Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Paşa

Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha (, "Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha the Nephew"; in ) (1644–1702) of the Köprülü family, was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Mustafa II from September 1697 until September 1702. Amcazade Koprulu Huseyin Pasha was close to ordinary Ottoman Muslim subjects being a member of the Mevlevi Order. He was known to be concerned with the needs of the common people as well as those of the military and bureaucratic classes.

Earlier years Amcazade Huseyin was born in 1644 and was the son of Hasan Ağa Kypriljoti, the brother of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and for this reason he has the cognonom of "amcazade (nephew)". There is little information about his youth and education. His father had agricultural estates at the Turkish village of "Kozluca" in present-day Bulgaria and young Hüseyin spent his youth there. He must have had a good Ottoman classical scribal or military education, since his first mention was as a staff officer. He participated at the campaign for Siege of Vienna in 1683, as a high staff officer in the Ottoman army commanded by the Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, who was his close relative. After the defeat of Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna and retreat to Belgrade, Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa was executed and Amcazade Huseyin was arrested because of his close relationship to the executed commander.

In 1684 he was released from prison, but was sent away from the seat of power as an administrator of provinces with a rank of beylerbey. First he was appointed as guard-governor of Cardak near Gallipoli at the Dardanelles Straits; then he was given the rank of vizier and given a similar but more prestigious job at Seddulbahir. In 1691 for a time he was appointed as the temporary governor (kaimakam of Istanbul and returned to his main job on Dardanelles. On 1694 he was appointed the Kapudan Pasha (Ottoman admiral-in-chief) and was instrumental -with the help of Mezzo Morto Huseyin Pasha- in retaking of Chios from the Venetians in 1695. For this success he was appointed the governor of Chios. In 1696 he was again appointed as the temporary governor of Istanbul but soon was sent to the post of governorship of Belgrade. In August 1697 the Ottoman army under the command of Sultan Mustafa II was on the campaign against the Austrians and came to Belgrade. In a War Council planning on what to do next, Amcazade Huseyin Pasha proposed that the Ottoman army should go and put the fortress of Varaždin under siege. However, others argued that it should go towards Temesvar; their proposal was accepted and the Ottoman army was surprised and routed at the Battle of Zenta.

His daughter married Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha, who was the grand vizier for a short time in 1703.

Years as Grand Vizier Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha was appointed the Grand Vizier on 17 September 1697 just after the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Zenta on 11 September 1697. He was given a promise by the Sultan that he would be free agent in his government of the Empire with no interference by the Sultan. It was hoped that during the negotiations for peace to take place at Karlowitz, he could use family ability to get best possible terms for the ending of the long war against the Holy League of 1684, a coalition of European powers including the Habsburg monarchy, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Republic of Venice and Peter I of Russia. After long months of negotiations the Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699. The Ottomans ceded to the Habsburg Monarchy, all of the Ottoman province of Hungary including Transylvania which was conquered after 1526; Podolia was returned to Poland and most of Dalmatia and Morea (the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece) were passed to Venice. With the heavy loss of elite soldiers at the Battle of Zenta and the large territories ceded away, it became obvious that Ottoman military system, the financial system and bureaucratic systems sustaining the military and the state had to be reformed. This task fell mainly on the shoulders of the Grand Vizier Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha.

Amcazade Huseyin started with economic and financial reforms. The excise duties on tobacco and coffee, which had quadrupled during the war to provide finance for military effort, were substantially reduced and so too the duties on essential consumer goods, for example soap and cooking oil. During the war special imposition taxes were created and those who could not pay these extraordinary tax impositions were heavily fined. Amcazade Huseyin abolished these extraordinary tax impositions and issued a tax amnesty on those who were not able to pay and who were required to pay heavy fines. The rates of traditional taxes were adjusted down so that they matched the ability to pay. Debased coins struck during the war were replaced by coins of full value. New cultivators, from nomadic Turcomans, were induced to settle in places like Urfa, Malatya, Antalya and Cyprus where the numbers of agricultural peasants had decreased to very low levels. Efforts were made to develop a new manufacturing base, in place of devastated Ottoman craft industries and replacing imports from Europe.