Serčesma

Harap Ali Agha ( 1813–15), known as Serčesma, was an Ottoman cavalry commander and bodyguard (delibaşı) and kethüda (deputy) of Grand Vizier Hurshid Pasha. He was active in the Sanjak of Smederevo (known as the "Belgrade Pashalik") in the period of the end of the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13), Hadži-Prodan's rebellion and Second Serbian Uprising (1815), fighting the Serbian rebels.

Life According to contemporary Sarajlija (1791–1847), Ali was an Arab. He was an Ottoman cavalry commander and bodyguard (delibaşı) and kethüda (deputy) of Grand Vizier Hurshid Pasha.

After the suppression of the First Serbian Uprising, Grand Vizier Hurshid Pasha sent his commander Serčesma to the still rebellious parts of Serbia with a large army to meet up with knez Aksentije Miladinović and knez Avram Lukić, and together return the Serbs under Ottoman suzerainty and ensure them of their rights. Serčesma went to the Rudnik and Čačak nahiyas where he knew vojvoda Miloš Obrenović held out. On his way, he held speeches to Serbs promising that the sultan had forgiven them, and he was guested nicely wherever he went. Miloš Obrenović surrendered his weapons at the Takovo church to Serčesma, who returned all but his sabre (to give to Hurshid as a token), as a sign of trust in him and his rule over his people in the area. Upon Miloš's surrender, Lazar Mutap, Arsenije Loma, Milić Drinčić and Hadži-Prodan followed suit.

Serčesma appointed Latif Agha from Slišane the mutesellim (mayor) of Čačak, and Ašin-beg the mutesellim of Brusnica. Miloš befriended Ašin-beg. After completing his tasks, Serčesma took Miloš with him to Belgrade before Hurshid Pasha, who recognized him as governor of the Rudnik nahiya. Shortly after this, Hurshid left the Belgrade Pashalik and appointed his kethüda Darendeli Ali Pasha as Vizier. Darendeli promoted Miloš to governor of the Kragujevac and Požega nahiyas, as well. Darendeli was soon replaced with Sulejman Pasha Skopljak, who didn't follow Hurshid's and Darendeli's acceptable holding towards Serbs, but instead disarmed and extorted them and sent the army into Serb areas to be fed, an administration in the likes of the Dahije. The Ottoman army brought plague into Serbia, and this, together with instances of murder, resulted in Hadži Prodan's rebellion.

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