Mustafa Alemdar

Autor: Mustafa Alemdar
Rok: asi 1765-1808

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Osmanský vojenský velitel a velký vezír.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Alemdar Mustafa Pasha (also called Bayraktar Mustafa Pasha; died 15 November 1808) was an Ottoman military commander and a Grand Vizier born in Khotyn in then Ottoman land Ukraine in 1765. He was of Albanian origin . Both alemdar and bayraktar mean "the standard bearer" and were the names given to the same rank in the Janissary corps.He was originally the ayan (provincial notable) of Rusçuk, and one of the strongest ayans of his time. The deposition of the reformer Sultan Selim III in 1807, and his replacement with the reactionary Mustafa IV by the Janissaries and other opponents of reform, provoked Alemdar Mustafa Pasha to lead his army of Albanians and Bosnians to Constantinople in an attempt to reinstate Selim III and restore his reforms. After he arrived, Mustafa IV ordered Selim III and Mahmud II to be killed, he succeeded in getting the former killed. Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, seeing Selim III dead, showed fealty to Mahmud II (Selim's cousin), and he was instated the sultan, with Alemdar as his Grand Vizier. As vizier, Bayraktar purged the soldiers who had rebelled against Selim, removed conservatives from governmental positions and replaced them with men sympathetic to reform. Bayraktar modernized the army and navy and attempted to reform the Janissaries, but Mahmud, fearing a political backlash of the elite corps, halted such change. Bayraktar's power and influence and his arrogance wielding it caused a rebellion against his position. In November 1808, the Janissairies attacked the Porte and laid siege to the stone powder magazine where he and his personal guard had taken refuge. As the Janissaries were about to break in the powder barrels exploded, killing Bayraktar, his guard, and several hundred Janissaries.He rose through the Janissary corps. After having been promoted to commandership, he took part in the wars against Austria and Russian Empire.In 1808, when the Sultan Mustafa IV ascended the throne with the help of the reactionaries who opposed the reform efforts undertook by Selim III, and the deposed Selim III was imprisoned, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha was the governor of the city of Rusçuk (today "Rousse") in Bulgaria.