Hüseyin Pasha

Hüseyin Pasha (died February 1600) was a leader of Celali rebellions and a former Beylerbey of Abyssinia in Ottoman Empire in 16th century.

Career Although Venetian sources portray him as ethnic Albanian, he is also known with the epithet The Bosnian . However, Turkish author Hüseyin Hüsameddin Yasar proposed an alternative Turkish origin from Amasya. According to him, he was a son of Budak bey, a descendant of Shadgeldi and participated in Ottoman conquest of Shirvan. He served as third Beylerbey of Abyssinia from 16 January 1568 to 3 December 1570. His tenure in Ethiophia was uneventful.

After serving as the beylerbeyi, according to Venetian sources, he served under Koca Sinan Pasha in court. he was appointed as the mîrlivâ (district governor) of Amasya in October 1590, but as he was also in charge of the defense of Erzurum, he appointed Zülfikâr Ağa to serve as the mütesellim (deputy governor) of Amasya. He soon was invested with title of inspector of Anatolia (Karaman) and set off for inspections of fiefs, tours of the region. He informed the sultan about Mahmud Pasha's negligence. Nonetheless, Mahmud Pasha's clients persuaded the sultan that Hüseyin Pasha was the true exploiter, resulting in his dismissal in May 1599. Subsequently, Hüseyin Pasha was incarcerated in the Amasya dungeon in 1599 alongside his deputy Zülfikâr Ağa, and after a duration of four months, he successfully escaped and returned to Karaman.

Rebellion According to the Venetian consul in Aleppo, Hüseyin Pasha's imprisonment was due to the substantial sum of money he transported from Abyssinia. The consul stated that Ottoman authorities sought to seize pasha's assets and, consequently, attributed responsibility to him. According to Levent Kaya Ocakaçan, while it is reasonable to acknowledge this regarding Hüseyin Pasha's imprisonment, a conflict of interest also existed between Mahmud Pasha and Hüseyin Pasha's household. Upon his initial arrival in Karaman, Hüseyin Pasha impaled two kapıcıbaşı and executed a çavuş, attributing their actions to mistreatment of the reaya. Consequently, his return to Karaman incited turmoil among Mahmud Pasha's clients. After paying large sum of bribe, he was reappointed to the post of inspector.

However, soon enough he rebelled against Ottoman authority. The sipahis attributed Hüseyin Paşa’s insurrection to conflict with Gazanfer Agha, Venetian-born Ottoman kapıağası, who had sold a district to him and subsequently appointed another governor-general to the region before Hüseyin Pasha could gather the revenues on his investment in the tax farm. The situation remained difficult until September, and Mehmed's army's weak state prevented him from leaving Istanbul. They realized Anatolia's instability made marching impossible. Meanwhile Karayazıcı marched from Diyarbakır to Antep, while Hüseyin Pasha retreated to Kars. In order to prevent both rebels from uniting, he requested that Karayazıcı be appointed governor of Samsun in a letter to the sultan. Karayazıcı declined the pasha's offer after learning about his plans from Istanbul clientele. Hüseyin Pasha and Karayazıcı united their forces and conquered Urfa Castle. After arriving in Urfa, Mehmed Paşa besieged the city and waited for reinforcements from Aleppo. Meanwhile, another rebel, Gâvur Murad, arrived at Erzurum with 4,000 soldiers and in order to incite Shah Abbas to invade.

After his demise, his brother Aliç Bey and his deputy Zülfikâr Ağa joined Celalis, with Zülfikar Ağa seizing Amasya. News about his rebellion in Europe was published by Bernardino Beccari.