Okay, Ahmed Tevfik

Ahmed Tevfik was born on February 11, 1845 in Istanbul . He was the son of a cavalry general Ismail Hakky Pasha and Gulshinas Banu.

In 1865 he became a lieutenant, served as a translator in the High Port . From 1868 to 1875 he worked as the 2nd secretary of embassies in Rome, Vienna and Berlin. In 1875 he became the 1st secretary of the embassy in Athens. In 1872, he was also ambassador to Berlin and Athens.

After the Young Turkish revolution of 1908, Ahmed Tevfik became a member of parliament.

When the government was dismissed as a result of the events of 1909 , Sultan Abdul-Hamid II appointed Ahmed Tevfik the great vizier . After the liquidation of the coup and the removal of the Sultan, Ahmed Tevfik also lost the post of great vizier and was sent as ambassador to London. However, since he was not in favor with the Unity and Progress party, he had to resign.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Ahmed Tevfik was the head of the Turkish delegation at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference . On October 21, 1920, he became the great Vizier for the last time and remained in this post until the liquidation of the Sultanate in 1922.

When in 1934, as part of Ataturk’s reforms, the Turks received surnames, Ahmed Tevfik took the surname “Okday”. Ahmed Tevfik Okday died on October 8, 1936 in Istanbul.

• Şefik Okday: Der letzte Grosswesir und seine preußischen Söhne. Muster-Schmidt Verlag, Göttingen und Zürich 1991, ISBN 3-7881-1533-5

• Offizielle Internetpräsenz der Nachfahren Ahmed Tevfik Paschas