Kıbrıslı Kamil Paşa

• Honorific Prefix — Kıbrıslı • Name — Mehmed Kâmil • Honorific Suffix — Pasha • Office1 — Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire • Monarch1 — Abdul Hamid II • Term Start1 — 25 September 1885 • Term End1 — 4 September 1891 • Predecessor1 — Mehmed Said Pasha • Successor1 — Ahmed Cevad Pasha • Monarch2 — Abdul Hamid II • Term Start2 — 2 October 1895 • Term End2 — 7 November 1895 • Predecessor2 — Mehmed Said Pasha • Successor2 — Halil Rifat Pasha • Monarch3 — Abdul Hamid II • Term Start3 — 5 August 1908 • Term End3 — 14 February 1909 • Predecessor3 — Mehmed Said Pasha • Successor3 — Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha • Monarch4 — Mehmed V • Term Start4 — 29 October 1912 • Term End4 — 23 January 1913 • Predecessor4 — Ahmed Muhtar Pasha • Successor4 — Mahmud Shevket Pasha • Born — 1833 • Birthplace — Nicosia, Cyprus Sanjak, Ottoman Empire • Died — 14 November 1913 (aged 80) • Place of death — Nicosia, British Cyprus

• Illustration — Kâmil Pasha, 1860s Mehmed Kâmil Pasha was born in Nicosia, Ottoman Cyprus in 1833. He was the son of an artillery captain, Salih Agha, from the village of Pyrogi. His paternal grandfather was from Karakese village of Anamur. Kâmil's mother was Pembe Hanım, who also hailed from Cyprus. He was educated on the island until the age of thirteen; He learned Arabic, Persian, French and Greek. In 1845, he was taken to Egypt with his younger brother and studied at Elsine Madrasa. Shortly after, when the madrasah was converted into a military academy, he took courses in military sciences. He graduated as a cavalry lieutenant. His first post was in the household of the Khedive of Egypt, Abbas I, who at that time was only nominally dependent to the central Ottoman power in Constantinople. In the course of this appointment, he visited London for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in charge of one of the Khedive's sons. Kâmil's sojourn in London left in him a lifelong admiration for Britain and during his career within the Ottoman state, he was always known to be an Anglophile. He was fluent in English, and sought close ties between the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.

After remaining in Egypt for ten years, Mehmed Kâmil exchanged the service of Abbas I for that of the Ottoman Government as of 1860 and for the ensuing nineteen years – that is to say until he first entered the Cabinet – he filled very numerous administrative appointments in every part of the Empire. He governed, or helped to govern vilayets such as Eastern Rumelia, Hercegovina, Kosovo, and his native Cyprus. • Illustration — Kâmil Pasha in 1909. Kâmil Pasha was appointed Grand Vizier from 25 September 1885 to 4 September 1891, under Abdul Hamid II's reign. During this time he developed a rivalry with Mehmed Said Pasha. His second premiership came about during the height of the Armenian Crisis during the Hamidian massacres. On 2 October 1895 he was appointed Grand Vizier in a tense atmosphere. As a neo-Tanzimatist, Kâmil Pasha petitioned the sultan to put responsible governance back in the hands of the Sublime Porte. He received support from the Great Powers and Young Turk media. Several members of the Committee of Union and Progress supported Kâmil Pasha in his showdown with the Sultan, but by 7 November, Kâmil Pasha was out of high office, his "coup" ending in status quo. For the next decade, he was exiled as governor of Aydın. When Said Pasha resigned from office soon after the Young Turk Revolution, Abdul Hamid II and the CUP compromised with Kâmil Pasha to run the government. Kâmil soon had an antagonistic relationship with the committee, and associated himself with Prince Sabahaddin's Liberty Party. His premiership lasted just over five months, before the CUP censured him with a vote of no confidence, and replaced him with someone more pliant to the committee's wishes. For three years he stayed out of politics. In 1911 he contracted pneumonia and went to Egypt for a change of atmosphere. There he met with King George V of England and the queen, who were on a trip to India, for lunch on the ship. This incident caused him to be heavily criticized in the pro-CUP press. After a while he returned to Istanbul. After the shuttering of parliament in summer 1912 by the Savior Officers, he became head of the Council of State in Muhtar Pasha's Great Cabinet. With his resignation Kâmil returned to the premiership leading a government initially friendly to Freedom and Accord. He was appointed Grand Vizier for his friendly relations with the British (he was often known as İngiliz Kâmil, or "English Kâmil", for his Anglophilia), in the hopes that he would be able to get favorable terms for the end of the ongoing, disastrous First Balkan War (since the victorious Bulgaria's foreign interests were represented by the British). In January 1913, Kâmil's government decided to accept severe peace conditions including massive territorial losses. The CUP used this pretext for their coup d'état on 23 January 1913. That day, Enver Bey, one of the CUP's military leaders, burst with some of his associates into the Sublime Porte while the cabinet was in session. By most accounts, one of Enver's officers, Yakup Cemil, shot the Minister of War Nazım Pasha and the group pressed Kâmil Pasha to resign immediately at gunpoint. Kâmil was put under house arrest and surveillance. The ex-Grand Vizier (who probably was in danger of life) was invited by his British friend Lord Kitchener to stay with him in Cairo. After three months in Egypt, Mehmed Kâmil Pasha decided to wait for favourable turn of events in his native Cyprus, now under British occupation. Five weeks after his return to Cyprus, the assassination of his successor to the premiership, Mahmut Şevket Pasha, occurred in June 1913, by a relative of Nazım Pasha to avenge his death. The CUP regime reacted with persecution of well-known opposition politicians. Djemal Pasha, then the CUP prefect of the capital Constantinople, indicated to Kâmil's family that they had to leave Ottoman Turkey or he too would be arrested. His family joined his exile in Cyprus.

• Illustration — With British, Turkish, Egyptian royalty, 1911 On 14 November 1913, while preparing plans for revisiting England in 1914, Kâmil Pasha suddenly died of syncope and was buried in the courtyard of the Arab Ahmet Mosque.

• Illustration — Enver Bey asking Kâmil Pasha to resign during the raid on the Sublime Porte. Kâmil married Layika (Bayur) and had several children. His grandson is Hikmet Bayur and his grand nephew is filmmaker Zeki Alasya. His son-in-law is general Naci Eldeniz. Tekin Arıburun, president of the Turkish Senate from 1970 to 1977, is his grandson-in-law.

The authorities additionally record the headings Kamil Pasha, Mehmed Kâmil Pasha, Kibrisli Meḥmed Kāmil Pāşā and Kamil Paşa. His recorded languages were Ottoman Turkish, Persian, Arabic and Turkish. His recorded confession was Islam. One child is recorded: Abdullah Lami Bayur. Other recorded relations include Yusuf Hikmet Bayur, Zeki Alasya and Perihan Arıburun. Career and activity. Recorded positions include grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire and Beylerbey of the Mosul eyalet. He belonged to Hellenic Philological Society of Constantinople.