Mehmed Said Pasha

Who was Mehmed Said Pasha?

Mehmed Said Pasha was an Ottoman statesman and editor of the Turkish newspaper Jerid-i-Havadis.

He became first secretary to Sultan Abdul Hamid II shortly after the Sultan's accession, and is said to have contributed to the realizations of his majesty's design of concentrating power in his own hands; later he became successively minister of the interior and then governor of Bursa, reaching the high post of grand vizier in 1879. He was grand vizier seven more times under Abdul Hamid, and once under his successor, Mehmed V Reşat. He was known for his opposition to the extension of foreign influence in Turkey.

In 1896 he took refuge at the British embassy at Istanbul, and, though then assured of his personal liberty and safety, remained practically a prisoner in his own house. He came into temporary prominence again during the revolution of 1908. On 22 July he succeeded Fuat Pasha as grand vizier, but on the 6 August was replaced by the more liberal Kamil Pasha, at the insistence of the young Turkish committee. During the Italian crisis in 1911-12 he was again called to the grand-viziership.