Abaza Hasan Pasha

Abaza Hasan Pasha, also called Kara Hasan Pasha or Celali Hasan Pasha; (Ottoman Turkish: ابازه حسن پاشا, Abāza Ḥasan Paşa), was an Ottoman provincial governor and celali rebel of the mid-seventeenth century. He launched two rebellions against the Ottoman government, the second and largest of which ended with his assassination in Aleppo on 16 February 1659 following a failed attempt to force the deposition of the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha.^[1]

Abaza Hasan first gained prominence in 1648 by defeating the Anatolian rebel Kara Haydaroğlu, for which he was rewarded with the rank of voyvoda (overseer) of the Yeni Il Türkmen. After this office was taken from him through palace intrigue, he launched his first revolt, occupying territory in northwestern Anatolia. During this time he rallied to his side other military men with grievances against the government as well as thousands of the sekban and sarıca characteristic of the Celali Rebellions. He eventually achieved his goals, recovering his office and reconciling his relationship with the central government. In the following years he was promoted to the rank of pasha and received the governorship of various provinces in the east. In the summer of 1658 he launched a second revolt, this time in response to the wide-ranging purges and executions carried out by Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. Despite being joined by a significant portion of the Ottoman military establishment, Abaza Hasan and his allies were unable to enforce their demand for Köprülü's execution either by winning the support of Sultan Mehmed IV or by achieving a major military victory. Lured into the government-held city of Aleppo by promises of pardon, they were suddenly assassinated by the order of the loyalist commanders who had been sent against them.

As the last of the major Celali rebels, Abaza Hasan's defeat marked the end of a long period of instability in Anatolia. The region had suffered from repeated rebellion by provincial governors ever since the time of the revolt of Abaza Mehmed Pasha in 1622.^[2] While some minor outbreaks of rebellion continued to occur during the following era, the province generally benefited from the stability associated with Köprülü rule. Abaza Hasan's failure to depose Köprülü Mehmed enabled that family of viziers to continue administering the empire uninterrupted for another twenty-four years, until Kara Mustafa Pasha's execution following the unsuccessful Siege of Vienna in 1683.