Şahin Lütfi Paşa

Şahin Lütfi Paşa, whose exact date of birth is unknown, was one of the commanders who rose to the rank of mirliva in the late Ottoman military organization. Mirliva was one of the high military ranks between miralay and ferik, or between colonel and major general, and marked the beginning of the title of paşa.

Şahin Lütfi Paşa served as second president of the Levazımat-ı Umumiye Department attached to the Bâb-ı Vâlâ-yı Seraskerî. The Seraskerlik organization included departments of general staff, infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, medical services, accounting, supplies and trials; this structure administered the central command of the Ottoman land army until the Second Constitutional Period.

The Levazımat-ı Umumiye Department was the military logistics institution responsible for procuring and distributing the army’s provisions and necessary supplies. In the late 19th-century Ottoman army, this department was an important administrative field not only for soldiers at the front but also for military factories, storehouses and supply organization at the center.

Mirliva Şahin Lütfi Paşa died in 1308 in the Hijri calendar (1890) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.