About Collection

A collection of Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855-1922) who was an Ottoman statesman and imperial administrator, twice the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire around the time of the Second Constitutional Era and also one-time president of the Turkish Red Crescent. The highlights in this collection are the correspondence of Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha during his post in Yemen for his personal archive which were probably copied by himself; and scribal specifications suggest that the records came out of his own handwriting. During his tenure, Hilmi Pasha played a role primarily in pursuing the policy of advice and goodwill to the tribes involved in the increasing banditry in Yemen as a result of the weakening Ottoman state and administrative authority at the end of the 19th century. He observed that tribes that reacted to local government were organized around some religious-political leaders with the deterioration of the socio-economic conditions due to the administrative corruption. When he saw that goodwill policies did not work despite the efforts of political mediation, it was necessary to take action to Istanbul by reporting that military intervention was inevitable. The collection also includes international press reports and local newspapers on the Balkan issue, particularly Macedonia.