59
“Ahmet Vefik Pasha”
of Bursa
Ahmet Vefik Pasha was born in
1823 in Istanbul. Ahmet Vefik
Pasha went to Paris with his
father who was working as a
translator like his grandfather
where he had the chance to be
educated at Saint Louis High
School which was one of the
most prestigious schools of
the region at the time. He not
only learned to speak French
like a native Frenchman, but he
also learned Latin and Greek
as a result of his interest in old
languages. He was appointed
as a clerk to the Office of
Translations when he returned
to Istanbul in 1837. He had
followed the footsteps of his
grandfather and father thus
becoming a government clerk.
Starting from the year 1842,
he started working at different
countries and cities. Moldavia
and Wallachia, Izmir, Serbia,
Hungary… He was appointed
for a time as the supervisor of
the passport administration. He
got promoted over time thanks
to his success and worked at
different tasks. He worked as
the Chief Translator, Tehran
Ambassador and congressman.
In 1863, he was appointed to the
council established to inspect
the corruption cases in Rumelia
and Anatolia as the Anatolia
Henchman Inspector. Bursa
was within his jurisdiction and
the city had underwent a severe
earthquake at the time.(1855)
Ahmet Vefik Pasha selected this
city as the headquarters upon
seeing the damage inflicted and
took on the task of repairing
this damage and reliving the
city of its wounds. When he
uncovered corruption cases in
public housing works during
this period, he was reported to
higher executives by people who
felt uncomfortable thus being
suspended from his duties.
Ahmet Vefik Pasha took refuge
at his mansion in Rumelihisarı
during this period that lasted 6
years… Of course, he could not
remain idle and thus started to
work on ideas and projects that
had been waiting for their time
for a long while at the back of his
mind. It was during this period
that he wrote “Fezleke-i Tarih-i
Osmani” that was taught at
Feraizcizade Mehmet Şakir(1852-1911)
