Said Halim Pasha

Who was Said Halim Pasha?

Said Halim Pasha was a statesman who served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1917. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he was the grandson of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, often considered the founder of modern Egypt.

He was one of the signers in Ottoman–German Alliance. Yet, he resigned after the incident of the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau, an event which served to cement the Ottoman–German alliance during World War I. It is claimed that Mehmed V wanted a person in whom he trusted as Grand Vizier, and that he asked Said Halim to stay in his post as long as possible. Said Halim's term lasted until 1917, cut short because of continuous clashes between him and the Committee of Union and Progress, which by then controlled the Imperial Government of the Ottoman Empire.

During the court martial trials after World War I in the Ottoman Empire, he was accused of treason as he had his signature under Ottoman–German Alliance. He was exiled on 29 May 1919 to a prison on Malta. He was acquitted from the accusations and set free in 1921, and he moved to Sicily. He wanted to return to the Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but this request was rejected. He was assassinated soon after by Arshavir Shirakian, an agent of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, for his accused role in the Armenian Genocide. Other sources, however, stated that he was unrelated to the Genocide.