İsyan İkliminde Bir Asi ve Devlet Adamı: Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Paşa

Abstract

The Jalali Revolts or Celali rebellions, which emerged in the 16th century and in time changed its character to become a movement against the administration in the 17th century, significantly affected the Ottoman Empire in political, social and economic terms. The population growth in the 16th century, the financial difficulties caused by the long lasting wars, the price increase caused by the American silver, the military revolution in Europe, the increase in the number of salaried soldiers, the adversities in the Ottoman administration are fundamental dynamics that made riots a big problem. Celali disturbances, which increased its effect by turning into a big crisis in 1596, gained a new dimension with the Büyük Kaçgun (Great Escape) period in 1603. In addition to the increase in the number of rebels, the government's policy of assigning duties to Celali leaders made the events even more complicated. However, this policy of the Ottoman State aimed to prevent the bandits from gaining regional powers. In addition to this aim, it is seen that the state also benefited from the abilities of some of the bandits it appointed. Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who was pardoned by the Ottoman Empire for this purpose in 1649 and brought to the state duty, is one of the rebels who became a statesman while he was a bandit. While Katırcıoğlu Mehmed was a bandit, he first carried out various banditry activities with Haydaroğlu Mehmed and later, although he was involved in the Gürcü Abdünnebi rebellion, he performed important services during the statesman period. Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who was appointed as the army commander to suppress the Abaza Hasan uprising for a while, spent most of his 19 years of state during the Ottomans’ struggle against Venice fort he conquest of Crete. The success in this struggle against the Venetians carried out by Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who died on December 17, 1668 during the siege of Heraklion when he was the Anatolian Beylerbeyi (Grand Seignior) was reflected in the sources of the period. Also in the sources there are various claims regarding the ancestry of him. The purpose of this research is to examine both the socio-economic, administrative and political structure of the period considering the life of Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Pasha and to present an example of the viewpoint of the bandits for the state and the state’s standpoint to the bandits.