View source for Said Halim Pasha

{{Short description|Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1917}}
{{family name hatnote|Said Halim|Pasha||lang=Ottoman Turkish}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Mehmed Said Halim
| honorific-suffix    = [[Pasha]]
| image               = File:Saidhalim-1.JPG
| image_size          = 200px
| caption             = 
| office1             = [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]
| monarch1            = [[Mehmed V]]
| term_start1         = 12 June 1913
| term_end1           = 4 February 1917
| predecessor1        = [[Mahmud Shevket Pasha]]
| successor1          = [[Talaat Pasha]]
| office2             = 
| monarch2            = 
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| term_start4         = 
| term_end4           = 
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| birth_date          = 18 or 28 January 1865 or 19 February 1864
| birth_place         = [[Cairo]], [[Egypt Eyalet]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1921|12|6|1865|1|18|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Rome]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| nationality         = Ottoman
| blank1              = 
| data1               = 
| party               = [[Committee of Union and Progress]]
| spouse              = 
| relations           = [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]] (grandfather)
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| allegiance          = <!--{{flag|Ottoman Empire}}-->
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}}
'''Mehmed Said Halim Pasha''' ({{langx|ota| سعيد حليم پاشا }}; {{langx|tr|Sait Halim Paşa}}; 18 or 28 January 1865 or 19 February 1864<ref>{{harvnb|Şeyhun|2014|p=147}} gives 28 January; {{harvnb|Wasti|2008|p=86}} gives 18 January and in endnote 20, p. 102 states that {{harvnb|Düzdağ|1991|p=xiii}} gives 19 February 1864.</ref> – 6 December 1921) was a writer and statesman who served as the [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire|Grand Vizier]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] from 1913 to 1917. He was one of the perpetrators of the [[Armenian genocide]] and later assassinated by [[Arshavir Shirakian]] as part of [[Operation Nemesis]], a retribution campaign to kill perpetrators of the Armenian genocide.

==Early life==
Mehmed Said Halim was born at the palace of [[Shubra]] in [[Cairo]], [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]] to {{Interlanguage link|Muhammad Abd al-Halim Pasha|tr|Mehmed Abdülhalim Paşa}}, one of the sons of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammed Ali Pasha]], the founder of the Khedivet of Egypt. He was of Albanian origin.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDTnlYtAKAMC&dq=enver+pasha+was+albanian&pg=PA93 |title=The Armenian Genocide in Perspective p.93 |pages=|isbn=978-1-4128-0891-0 |last1=Hovannisian |first1=Richard G. |date=31 May 2009 |publisher=Transaction Publishers }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2MtALz68rQC&dq=halim+pasha+was+albanian&pg=PA42 |title=Reigns of Terror p.42|isbn=978-0-7735-2641-9 |last1=Patricia Marchak |first1=M. |date=2003 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP }}</ref> In 1870, he and his family settled in Istanbul.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bostan |first=M. Hanefi |title=Said Halim Paşa |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/said-halim-pasa |website=İslâm Ansiklopedisi}}</ref> He was educated by private teachers, and learned Arabic, Persian, English, and French. He later studied political science in [[Switzerland]].{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

In 1890{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}} or 1895,{{sfn|Şeyhun|2014|p=147}} he married Emine İnci Tosun, daughter of Mehmed Tosun Pasha.
In the late 1890s the [[Prince Said Halim Pasha Palace]] in [[Downtown Cairo]] was built for him by the Italian architect [[Antonio Lasciac]].

== Political career ==
In 1888, Said Halim became a member of the [[Council of State (Ottoman Empire)|Council of State]] with the rank of Mir-i Mîran, making him a civil [[Pasha]]. In 1900 he became the Rumeli [[Beylerbey|Beylerbeyi]]. During this time he had good relations with Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]]. Jealous courtiers spread rumors of Halim's disloyalty and propensity to read dangerous literature. Falling out of favor, he reduced his interest in his duty in the Council of State and retired to his mansion. In 1903, he was exiled from the capital for establishing relations with the [[Young Turks]]. He went first to [[History of Egypt under the British|Egypt]] and then to Europe and established direct relations with the Young Turks, giving them material and intellectual support. In 1906, he was appointed a leading role in the [[Committee of Union and Progress|Committee of Progress and Union]]. Following the [[Young Turk Revolution|1908 revolution]], he returned to Istanbul.<ref name=":0" />

While exiled, his position in the Council of State was never officially terminated,<ref name=":0" /> but he was finally dismissed by the council on September 3, 1908. He was appointed as the chief of the [[Yeniköy, Sarıyer|Yeniköy]] city council after its municipal election. He later became the Second Chief of the General Association of Municipalities (''Cemiyet-i Umumiye-i Belediye İkinci Reisliği''), and in 1908 he was appointed a member of the [[Senate of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Senate]]. He member of the administrative council of the [[Darüşşafaka Society|Darüşşafaka]]. Between January 23, 1912 and July 23, 1912, he was chief of the Council of State in [[Mehmed Said Pasha|Said Pasha]]'s cabinet. Halim was sent to [[Lausanne]] to negotiate a peace treaty to end the [[Italo-Turkish War]] on 3 July 1912, but the change in government spelled his fall from cabinet and he had to return home.<ref name=":0" />

Following his resignation, he was elected as the General Secretary of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] (CUP), and was appointed to the Council of State for the second time in 1913 during [[Mahmud Shevket Pasha|Mahmut Şevket Pasha]]'s viziership, and to the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ottoman Empire)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] three days later. After the assassination of Şevket Pasha on 11 June 1913, he was first given the rank of [[vizier]] and was appointed to the Grand Vizier's Office, and the next day (12 June 1913) to the office of the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister). He was a compromise candidate for the CUP; Said Halim was more conservative and [[Islamism|Islamist]] than the central committee would have wanted, however the prestige of his ancestry and his lack of agency made him an acceptable Grand Vizier to the CUP.

== Grand Viziership ==
In September 1913, he was honored with the [[Order of Distinction (Ottoman Empire)|Order of Distinction]] by Sultan [[Mehmed V]] for his service in signing the achieving a [[Treaty of Constantinople (1913)|peace deal]] with the Bulgarians, and anchoring the border to the [[Maritsa|Maritsa river]], beyond [[Edirne]]. 

He was one of the signatures of [[Ottoman–German Alliance]], which was signed in his mansion in Yeniköy with the German ambassador, [[Hans von Wangenheim|Baron Wangenheim]]. Yet, he attempted to resign after the incident of the [[Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau|pursuit of ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'']], an event which served to [[Ottoman entry into World War I|bring the Ottoman Empire into the Great War]]. It is claimed that Sultan Reşad 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. When [[History of Egypt under the British|Britain annexed Egypt]] in 1914, Halim Pasha claimed the throne of the Egyptian monarchy based on a [[Imperial Firman of 27 May 1866|firman which changed Egyptian succession law]] half a century ago. 

During the [[Armenian genocide]], Said Halim signed the [[Temporary Law of Deportation|deportation orders for the Armenian population]]. The [[Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople|Armenian Patriarch]] [[Zaven I Der Yeghiayan of Constantinople|Zaven I Der Yeghiayan]] appealed to him to cease the terror being committed against Armenians, which Said Halim replied to by claiming reports of arrests and deportations were being greatly exaggerated. Der Yeghiayan himself was later deported.<ref name="Shirakian">{{cite book|author=Arshavir Shirakian|title=Arshavir Shiragian - The Legacy: Memoirs of an Armenian Patriot|publisher=Hairenik Association|year=2013|location=Watertown, Massachusetts|translator=Sonia Shiragian}}</ref> As the war went on, he was increasingly sidelined by [[Talaat Pasha|Talaat Bey]] and [[Enver Pasha]].

He lost his Foreign Ministry to [[Halil Menteşe]] in 1915. Said Halim's premiership lasted until 1917, cut short because of continuous clashes between him and the CUP. The [[Ministry of the Interior (Ottoman Empire)|Interior Minister]] Talaat succeeded him.

== Arrest and assassination ==
[[File:SaitHalimPasaMezari.jpg|thumb|Said Halim Pasha's grave]]
Said Halim was accused of treason during the [[Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–20|court martial trials after World War I]] in the Ottoman Empire for his role in deporting Armenian civilians and signing a secret alliance with Germany. He was exiled on 29 May 1919 to a prison on [[Malta]].<ref name="Vahide">{{cite book | title =Islam in Modern Turkey | author = Sukran Vahide | publisher = State University of New York Press | year = 2005 }}</ref> He was acquitted from the accusations and set free in 1921, and he moved to Sicily. He wanted to return to [[Istanbul]], the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but this request was rejected. He was [[Operation Nemesis|assassinated]] soon after in Rome by [[Arshavir Shirakian]], an agent of the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]], for his role in the Armenian genocide.<ref name="Shirakian" /> According to Eşref Kuşçubaşı, who was involved in the planning of the Armenian death marches, Said Halim Pasha knew nothing of the genocide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Akçam |first=Taner |title=A Shameful Act |year=2006 |location=New York |pages=157}}</ref>

== Political writings and views ==
{{Expand section|date=September 2024}}
Under the ''nom de plume'' "Mehmed", Said Halim Pasha wrote several works of social commentary, comparative politics, and political philosophy during the Hamidian Era and Second Constitutional Era.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}} He was a frequent contributor to ''[[Sebilürreşad|Sebîlürreşad]]'', a pro-CUP Islamist journal.

=== As a social scientist ===
In a historical analysis, he claimed Islam was not as much in need of an equality movement as in the West due to ([[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]) Islam's lack of clergy and aristocracy, therefore in a civilizational sense, Islamic civilization was more egalitarian than the West. Indeed, he believed the west suffers from inherent inequalities inherent to their social structure, while Islamic civilization suffered from too much equality, leading to an Islamic civilization turning increasingly elitist and exclusive. He identified that materialism emerged from the gap between the Church and the new discoveries of science and technology. The idea that Islam essentially discouraged technological innovation was refuted by Halim, though he did identify western materialism for having destroyed family values. Using the framework of [[historical materialism]], he identified the cause of feminism appropriate among bourgeois women in developed Western-European societies, in contrast to upper-class Ottoman women which he believed were uninterested in further rights.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

In 1916 he published ''Buhrân-ı İçtimaîmiz'', where he castigates Ottoman society for leaving behind their past religion and culture.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

While Western nation-states feature homogeneous societies of different classes that are always in conflict with each other, the Ottoman Empire's heterogeneity meant an [[Ottomanism|Ottoman nationalism]] did not exist.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

=== As a commentator ===
In the 1911 essay ''Meşrutiyet'', he gave a retrospective analysis of the failures of the [[First Constitutional Era]], particularly blaming the lack of a civic political culture developed by many people's in the Empire. A desire among the [[Tanzimat]] statesmen for westernization for the sake of westernization veiled the fact that the Empire didn't much resemble [[Second French Empire|France]], Turkey's model. Despite the modern cosmopolitanism of the cities like Constantinople, Smyrna, or Salonica, much of the empire was still in a socio-economic state of feudalism, and not sufficiently "enlightened" for representative and constitutional government.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

He was skeptical of the CUP's governance following the [[31 March incident|31 March Incident]], noting that a people toppling a dictator [Sultan Abdul Hamid II] doesn't mean freedom is automatically attained. 
{{Blockquote|text=Any administration is not the product of one person or even party; rather, it is almost the product of a particular generation. The sultan Abdulhamid was not the founder of the harsh rule that went by the name of the 'Hamidian' administration. Even if sultan Hamid had never been born, conditions would have been such that that generation would have produced another such sultan. The National Assembly, filled by members of the Committee of Union and Progress, was fired by patriotic zeal and revolutionary dreams, which foundered on the rocks of ignorance and inexperience}}

== Cultural depictions ==
[[Muhammad Iqbal|Iqbal]] writes in his ''[[Javid Nama]]'' how [[Rumi]] guides him to [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], where he sees Said Halim Pasha and [[Jamaluddin al-Afghani|Jemaluddin al-Afghani]] in prayer.{{sfn|Wasti|2008|p=86}}

== Works ==

=== Essays ===
* ''Mukallidliklerimiz'' – 1910
* ''Meşrutiyet'' – 1911 
* ''Buhrân-ı İçtimaîmiz'' – 1916 Kubbealtı Sahaf
* ''Ta'assup'' – 1917
* ''İnhitât-i Islam Hakkinda bir Tecrübe-i Kalemiyye'' – 1917
* ''İslâmlaşmak'' – 1918
* ''İslâm da Teşkîlât-ı Siyâsiyye''/''Les Institutions politiques dans la société musulmane''/''The Reform of Muslim Society''  – 1921

=== Other ===

* ''Buhranlarımız ve Son Eserleri'' – İz Yayıncılık
* ''Said Halim Paşa'' – Bütün Eserleri Anka Yayınları 2003

== See also ==
* [[Said Halim cabinet|Said Halim government]]
* [[Operation Nemesis]]
* [[List of Ottoman grand viziers]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==Literature==
*{{Cite Q |Q109923853 |last=Düzdağ |first=M. Ertuğrul |trans-title=Said Halim Pasha - Our Crises and Last Works |publisher=İz Yayıncılık |year=1991}}
*{{Cite Q |Q109923750 |last=Wasti |first=Syed Tanvir |year=2008}}
*{{Cite Q |Q109923640 |last=Şeyhun |first=Ahmet |chapter=Said Halim Pasha (1865–1921) |pages=147-164 |doi=10.1163/9789004282407_013 |year=2014}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/024857}}

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{{succession box|title=[[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]|years=12 June 1913 &ndash; 4 February 1917|before=[[Mahmud Şevket Pasha]]|after=[[Talaat Pasha]]}}
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{{Muhammad Ali dynasty}}
{{Grand Viziers of Ottoman Empire}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Said Halim Pasha}}
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