Mustafa Naili Pasha

Who was Mustafa Naili Pasha?

Mustafa Naili Pasha was an Ottoman statesman who held the office of grand vizier twice during the reign of Abdülmecid I, the first time between 14 May 1853 and 29 May 1854, and the second time between 6 August 1857 and 22 October 1857.

He was raised and started his career in Egypt under the protection of Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha and was of Albanian descent like the founder of modern Egypt. He suppressed a rebellion of Cretan Greeks during the troubles of the 1820s in various Aegean Islands in league with the Greek War of Independence and subsequently was appointed governor to Crete. On 18 May 1828 he regained Frangokastello, to Ottoman control, from Hatzimichalis Dalianis. The Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, who had been caught unprepared and without an army of his own, had been forced to seek the aid of his rebellious vassal and rival in Egypt. As of 1832, Mustafa Naili Pasha administered the island for two decades, which is why Ottoman records refer to him as "Giritli"

His rule attempted to create a synthesis between the Muslim landowners and the emergent Christian commercial classes. Mustafa Naili Pasha's rule has been generally cautious, pro-British, and he has tried harder to win the support of the Cretan Greeks than the Cretan Turks. In 1834, however, a Cretan committee was already set up in Athens to work for the union of the island with Greece.