Mehmed Eşref Bey

Mehmed Eşref Efendi, whose date of birth has not been identified, was one of the officials who served in the circle of the late Ottoman finance bureaucracy. He served as kapu çukadarı of the Council of Finance.

Kapu çukadars were officials in the Ottoman central organization who worked closely with kapı kethüdaları. They followed the affairs of provincial administrators and official offices at the centre, and served in paperwork, communication and interdepartmental procedures. Until 1908, kapı çuhadars were also found in official departments.

The nisba “el-Mevlevî” attached to Mehmed Eşref Efendi shows his connection with the Mevlevi order. The presence in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery of figures from Mevlevi, Naqshbandi and other Sufi circles in the same period is consistent with the cemetery’s character as a place reflecting late Ottoman bureaucracy and Sufi environments together.

Mehmed Eşref el-Mevlevî Efendi died on 5 September 1322, corresponding to 18 September 1906, and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.