Kara Khalil Pasha

At birth, the future great vizier was named Khalil, his lakabs were Kara and Karaja ( tour. Kara, Karaca ). Khalil was born in the village of Chendere ^[1] , located between Eskisehir, Seyidgazi and Sivrihisar. According to the inscriptions at the Green Mosque in Bursa and the Old Mosque in Serez , built by Khalil, his father's name was Ali ^[2] . It is known that Khalil came from a class of learned people (akhi), on the recommendation of Sheikh Edebali, Sultan Orhan appointed Khalil to the position of qadi in Bilejik ^{[1] [2]} . Perhaps it was during this period that Khalil organized a regular infantry army ^[1] . After the Ottoman conquest of Iznik in 1331, Orhan Ghazi appointed Khalil to the post of qadi of this city ^[1] .

In 1348/49, Bursa became the new center of the state. Khalil was Kadi Bursa at the time of Orhan's death and played an important role in the transfer of power: he summoned Murad from Rumelia in a letter and warned him of the claims to the throne of the other sons of Orhan, Khalil and Alaeddin. Khalil saved Bursa during the rebellion of the princes, waited for the arrival of Murad and organized his accession to the throne ^[1] . Murad did not forget this support and Khalil received tremendous powers and the title of kadiasker . He also played an important role in establishing a finance system with Karamanli Mullah Rustem ^[1] . Khalil, together with Rustem, introduced a tax on military booty and thereby laid the foundation for the creation of the Janissary corps ^[3] , which arose around 1364/65 on the initiative of Khalil. He also introduced the devshirme system ^[1] .

According to legend, described by Ottoman historians, Kara Khalil belonged to the tariqah of Qadiriya and was a student of Sheikh Fakhruddin Mudurnul. Orhan Ghazi visited the sheikh and said that he needed a vizier. Sheikh recommended his student Khalil Khayreddin to him, and he refused to become a vizier. According to another version of the legend, Bey went to visit Alauddin Esved, one of whose students was Kara Khalil. Other details of the story are no different ^[4] . However, these are only legends, since Khalil became a vizier only after being in the position of kadi ^[5] .

Khalil became a vizier after Sinanuddin Fakih Yusuf Pasha . Although the date of appointment is unknown, it is believed that this happened in 1363/64 or 1364/65 ^[1] . He was also army commander during the conquest of Western Thrace . This led to the fact that the following Ottoman great viziers were responsible for both government and the army ^[1] . Kara Khalil Khayreddin Pasha commanded the army when the Ottomans captured the cities of Komotini , Xanthi , Zichne, Kavala , Drama and Serre . It is precisely known that until 1374/75 he acted as a baler in West Thrace . Later, he captured the cities of Thessaloniki , Manastir and Ohrid , and during the internecine struggle in Albania in 1386, the Ottoman army under his command occupied Kruyu and Shkoder . When Sultan Murad went to Anatolia to prepare a campaign against Alaeddin Karamanoglu , he decided not to bring Khalil Pasha with him, but to leave him in Rumelia to protect the borders. Returning from Albania to Thrace in 1387, he fell ill and died at his camp in Vardar Jenisehir. Chandarli Ali Pasha , his eldest son, took the post of Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, he was already preparing an expedition to Anatolia ^{[1] [6] [7]} .

The body of Khalil Pasha was brought to Iznik by Ali Pasha, his eldest son, and buried near the Eastern Gate (Lefke Kapa). In 1922, the tomb was destroyed by the Greek army, but the descendant of Khalil Pasha, Nukh Nesiyyuddin Bey, repaired the ancestor's mausoleum, restoring its original appearance ^[1] .

According to legends preserved in the records of Ottoman historians, during this period of his life, Khalil married the daughter of Tadjeddin Kurdi from the Iznik Madrassah, whose other daughter was married to Sheikh Edebali ^{[1] [8] [9]} .

Khalil had three sons: Ali , Ilyas and Ibrahim . Two of them - Ali and Ibrahim - subsequently held the post of great vizier, as well as their son and grandson Ibrahim. It is known about Ilyas that he lived in Gallipoli , where he built a hammam , zawiyah and founded waqf . His descendants nowadays form the Serez branch of the family ^[10] .

• Aktepe M. Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Paşa // Islam Ansiklopedisi. - İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi, 1993. - Vol. 8. - P. 214-215. (tour.)
• Uzunçarşılı IH Çandarlı (Cenderli) Kara Halil Hayreddin Paşa // Belleten. - 1959. - Vol. 91. - P. 457-477. (tour.)
• Osmanlı Tarihi . - Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1988 .-- P. 330-341, Cild1. - 3114 p. (tour.)
• Taeschner Franz, Wittek Paul. Die Vezirfamilie der Ğandarlyzāde (14./15. Jhdt.) Und ihre Denkmäler. // Der Islam. - 1929. - Vol. 18. - Vol. 1 . - P. 60–115. - ISSN 1613-0928 . - DOI : 10.1515 / islm.1929.18.1.60 . (German)