Ali Rıza Pasha

Who is Ali Rıza Pasha?

Ali Rıza Pasha led the Ottoman army in 1831 against the mamluk governor in Baghdad after Dawud Pasha refused to give up his office. Ali Rıza Pasha captured the city and Dawud ending the mamluk rule in Baghdad. Baghdad fell in September 1831 after a ten-week long blockade of the city which caused mass famine.

While Ali Rıza Pasha was able to capture Baghdad and unseat Dawud Pasha, he still had to deal with the mamluks who remained in Baghdad. In order to preserve his power and pacify the mamluks, he gave many of them positions in his government. In the days following his conquest of Baghdad, Ali Rıza Pasha published a firman, or decree, which made him the governing authority over the cities of: Baghdad, Aleppo, Diyarbakr, and Mosul. The firman eventually covered all cities in Iraq.

Ali Rıza Pasha then marched his army south to Basra where he occupied the province ending mamluk rule in 1834. Ali Rıza Pasha's conquest of Baghdad and Basra brought the provinces under direct rule from Istanbul and subjected them to Tanzimat reforms. Ali Rıza Pasha replaced mamluk governor Dawud Pasha and exiled him to Brusah.