Kara Ahmed Pasha

Kara Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman grand vizier under Sulayman I, of Albanian origin and educated in the palace. He commanded in Hungary and against Persia, and was executed in 1555.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), article signed M. Cavid Baysun, describes Ahmad Pasha, called Kara, as an Ottoman grand vizier under Sulayman I. He was of Albanian origin, educated in the palace, and rose to the posts of kapıdan-başı and mir-i 'alem. In 927/1521 he became agha of the Janissaries, and was appointed beylerbeyi of Rumelia. He took part in the Hungarian campaign of 950/1543, taking Valpo and Siklos and being present at the capture of Esztergom and Székesfehérvár. In 955/1548 he was made commander-in-chief against the Persians and second vizier; in 1549 he routed them near Kamakh and took many fortresses in eastern Anatolia and Georgia. ¹

After the loss of Lippa in 959/1552 he was transferred to command in Hungary and took Temesvar after a siege of 35 days, then Szolnok, but failed before Eger. In 960/1553, during the war with Shah Tahmasp, Sulayman deposed the grand vizier Rustam Pasha and appointed Ahmad in his place; Ahmad took part in the campaigns of Nakhichevan and Karabagh. After the peace of Amasya (1555) and the sultan's return to Istanbul, he was arrested during a session of the divan and beheaded on 13 Dhu'l-Qa'da 962/28 September 1555. The reason given was his intrigue against 'Ali Pasha, governor of Egypt, but the article suggests the sultan's main motive was to reinstate Rustam Pasha, his son-in-law. Ahmad had married Fatima Sultan, daughter of Selim I, and he began a mosque near Topkapı that was finished only after his death. ¹