Ali Galib Bey

Ali Galib Bey was born in 1849 and was the grandson of Büyük Mustafa Reşid Paşa, one of the most important statesmen of the Tanzimat period. Mustafa Reşid Paşa stood at the centre of Tanzimat politics through his ambassadorships in Paris and London, his terms as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his grand vizierates; his family also came to prominence in nineteenth-century Ottoman foreign affairs and bureaucratic circles.

Ali Galib Bey was trained in the Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held important diplomatic posts centred on Europe and Iran during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II. He served as ambassador to Athens in 1891-1892, Tehran in 1893-1895, Vienna in 1895-1896 and Berlin in 1896-1897. His correspondence with Istanbul during his Tehran ambassadorship has been studied academically in relation to Ottoman-Iranian relations.

During his Berlin ambassadorship, problems relating to embassy salaries and debts led to his return to Istanbul and dismissal from office. After the Second Constitutional Period, he reappeared in state service; in 1908 he was appointed to the Chamber of Notables, briefly served as Minister of Post and Telegraph, and later became governor of Aydın.

Ali Galib Bey also chaired the Commission for the Examination of Documents, established to examine the Yıldız papers left from the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II. This commission dealt with the separation and classification of notebooks, albums, books and reports brought from Yıldız Palace to the Ministry of War. His name thus also appears in the early classification work of Ottoman archival history.

Ali Galib Bey died in 1919 and is buried in the family mausoleum of Büyük Mustafa Reşid Paşa in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery. The date 12 Rabi‘ al-awwal 1346 on the grave record, corresponding to 9 September 1927, indicates the date of the gravestone.