Piri Mehmed Paşa

Piri Mehmed Pasha (– 1532 Silivri) was an Ottoman statesman, and grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1518 to 1523.

Biography Early life Piri Mehmed Pasha was born in Konya, probably around 1463. He was a grandchild of Cemaleddin Manastirli, one of the professors of Zinciriye Medrese in Manastir. He was born to Sheikh Cemâl-i Halvetî, also known as the Çelebi Khalifa. His father was the sheikh of Halvetiyye in Amasya and the founder of the Cemâliyya branch of the sect. Matrilineally, he descended from Mevlana Hamazatuddin, buried in Larende (Karaman). Piri was educated in the madrasa of Amasya. He completed his studies in Constantinople. In 1491 he was employed as a clerk at the Amasya Court. Piri Mehmed Pasha, who was the guard of Istanbul, equipped the fleet to be sent to Alexandria with great care. Even more ships than the number requested by the sultan were prepared in Galata and Gallipoli. They were arranged as six cannon and five horse ships. But due to the severe winter at the beginning of 1517, this fleet left Istanbul only on March 26, 1517. Treasures and booty were loaded onto ships arriving in Alexandria, and this fleet arrived in Istanbul on July 15, 1517. All these works and efforts of Piri Mehmed Pasha were preparing him for the position of grand vizier in the eyes of Yavuz Sultan Selim.

Upon his return from the Egypt Campaign, Yavuz Sultan Selim had Yunus Pasha, who was the grand vizier, executed on September 13, 1517, with a sudden decision. Meanwhile, Piri Mehmed Pasha, who was in Istanbul, was urgently summoned to Syria. Piri Mehmed Pasha reached the camp in Damascus on January 24, 1518, and was appointed to the position of grand vizier the next day.

Grand Vizier Upon the execution of the grand vizier Yunus Pasha on his return from Egypt, Piri was brought from Istanbul to meet the sultan in Damascus and appointed as the grand vizier (January 1518). He kept his duty as grand vizier until the death of Yavuz Sultan Selim, and also served as grand vizier to Suleiman the Magnificent for nearly three years. The sultan conquered Šabac while Piri conquered the Zemun Fortress and laid siege on Belgrade.

The next year, Piri insisted that Rhodes must be taken in the council convened about the conquest of Rhodes. Piri, Çoban and Kurtoğlu participated in the divan meetings, and Piri urged the sultan to hurry to Rhodes. He then joined the siege of the city with the sultan in the Rhodes campaign. He played an important role in the capture of Rhodes, but Ahmed Pasha put pressure on the sultan, and upon his return from the expedition an investigation started against him for allegedly receiving bribery. Ibrahim Pasha then returned to Istanbul after a major administrative and financial reforms in the Egyptian province.

Death It is rumored that Piri Mehmed Pasha, who retreated to his farm in Silivri after retiring from the Grand Viziership, visited the palace very often and even had a good relationship with Suleiman. From this point of view, it is rumored that Pargalı İbrahim Pasha feared that his grand viziership would be taken back, and in 1532 he made an agreement with Mehmed Pasha's son, Mehmed Efendi, who poisoned his father.

In popular culture He was portrayed by Ayberk Atilla in the 2003 series Hürrem Sultan and by Arif Erkin Güzelbeyoğlu in the 2011 series Muhteşem Yüzyıl.