Mehmed Selim Paşa

Mehmed Selim Paşa, born in 1840, was an Ottoman mirliva who served actively in the military for sixty-three years. The rank of mirliva was a high paşa rank in the late Ottoman military hierarchy, above miralay and below ferik.

Mehmed Selim Paşa’s thirty-eight years of service in Yemen took place in one of the most difficult provincial regions of the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the 19th century, Yemen was a region where the central administration struggled to establish authority; rebellions, tribal mobility, mountainous geography, climate conditions and distance made it militarily exhausting. Ottoman administration tried to maintain control there through governors and military commanders in San‘a, Hudayda, Taiz and the surrounding mountainous areas.

After these services he was called to Dersaadet and appointed a member of the Special Military Court. The Special Military Court was one of the special court panels serving in military judicial and disciplinary matters, and this final official post shows that in Paşa’s later years his front-line experience was put to use in a military-judicial role in Istanbul.

Mehmed Selim Paşa died on 25 Ramadan 1321 (15 December 1903) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.