Name Ahmed Pasha | Role Statesman | |
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Died April 2, 1891, Istanbul, Turkey Similar People Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Sami Frasheri, Ziya Pasha, Abdulhak Hamid Tarhan, Nabizade Nazim | ||
Ahmed Vefik Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: احمد وفیق پاشا ) (3 July 1823, Constantinople – 2 April 1891, Constantinople), was an Ottoman statesman, diplomat, playwright, and translator of the Tanzimat and First Constitutional periods. He was commissioned with top-rank governmental duties, including presiding over the first Ottoman parliament in 1877. He also served as Grand Vizier for two brief periods. Vefik also established the first Ottoman theatre and initiated the first Western style theatre plays in Bursa and translated Molière's major works.
Biography
Ahmed Vefik Pasha was born of Greek extraction, his ancestors having previously converted to Islam, like many other Greek Muslims particularly from Crete (Cretan Turks) and the regions of Epirus and Greek Macedonia in northwestern Greece (see Vallahades). He started his education in 1831 in Constantinople and later went to Paris with his family, where he graduated from Saint Louis College.
Ahmed Vefik Pasha was a pioneer of the Pan-Turkism movement.
Ahmed Vefik became the Minister of Education of the Ottoman Empire and Grand Vizier two times. He built a theatre in Bursa when he was made the governor of the city. In 1860, he became the Ottoman ambassador to France. He wrote the first Turkish Dictionary and is considered to be the first Turkist of Ottoman Turks.