The life and activities of Mehmed Esad Safvet Pasha (1815-1883)

The biography of Mehmed Esad Safvet Pasha, who lived between 1815 and 1883, is one of the neglected research topics. Very little has been written that examines the whole life and activities of Pasha, who served in critical positions during the Tanzimat period. In this respect, this dissertation intends to fill this gap by tracing the personal/family archive belonging to Safvet Pasha, in comparison with Turkish and foreign sources. Including the discussions on this subject, the thesis constructs Safvet Pasha's life and public duties in a historical context with an analytical method, and aims to clarify the environment in which Pasha lived, as far as he is concerned. It is essential to investigate the life and activities of Safvet Pasha, who rose rapidly after entering the state service in 1831 and became the grand vizier during the reign of Abdulhamid II, in order to break some taboos of the Tanzimat period. For this reason, this thesis focuses on the analysis of the activities after the systematic criticism of the personal archive of Safvet Pasha.