut up, you ass!" The following year he was granted the title of "paşa."
And then he was appointed governor of Bursa in 1879. His work there was very successful in terms of development and the theater. He built a theater there that today still bears his name. It gave him a chance to try out the six Moliere plays that he adapted as well as the 10 plays that he translated. Vefik’s passion for the theater was extraordinary. He was also deeply committed to teaching theater etiquette, including telling people not to spit, and when to clap or when to rise to their feet and continue clapping, and other means of conduct. Yet his enthusiasm eventually got him into trouble. Three years later Vefik Paşa was removed from office and appointed Grand Vizier again.
He lasted only three days before being dismissed, just about the amount of time it would have taken for the people of Bursa to get their complaints against him to Istanbul for review. Many of these complaints involved how he used his position as governor to promote his theater even to the point of using some of the governor’s offices to help sell tickets. He never took up another official government position again. He spent the last nine years of his life in Rumeli Hisari in his home high on the top of Rumeli Hisari with its wood paneling, books and garden overlooking the Bosphorus. Also left in memory to him was his library that for many years was located across the street from Emirgan’s famous old tree and tea garden.
When Vefik died, Sultan Abdulhamid II pronounced that he should be buried in the Kayalar Cemetery so that he would continue to hear the bells of Robert College for eternity. The paşa himself had specified that there be no funeral procession and that he not be buried in a mausoleum and since Kayalar Cemetery was the closest to his home, it was there that he wanted to be buried. Actually his illustrious grandfather was also buried at Kayalar although his father was buried in Eyüp.
There was more of a connection with Robert College because it seems that Vefik owned the land that the representatives of American interests wanted to purchase to build a "Christian school." At first he refused but later when he had some financial problems, he agreed to the sale. In addition Vefik was the minister of education at the time and could bring his influence to bear on the situation.
His grandfather was the first Muslim to be appointed as one of the imperial court’s translators Ğ usually the translators were Greek. The sultans did not trust their own people enough to employ them and so relied on Greeks, at least up until the revolt by the Greeks in the Peloponnese of mainland Greece in 1821.
After his father, Mehmet Ruhuddin, was appointed as translator for the Ottoman ambassador to France, Vefik accompanied his family abroad in 1834 when he was 11 years old. He studied French until he was 14 at Lycee Saint Louis, where he also learned Italian, Latin and Greek. But it seems that he spent as much time as he could at the theater.
So from a background of translators and foreign study at a time when only a scattering of Turks were studying in Europe, Vefik incorporated these two streams into his private life and depending on the circumstances it also affected his public life.
He returned to Istanbul to work in the Translator’s Bureau in 1837 and in 1840 he was appointed to the Ottoman Embassy in London from where he went to other European cities on various assignments.
The renowned scholar Bernard Lewis described him in "The Emergence of Modern Turkey" as leading "a distinguished career as diplomat, statesman, and scholar." Lewis pointed to Vefik’s time as ambassador in Paris, his two turns as a grand vizier and later President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Ottoman parliament of 1877. He also highlights Vefik’s literary and scholarly achievements that included the Lehce-i Osmani, the first serious attempt at a Turkish dictionary by a Turk, and his translations and his adaptations of a group of Moliere’s plays. Lewis also credits Vefik with being the first "to stress that the Turks and their language were not merely Ottoman, but were the western-most branch of a great and ancient family stretching across Asia to the Pacific."
Ambassador to Tehran
In 1855 Vefik was appointed ambassador to Tehran giving him an opportunity to learn Persian and about the Persian culture. While there he noticed that the custom of hoisting the flag on official holidays was not followed. The Ottoman Embassy in Tehran didn’t do it and reciprocally the Persian Embassy in Istanbul didn’t either. So despite objections, he raised the flag and essentially declared that the land on which the embassy stood belonged to the Ottoman Empire in keeping with Western practices. Eventually the Persian Embassy in Istanbul did the same.
Vefik didn’t get along with the grand vizier of the time, Ali Paşa, and he was recalled. Still Ali Paşa described Vefik as someone who was a living library and someone who would have made a good grand vizier under Sultan Süleyman.
In 1861, he was sent as ambassador to Paris where several unusual events occurred, some of which were due to his behavior. Writer Sevim Guray attributes this to his strange temperament, fearlessness and deep sense of national honor. Vefik had a carriage made and painted white, the same color as the carriage used by the French Emperor Napoleon III. This caused confusion among Parisians who would think it was the emperor coming whenever he used his carriage. When a complaint was launched, Vefik pointed out that the French ambassador in Istanbul had a caique (a wooden fishing vessel) made for himself that resembled the Ottoman sultan’s caique. The French ambassador backed down and Vefik had his carriage painted black and the incident was resolved.
Later he served as an inspector in Anatolia but proved to be so good at rooting out corruption that he once again courted complaints. It seems that the people of İzmit were so outraged by Vefik and wrote so many petitions to have him removed that they ran out of paper and had to have more brought in from Istanbul.
During the times the grand vizier supported him, he was employed in important duties by the state; however, when the grand vizier did not, he spent his free time writing and translating or adapting French works for the stage, such as Moliere’s plays.
Over time Vefik was considered to become very autocratic both in public and in his private life. He was given to telling deputies when they were speaking in parliament to shut up and stop speaking nonsense, even going so far as to shout at one of them: "Shut up, you ass!" The following year he was granted the title of "paşa."
And then he was appointed governor of Bursa in 1879. His work there was very successful in terms of development and the theater. He built a theater there that today still bears his name. It gave him a chance to try out the six Moliere plays that he adapted as well as the 10 plays that he translated. Vefik’s passion for the theater was extraordinary. He was also deeply committed to teaching theater etiquette, including telling people not to spit, and when to clap or when to rise to their feet and continue clapping, and other means of conduct. Yet his enthusiasm eventually got him into trouble. Three years later Vefik Paşa was removed from office and appointed Grand Vizier again.
He lasted only three days before being dismissed, just about the amount of time it would have taken for the people of Bursa to get their complaints against him to Istanbul for review. Many of these complaints involved how he used his position as governor to promote his theater even to the point of using some of the governor’s offices to help sell tickets. He never took up another official government position again. He spent the last nine years of his life in Rumeli Hisari in his home high on the top of Rumeli Hisari with its wood paneling, books and garden overlooking the Bosphorus. Also left in memory to him was his library that for many years was located across the street from Emirgan’s famous old tree and tea garden.
When Vefik died, Sultan Abdulhamid II pronounced that he should be buried in the Kayalar Cemetery so that he would continue to hear the bells of Robert College for eternity. The paşa himself had specified that there be no funeral procession and that he not be buried in a mausoleum and since Kayalar Cemetery was the closest to his home, it was there that he wanted to be buried. Actually his illustrious grandfather was also buried at Kayalar although his father was buried in Eyüp.
There was more of a connection with Robert College because it seems that Vefik owned the land that the representatives of American interests wanted to purchase to build a "Christian school." At first he refused but later when he had some financial problems, he agreed to the sale. In addition Vefik was the minister of education at the time and could bring his influence to bear on the situation.