Halil Rifat Pasha

Halil Rifat Pasha (Modern Turkish: Halil Rıfat Paşa; 1820 –9 November 1901) was an Ottoman parliamentarian and statesman during the First Constitutional Era. He furthermore served as the Grand Vizier for six years between 1895 until his death in 1901, during the late Abdul Hamid II era.

Education He was born in Serres (Serez) and received education in an Islamic type parish school in Selanik (Thessaloniki), then continued to Mekteb-i Mülkiye in Constantinople.

Life and career After his education years, he started to work as a mailing clerk in Vidin, then worked as secretary in the office of the Governor of Salonika. He advanced by degrees and was appointed to higher official positions by passage of time, including at Rustchuk. In 1882 he was appointed as mutasarrıf of Vidin, then in 1886 he was appointed as governor of Sivas, where he started a road-building programme. He was subsequently appointed governor of Aidin (1889) and later of Monastir, where he fought brigandage units which was rife in the province. He was appointed as minister of internal affairs in 1893. Then he was appointed as grand vizier in November 1895. The most important events in his era as grand vizier were the riots of Sason (in 1895) and in Crete (in 1897), as well as the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 which ended with Ottoman victory.

Trivia His motto in the road building campaign was "Any place where you can't go is not yours"

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