Ottoman Paşa's Riches Have Heirs Salivating

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 1 December 2015)


Paşa beams at the thought of his deserving descendants.

The descendants of Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa have fıled an
inheritance suit.  The Paşa served as the governor of Karaman
province in the Ottoman Empire of the early 1800s and also
commanded the Nizam-ı Cedid and Sekban-ı Cedid armies in
that era. He was, however, strangled to death.

Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa had land holdings in Antalya, Konya,
Muğla and Thrace, as well as around the Emevi Mosque in
Damascus. Some of his heirs include Nükhet Hotar, deputy chief
of the AK Party, Eskişehir Mayor Yılmaz Büyükerşen and actress-
writer Gülriz Surur.

The legal activity began in 1996 when a land owner in Antalya filed
suit to establish his claim to the land. Once it was determined that
the land had belonged to Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa, his descendants
were contacted and the number of them reached 310. However, the
court rejected their claims 6 years later.

In 2013, 12 of the heirs had lawyer Namık Timuroğlu file suit
against the Foundations General Directorate (government agency
that looks after things-Ottoman). If the court determines that the 12
are in fact descendants of Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa, then they will
share in the related holding of the various foundations associated
with the legacy of Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa.

Who was Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa?  

He was born in İbradı, Antalya, and became governor of Karaman
in 1803. Susequently, Sultan Selim III put him in command of the
Nizam-ı Cedid army. But Sultan Selim III was toppled from the
throne during the Kabakçı Mustafa uprising on 30 May  1807 and
Sultan Mustafa IV took over.

14 months later, though, Alemdar Mustafa Paşa, the chieftan of
Rusçuk (in Bulgaria), marched on Istanbul with his army and
deposed Sultan Mustafa IV. bringing Sultan Mahmud II to the throne.
The Nizam-ı Cedid army was renamed Sekban-ı Cedid, with Kadı
Abdurrahman Paşa as its commander.

On the night of 14 November 1808, the deposed Sultan Mustafa IV
and his men attacked the Topkapı Palace, which Kadı Abdurrahman
Paşa and his Sekban-ı Cedid army tried to defend. He had more than
3,000 Janissaries and rebels put to the sword but the army was forced
to break up. Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa escaped in a coal boat from
the Selimiye Barracks in Üsküdar and fled to Gemlik, near Bursa.

Kadı Abdurrahman Paşa and his two sons somehow made it back
to İbradı in Antalya but on 27 December 1808 he was captured by
the Janissaries and killed, along with his sons. Since the Paşa's
immediate family expired, his holdings passed to the state.


İbradı district is in northeastern Antalya province.