Mehmed Münir Paşa

Mehmed Münir Paşa, known as Ahmed Paşazâde, rose to the rank of ferik, a high Ottoman general rank corresponding here to major general. He served in several military and administrative posts in the late Ottoman period.

Between 1876 and 1878 he served as commander in Basra and later took part in higher military councils. During the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878, he briefly served as deputy governor of Mosul and fought against the Hemvend bandits in the region.

He later became commander of the Sivas 16th Redif Division. The Redif was the Ottoman reserve military organization, designed to support the regular army in the provinces. Münir Paşa was appointed to this post on 19 April 1908 and retired in September of the same year.

He had no children. In retirement he took under his protection a boy and a girl from the household of Haçırtuzâde Hasan Bey in Aziziye, as well as another girl in Kızancık. This detail gives his later life a rare human dimension beyond his military service.

Mehmed Münir Paşa died on 16 Dhu al-Hijja 1328, corresponding to 19 December 1910, and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.