Gedik Ahmed Pasha

Gedik Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman grand vizier and admiral of Mehmed II and Bayezid II. Born in Serbia and taken into the palace, he consolidated Ottoman rule in Anatolia and conquered Kaffa and Otranto. He died in 1482.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), article signed Halil Inalcik, describes Gedik Ahmad Pasha as an Ottoman grand vizier, born in Serbia and taken into Murad II's palace as an ichoglan. He was for a short time beglerbegi of Rum (Tokat) under Mehmed II, then beglerbegi of Anatolia in 1461, a post he held until he became vizier in 1470. He played a decisive part in consolidating the new conquests in Anatolia against the Karamanids and the Ak Koyunlu. He first distinguished himself by taking Koyulhisar in 1461, and in 1469–72 subdued the Karaman-ili and its coast, taking Alaiyya in 1471 and Silifke, Mokan, Gorigos and Lulliye in 1472. He drove back the attack of the Ak Koyunlu prince Pir Ahmad in 1472 and reconquered the Karaman-ili. ¹

After the execution of the grand vizier Mahmud in 1474 he became the first vizier. Sent against the Genoese in the Crimea, he took Kaffa in June 1475, as well as Soldaya and Tana, and made an agreement with the khan Mengli Giray, whom he had freed from prison in Kaffa. His independence displeased the sultan, who imprisoned him in Rumeli Hisar in 1477. He was released in 1478 and made kapudan of the fleet. In 1479 he seized Santa Maura from Leonardo Tocco, and in 1480 he took Otranto on 11 August. When Bayezid II succeeded, he secured the throne against his brother Djem, but was imprisoned for failing to catch Djem as he fled to the Mamluk lands, and was restored after a revolt of the kapikulu. He died on 6 Shawwal 887/18 November 1482. A district of Istanbul is named after him, and the mosque at Afyon is a fine example of early Ottoman building. ¹