Mehmet Şakir Paşa

Kabaağaçlızade Mehmed Şakir Pasha (; 1855 – July 28, 1914) was an Ottoman Turk soldier, historian, diplomat, and educator. He served as the Ottoman Empire's Ambassador to Athens from 1893 to 1895, and briefly as the Governor of Crete from 1889 to 1890. He was the brother of Grand Vizier Ahmed Cevad Pasha and the father of the prominent writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı.

Early life and education His mother, Zehra Hanım, was the daughter of Hüseyin Bey from the notable Hattatzâde family of Syria. His father was Kabaağaçlızâde Miralay Mustafa Asım Bey, a member of a Turkmen tribe from Elmalı, Antalya. The family took the surname "Kabaağaçlı" from the Kabaağaç region in Afyonkarahisar where they had settled. His father married Zehra Hanım in Damascus where he had been stationed. Şakir Pasha's elder siblings Sare and Ahmed Cevad were born in Damascus. When Asım Bey became ill in 1853, he moved to Afyon for the climate, recovered, and was appointed principal of a newly opened secondary school in Bursa, where Mehmed Şakir was born in 1855.

The family moved to Istanbul in 1861 when Asım Bey was appointed to the Council of State's military branch. Both parents died in 1862, leaving the children orphaned: Sare was 13, Ahmed Cevad 12, and Mehmed Şakir just 7. They were taken in by Atıfzade Hüsameddin Efendi, then the Rumelian Kazasker and later Şeyhülislam.

Following his father and brother, Şakir Pasha pursued a military career. After completing secondary education, he attended military high school, then Ottoman Military Academy and Ottoman Military College, graduating as a staff captain in 1878.

Career Şakir Pasha entered military service in 1880 as a staff captain. In 1889, he served briefly as aide-de-camp to his brother Ahmed Cevad Pasha, then governor of Crete. He was later assigned as military attaché to Cetinje and Rome, and served as commander in Resmo, Crete. In 1890, he was appointed governor of Crete, and between 1893 and 1895 he served as Ottoman ambassador to Greece, holding private meetings with King George I of Greece and other senior officials. He was awarded a state medal by the king. Together, they had six children: Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (b. 1890), Hakkiye Koral (b. 1893), Ayşe Erner (b. 1895), Suat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (b. 1899), Fahrünnisa Zeid (b. 1901), and Aliye Berger (b. 1903). His oldest daughter Hakkiye married to General Mehmet Emin Koral, and from this union, the ceramic artist Füreya Koral was born. His second daughter, Ayşe, married Ahmed Fâik Erner, Governor of Sivas, and from this marriage their grandson, the diplomat Erdem Erner, was born. His third daughter, Fahrünnisa Zeid, first married Turkish poet İzzet Melih Devrim and later divorced. From this marriage, Nejad Melih Devrim and Şirin Devrim were born. After his body was brought to Istanbul, he was buried in the Muslim Cemetery on Büyükada.

Cevat Şakir was sentenced to 14 years in prison for patricide. Following the loss of power by the Committee of Union and Progress, the government led by Damat Ferid Pasha declared a general amnesty; however, since his sentence had not yet been finalized, Cevat Şakir could not be released. While suffering from health problems in prison, Cevat Şakir wrote a petition to Ferid Pasha asking for his own pardon. After a lengthy bureaucratic process, Sultan Vahdettin ordered his release.