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#REDIRECT [[Ali Pasha]]
{{Other uses|Ali Pasha (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[Excellency|His Excellency]]
|name = Ali Pasha of Tepelena
|parents = Veli bey and Hanka
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|office = [[Pasha]] of [[Pashalik of Yanina|Yanina]]
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|birth_date = 1740
|birth_place = [[Qendër, Tepelenë|Beçisht]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (now [[Albania]])
|death_date = {{Death year and age|1822|1740|df=yes}}
|death_place = [[Ioannina]], Ottoman Empire (now [[Greece]])
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|nickname = ''"Arslan"'' ({{lang-tr|Lion}})<br>''"Lion of Yannina"''
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'''Ali Pasha of Tepelena''' or '''of Yannina (Ioannina)''', surnamed ''Aslan'', "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina" (1740 – 24 January 1822), was an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Albanians|Albanian]] ruler ([[pasha]]) of the western part of [[Rumelia]], the Ottoman Empire's European territory, which was referred to as the [[Pashalik of Yanina]]. His court was in [[Ioannina]], but the territory he governed incorporated most of [[Epirus]] and the western parts of [[Thessaly]] and [[Greek Macedonia]] in [[Northern Greece]]. Ali had three sons: [[Ahmet Muhtar Pasha]] (served in the 1809 war against the Russians), [[Veli Pasha]] of [[Morea]] and [[Salih Pasha]] of [[Vlore]].<ref>http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/18/24/106.pdf</ref><ref name="Sellheim1992">{{cite book|last=Sellheim|first=R.|title=Oriens|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=la-RTLQiFRAC&pg=PA303|accessdate=21 October 2010|year=1992|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-09651-6|page=303}}</ref> Ali Pasha of Tepelena died fighting<ref name="Dumas">[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2753/2753.txt ''Ali Pacha: Celebrated Crimes''] by Alexandre Dumas, père</ref> in 1822 at the age of 81 or 82. He played a major part in the history of Epirus and more generally the history of Greece and Albania around the turn of the 19th century. He first appears in historical accounts as the leader of a band of brigands who became involved in many confrontations with Ottoman state officials in Albania and Epirus. He joined the administrative-military apparatus of the Ottoman Empire, holding various posts until 1788 when he was appointed pasha, ruler of the sanjak of Ioannina. His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modernist ideas and concepts, his popular religiousness, his religious neutrality, his win over the bands terrorizing the area, his revengefulness and harshness in imposing law and order, and his looting practices towards persons and communities in order to increase his proceeds cause both the admiration and the criticism of his contemporaries, as well as an ongoing controversy among historians regarding his personality.

==Name==
His name in the local languages was: <!--alphabetical order -->[[Albanian language|Albanian]]: ''Ali Pashë Tepelenjoti''; [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]]: ''Ali Pãshelu''; [[Greek language|Greek]]: Αλή Πασάς Τεπελενλής ''Ali Pasas Tepelenlis'' or Αλή Πασάς των Ιωαννίνων ''Ali Pasas ton Ioanninon'' (Ali Pasha of [[Ioannina]]); and [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Tepedelenli Ali Paşa''.

==Early years==
[[File:Ali Pashas in Tepelena.jpg|thumb|left|The statue of Ali Pasha in Tepelene]]
Ali was born in 1740 into a powerful clan in the village [[Qendër, Tepelenë|Beçisht]], at the foot of the [[Këlcyrë]] mountains near the Albanian town of [[Tepelenë (town)|Tepelenë]]. He was one of the [[Tosk]] tribes and his ancestors had for some time held the hereditary office of [[bey]] of Tepeleni.<ref name="1911encyclopedia.org">http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Ali_Pasha</ref> His father Veli was [[bey]] (and possibly a retired [[Janissary]]). His grandfather (father of his mother Hanka) was Ahmet Pasha Kurt, a sanjakbey of the [[Sanjak of Avlona]] In the middle of the 18th century, from the Muzaka family who was later appointed to the position of ''derbendci aga'' (guardian of the mountain passes). Ahmet Pasha Kurt held this position until the sultan appointed Ahmet's grandson, Ali Pasha, instead of him.<ref name="Elsie2012">{{cite book|author=Robert Elsie|authorlink=Robert Elsie|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pgf6GWJxuZgC&pg=PA27|date=24 December 2012|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-78076-431-3|page=27}}</ref>

About his origin, [[Robert Elsie]], an expert in Albanian culture and affairs, states that he was born of a Turkish family from [[Anatolia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Highland Lute (Lahuta e malcís): the Albanian national epic|last=Fishta |first=Gjergj |coauthors= Robert Elsie & Janice Mathie-Heck (trans.) |year=2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|location= London|isbn=978-1-84511-118-2 |page=402 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=j7tLgANw8hAC&q=%22ali+pasha%22#v=onepage&q=Lion%20of%20Janina%2C%20was%20born%20of%20a%20Turkish%20family%20from%20Asia%20Minor.%22&f=false|quote=Lion of Janina, was born of a Turkish family from Asia Minor. |accessdate=26 August 2010 }}</ref> However, this has been refuted since it was proven that his family originated from southern Albania.<ref>Ahmet Uzun.[http://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/inr/instr-studiorumbalk/tepelenlis.pdf ''Ο Αλή Πασάς ο Τεπελενλής και η περιουσία του.'']. [Ali Pasha from Tepeleni and his fortune] (Greek), p. 3: "Εξαιτίας της μοναδικότητας του ονόματος μιας οικογένειας που μετανάστευσε από την Ανατολία στη Ρούμελη και εγκαταστάθηκε στο Τεπελένι, υπάρχουν ισχυρισμοί που τον θέλουν Τούρκο. Εντούτοις οι ισχυρισμοί αυτοί είναι αβάσιμοι αφού στην πραγματικότητα είναι αποδεδειγμένο ότι καταγόταν από τη νότια Αλβανία."</ref> According to other sources Ali Pasha was part of the Albanian [[Labëria|Lab tribe]] (''Liapis''). As this tribe was in disrepute among the other Albanians for their poverty and predatory habits, he thought it proper to call himself after Tepeleni, a town of the Tosks. No one dared to dispute this until after his death.<ref>[[George Bowen]] (1852), Mount Athos, Thessaly and Epirus: A diary of a Journey, Francis & John Rivington, London, p. 192, cited in Hart Laurie Kain (1999)Culture, civilization and demarcation at the northwest borders of Greece, American Ethnologist, 26(1), pp. 196–220, footnote 19.</ref>

Ali's father, Veli Bey, was murdered when Ali was fourteen years old by neighbouring rival chiefs who seized the territories of his Tosk tribe. The family lost much of its political and material status following the murder of his father. In 1758, his mother, Hanko, a woman of extraordinary character, thereupon herself formed and led a [[brigand]] band, and studied to inspire the boy with her own fierce and indomitable temper, with a view to revenge and the recovery of their lost wealth. According to [[Byron]]: "Ali inherited 6 [[Dirham|dram]] and a [[musket]] after the death of his father ... Ali collected a few followers from among the retainers of his father, made himself master, first of one village, then of another, amassed money, increased his power, and at last found himself at the head of a considerable body of Albanians".

Ali became a famous brigand leader and attracted the attention of the Turkish authorities. He was assigned to suppress brigandage and fought for the "[[Sultan]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Empire]]" with great bravery, particularly against the famous rebel [[Osman Pazvantoğlu|Pazvantoğlu]]. He aided the pasha of [[Sanjak of Eğriboz|Negroponte]] in putting down a rebellion at [[Shkodër]], it was during this period that he was introduced to the Janissary units and was inspired by their discipline. In 1768 he married the daughter of the wealthy pasha of [[Delvina]], with whom he entered an alliance.

His rise through Ottoman ranks continued with his appointment as lieutenant to the pasha of [[Rumelia]]. In 1787 he was awarded the [[pashaluk]] of [[Sanjak of Tirhala|Trikala]] in reward for his services at [[Banat]] during the [[Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791)]]. In 1788 he seized control of [[Ioannina]], and enlisted most of the Brigands under his own banner. Ioannina would be his power base for the next 33 years. He took advantage of a weak Ottoman government to expand his territory still further until he gained control of most of Albania, western Greece and the [[Peloponnese]].

During war-time, Ali Pasha could assemble an army of 50,000 men in a matter of two to three days, and could double that number in two to three weeks. Leading these armed forces was the Supreme Council.<ref name="Historia e Popullit Shqipetar">{{cite book|title=Historia e Popullit Shqipetar|year=2002|publisher=Shtepia Botuese Toena|location=Tirana, Albania|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/14999592/ebook-shqip-albanian-Historia-e-Shqiperise-pjesa-e-pare}}</ref> The Commander in Chief was the founder and financier, Ali Pasha. Council members included [[Myftar Pasha]], [[Veli Pasha]], [[Xheladin bej Ohri]], [[Abdullah Pashe Taushani]] and a number of his trusted men like [[Hasan Dervishi]], [[Halil Patrona]], [[Omar Vrioni]], [[Meço Bono]], [[Ago Myhyrdari]], [[Thanasis Vagias]], [[Veli Gega]] (murdered by [[Katsantonis]]), and [[Tahir Abazi]].<ref name="Historia e Popullit Shqipetar"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë |year=1987 |title= Studime Historike|volume=41 |pages=140 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lJjiAAAAMAAJ&q=Thanas+Vaja+Ali&dq=Thanas+Vaja+Ali&cd=4 |accessdate=17 August 2010 }}</ref>

==Ali Pasha as ruler==
[[File:Castle of Ali Pasha in Albania facing mountains.jpg|right|thumb|Fortifications built during Ali Pasha's reign in [[Butrint]], southern Albania]]
[[File:Firmani Ali Pasha 1810.JPG|thumb|A [[Firman (decree)|Firman]] issued by Ali Pasha in 1810, written in vernacular Greek. Ali used Greek for all his courtly dealings.]]
[[File:Ali Pasha and Kira Vassiliki by Paul Emil Jacobs 1802 1866.jpg|right|thumb|Ali Pasha and his favorite mistress (or wife) Kira Vassiliki, by [[Paul Emil Jacobs]].]]

During the early days of his rule he was personally known for his alertness{{clarify|date=July 2014}}. He soon became a well-known Albanian Muslim figure. He also commanded one of the largest battalions of [[Albanians|Albanian]] [[Janissaries]];<ref>[http://mek.oszk.hu/07100/07146/07146.pdf]</ref> his servicemen also included men such as [[Samson Cerfberr of Medelsheim]]. Ali Pasha adhered to the [[Sufi]] Order of the [[Bektashi]] Brotherhood. Ali Pasha was also known to have fasted during the month of [[Ramadan]].<ref>[http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jgalt/bl-jgalt-byron-11.htm]</ref>

As pasha of Ioannina, he slowly laid the foundations to create an almost independent state, which included a large part of Greece and Albania. During his rule, the town of Ioannina developed into a major educational, cultural, political and economic hub.
In order to achieve his goals he allied with all religious and ethnic groups in his territory. At the same time he did not hesitate to fiercely crash any opponent. He also developed relations with European powers.{{fact|date=July 2014}}

Ali's policy as ruler of Ioánnina was mostly governed by expediency; he operated as a semi-independent despot and pragmatically allied himself with whoever offered the most advantage at the time. In fact, it was Ali Pasha and his Albanian soldiers and mercenaries who subdued the independent [[Souli]].<ref>Sakellariou pp. 250–251</ref>

Ali Pasha wanted to establish in the Mediterranean a sea-power which should be a counterpart of that of the [[Dey]] of [[Algiers]], Ahmed ben Ali.<ref name="1911encyclopedia.org"/> In order to gain a seaport on the Albanian coast that was dominated by [[Venice]], Ali Pasha formed an alliance with [[Napoleon I of France]], who had established [[François Pouqueville]] as his general consul in Ioannina, with the complete consent of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Sultan]] [[Selim III]].

After the [[Tilsit Conference|Treaty of Tilsit]], where Napoleon granted{{clarify|date=July 2014}} the Czar his plan to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, Ali Pasha switched sides and allied with [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] in 1807; a detailed account of his alliance with the British was written by [[Sir Richard Church]]. His actions were permitted by the Ottoman government in [[Constantinople]]. Ali Pasha was very cautious and unappeased by the emergence of the new Ottoman Sultan [[Mahmud II]] in the year 1808.

[[Lord Byron]] visited Ali's court in Ioánnina in 1809<ref>''Lord Byron's Correspondence''; John Murray, editor.</ref> and recorded the encounter in his work ''[[Childe Harold]]''. He evidently had mixed feelings about the despot, noting the splendour of Ali Pasha's court and the Greek cultural revival that he had encouraged in Ioánnina, which Byron described as being "superior in wealth, refinement and learning" to any other Greek town.

In a letter to his mother, however, Byron deplored Ali's cruelty: "His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc, etc.."<ref>Rowland E. Prothero, ed., ''The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals'', Vol. 1, 1898, [http://books.google.com/books?id=RGERAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA252&dq="mahometan+buonaparte" p. 252] (letter dated [[Preveza|Prevesa]], 12 November 1809)</ref>

Different tales about his [[sexual orientation|sexual proclivities]]<!--"sexual orientation" is an anachronistic and culturally inappropriate term here--> emerged from western visitors to Pasha's court (including Byron, the Baron de Vaudoncourt,<ref>Vaudoncourt, Guillaume de Memoirs on the Ionian Islands ... : including the life and character of Ali Pasha. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1816</ref> and [[Frederick North, Lord North|Frederick North, Earl of Guildford]]). These documenters wrote that he kept a large [[harem]] of both women and men. Such accounts may reflect the [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] imagination of Europe and underplay the historical role of Pasha rather than telling us anything concrete about his sexuality.<ref>Murray, Stephen O. & Roscoe, Will (1997) ''Islamic Homosexualities: culture, history, and literature'', NYU Press</ref>

Ali Pasha, according to one opinion, "was a cruel and faithless tyrant; still he was not a Turk, but an Albanian; he was a rebel against the Sultan ([[Mahmud II]]), and he was so far an indirect friend of the Sultan's enemies".<ref name="Freeman">[http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA177&dq=souli+albanian&id=vx1FAAAAIAAJ&output=text#PPA177,M1 ''The Ottoman Power in Europe''] by Edward Augustus Freeman</ref> Throughout his rule he is known to have maintained close relations and corresponded with famous leaders such as [[Husein Gradaščević]], [[Ibrahim Bushati]], [[Mehmet Ali Pasha]] and [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]].{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}

Though certainly no friend to the Greek Nationalists (he had personally ordered the painful execution of the Klepht [[Katsantonis]]), however his rule brought relative stability. It was only after his forceful deposition that the people of Greece objected the rule of the Sultan [[Mahmud II]] and the newly appointed [[Hursid Pasha]] and thus began the [[Greek War of Independence]].

Ali Pasha was using Greek almost as his official language, and over the gate of his castle in Yannina there was an inscription in Greek in which he claimed descent from King Pyrrhus of Epirus. It is reported that he was conversing with foreigners in Greek.<ref>[http://books.google.gr/books?id=Ul0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:Henry+inauthor:Holland&as_brr=1&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Holland Henry, ''Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia &c. during the years 1812 and 1813''. London 1815, p. 126.]</ref>

A long epic poem known as the [[Alipashiad]] consists of more than 10,000 lines is dedicated to the exploits of Ali Pasha. The [[Alipashiad]] was composed by [[Haxhi Shekreti]], an [[Albanians|Albanian]] Muslim from [[Delvinë|Delvino]] and was written entirely in Greek.<ref>Wace A.J.B. and Thompson M. S. (1914) The nomads of the Balkans: An account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus, Methuen & Co., Ltd., p. 192.</ref>

===Impact on modern Greek Enlightenment===
Although Ali Pasha's native language was [[Albanian language|Albanian]] he used [[Greek language|Greek]] for all his courtly dealings<ref name=Fleming63/> since the population of the region of [[Epirus]] (now mainly in northwestern Greece) which he controlled was predominantly [[Greeks|Greek]] speaking.<ref name=Fleming64>Fleming (1999): p. 64.</ref> As a consequence, a part of the local Greek population showed sympathy towards his rule.<ref name=Fleming63>Fleming (1999): p. 63.</ref> This also activated new educational opportunities, with businessmen of the [[Greek diaspora]], subsidizing a number of new educational purposes. As historian [[Douglas Dakin]] notes:<ref name=Fleming64/> {{Quote|[Ali's] colourful career belongs to Greek as well as to Turkish history. His court was Greek and had been the centre of a Greek renaissance.}}

===Atrocities===
[[File:Ali-Pacha-Butrinto 2.jpg|thumb|"Ali Pasha hunting on the lake" by Louis Dupré (1825)]]
The cruelties inflicted by Ali Pasha on his subjects became notorious throughout the region, and have been described in local folksong and poetry. Forty years after the inhabitants of [[Gardhiq]] and [[Hormova]] had wronged his mother after murdering his father Veli Bey (according to the story, she was tied and put in prison and, with her daughter, raped and tortured every night by another group of men), Ali wrought revenge by having 739 male descendants of the original offenders executed.

In 1808, Mühürdar a commanding Janissary of Ali Pasha captured one of his most renowned opponents, the Greek [[klepht]] [[Katsantonis]], who was executed in public by having his bones broken with a sledgehammer.<ref>Merry, Bruce. [http://books.google.gr/books?id=Q-lr20SuvfIC&pg= ''Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature''.] Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 978-0-313-30813-0, p. 231.</ref> One of Ali's notorious crimes was the massive murder of arbitrarily chosen young Greek girls of Ioannina. They were unfoundedly sentenced as adulteresses, tied up in sacks and drowned in [[Lake Pamvotis]].<ref>Fleming (1999): p. 168.</ref> Oral [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] tradition (songs) tells about the cruelty of Ali Pasha's troops.

In October 1798 Ali's troops attacked the coastal town of [[Preveza]], which was defended by a small garrison of 280 French grenadiers and local Greeks. When the town was finally conquered a major slaughter occurred against the local people as retaliation for their resistance.<ref>Fleming (1999): p. 99.</ref> He also tortured the French and Greek prisoners of war before their execution. A French officer described the atrocities ordered by Ali Pasha and his cruel character:<br/>
:"''The chamber where Mr. Tissot had been locked, was facing to the place with the bloody remainders of the French and Greeks killed in Preveza. The officer witnessed the cruel death of several Prevezans whom Ali sacrificed to his rage, and the behavior of the Pasha during executions: one hundred times more cruel than Nero, Ali was viewing with sarcasm the torments of his victims. His bloody soul enjoyed with execrable pleasure his indiscribable vengeance, and meditated still more atrocities.''
Every French captive was given a razor with which he was forced to skin the severed heads of his compatriots. Those who refused were beaten on the head with clubs. After the heads were skinned, the masks were salted and put in cloth bags. When the operation was finished, the French were driven back into the hangar, and they were warned to prepare for death.

:"Soon after they brought the unfortunate Prevezans, whose hands had been tied behind their back by the Albanians. They piled them in large boats and drove to Salagora (a small island in the gulf of [[Arta, Greece|Arta]]), where a legion of executioners were waiting. Ali did a hecatomb of these four hundred misfortunes. Their heads were carried in a triumph offered soon in [[Ioannina]], a spectacle worthy of his ferocity''".<ref>[http://books.google.gr/books?id=8CA2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=el&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=sanguinaire&f=false Bellaire, J.P.- ''Précis des opérations générales de la division Française du Levant, Chargée, pendant les années V,VI et VII de la défense des îles et possessions ex-vénitiennes de la mer Ionienne, formant\naujourd' hui la République des Sept-Isles.'' Paris, 1805. pp. 418-420]</ref>

In the early nineteenth century his troops completed the destruction of the once prosperous cultural center of [[Moscopole]], in modern southeastern Albania, and forced its [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] population to flee from the region.<ref>Winnifrith, Tom. [http://books.google.gr/books?ei=n8K9TPapJOCR4ga9-I3aAQ&ct=result&id=SXagAAAAMAAJ&dq=moschopolis%2B1788&q=%22This+sack+was+followed+by+a+second+wave+of+destruction+in+1788%2C+and+Ali+Pasha+in+the+early+nineteenth+century+merely+completed+the+process%22#search_anchorThe Vlachs: the history of a Balkan people]. Duckworth, 1987, ISBN 978-0-7156-2135-6, p. 130.</ref>

==Ali Pasha and Metsovo==
His prevalence as the highest ranking Ottoman ruler in the Epirus-Thessaly region overturned the balanced status hitherto achieved between Metsovo and the Ottoman state. In 1795 he leased to himself the mukataa of Chora Metsovou. Historians see this as the end of the privileged regime enjoyed by the Metsovo region since the mid-17th century. Nevertheless, despite the arbitrary imposing of taxes and the end of the supervision of the area by Ottoman officials in Constantinople, this change does not rescind the tax status and, primarily, the administrative and geographic framework that governed the area until then. Even in 1802, seven years after the mukataa of Metsovo came under the rule of Ali Pasha, Sultan Selim III addressed a document to the ruler and the Islamic judge of the sanjak of Trikala, which notifies them of the reinstatement of the previous orders (firmans) regarding Metsovo. This administrative action confirms that Ali Pasha had not turned Chora Metsovou into his personal fief, as he had done with many other districts in his territory. Despite, however, the respect he formally demosntratestowards the privileged regime of Metsovo, in reality he tries to undermine it in all its aspects. Besides the fact that he becomes the sole lord of the district, he imposes harsh measures on its population. In particular, he increases the amount of taxes paid thus far and makes them include an Albanian garrison appointed by him in the mountain passages they oversaw. Furthermore, he burdens the town of Metsovo with the expenses for the wages of Metsovite builders and carpenters working in his building projects and the cost of the required timber. Still, in spite of the conflicts they cause in the local society, these developments do not change the internal structure of the administration of Chora Metsovou. The tax collection mechanism continues to operate based on the methods applied in the 18th century.

==Downfall==
In 1819, [[Halet Efendi]] brought to the attention of Sultan [[Mahmud II]] issues conspicuously related to Ali Pasha; [[Halet Efendi]] accused Ali Pasha of ''grabbing power'' and influence in Ottoman [[Rumelia]] away from the [[Sublime Porte]]. In 1820, Ali Pasha, after long tensions with the [[Ottoman military reform efforts|Turkish Reforms]], allegedly ordered the assassination of [[Gaskho Bey]], a political opponent in [[Constantinople]]; Sultan [[Mahmud II]], who sought to restore the authority of the [[Sublime Porte]], took this as a major opportunity to move against Ali Pasha by ordering his immediate deposition.

[[File:Ali Pascha von Janina - Sultan Mahmud II - Johann Nepomuk Geiger.jpg|thumb|Ali Pasha's head being presented to the Ottoman Sultan [[Mahmud II]]]]
[[File:Ali Pashas Grave (Medium).JPG|thumb|Ali Pasha's tomb in Ioannina]]
Ali Pasha refused to resign his official post and put up a fierce resistance to the Sultan's troop movements, as some 20,000 Turkish troops led by [[Hursid Pasha]] were fighting Ali Pasha's small but formidable army. Most of his followers abandoned him without fighting and fled, including [[Odysseas Androutsos|Androutsos]] and his sons Veli and Muhtar, or passed to the Ottoman army, such as [[Omer Vrioni]] and [[Alexis Noutsos]], who went unopposed to Ioannina, which was besieged from September 1820.

On December 4, 1820, Ali Pasha and the [[Souliotes]] formed an anti-Ottoman coalition, to which the Souliotes contributed 3,000 soldiers. Ali Pasha gained the support of the Souliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of the Souliotes to their land, and partly by appeal to their perceived Albanian origin.<ref name="Fleming1999">{{cite book|last=Fleming|first=Katherine Elizabeth|title=The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NX93wUlfYpEC&pg=PA47&dq=Ioannina+%2B+Albanian#v=onepage&q=support%20in%20part%20through%20an%20appeal%20to%20shared%20Albanian%20origins&f=false|accessdate=19 October 2010|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00194-4|page=59}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fleming|first=Katherine Elizabeth|title=The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NX93wUlfYpEC&pg=PA47&dq=Ioannina+%2B+Albanian#v=onepage&q=was%20obtained%20only%20after%20Ali's%20promise&f=false|accessdate=19 October 2010|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00194-4|page=63}}</ref> Initially, the coalition was successful and managed to control most of the region, but when the Muslim Albanian troops of Ali Pasha were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts in the Morea, it was terminated.<ref name = Clogg>{{citation
|last=Victor Roudometof; Roland Robertson
|title=Nationalism, globalization, and orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans
|url=http://books.google.com/?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&pg=PA189&dq=Victor+Roudometof%2BChams
|year=2001
|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001
|isbn=978-0-313-31949-5
|ean=
|page=25
}}</ref>

Ali's rebellion against the [[Sublime Porte]] increased the value of the Greek military element since their services were sought by the Porte as well. He is said to have contracted the services of the [[Klephts]] and [[Souliots]] in exile in the [[Ionian Islands]] as well as the armatoles under his command.<ref>John S. Koliopoulos '' Brigands with a Cause'', p. 40</ref> However he feared that the [[Klephts]] might rout him before the arrival of the Ottoman Turks.

His separatist actions constitute a great example of the institutional corruption and dividing trends prevailing in the Ottoman empire at the time. His effort to become an independent ruler finally causes the reaction of the High Gate, which sends the army against him. After about two years of fighting, in January 1822, Ottoman forces had taken most of the fortifications of Ioannina except the fortified palace inside the kastro. Ali Pasha opened negotiations. Deceived with offers of a full pardon, he was persuaded to leave the fortress and settle in the Monastery of St Panteleimon on the island in [[Lake Pamvotis]], previously taken by the Ottoman army during the siege. When asked to surrender for beheading, he famously proclaimed, "My head ... will not be surrendered like the head of a slave,"<ref name="Dumas" /> and kept fighting till the end, but was shot through the floor of his room and his head cut off to be sent to the Sultan. Ali Pasha of Tepelena died in 1822.

<blockquote>[[Hursid Pasha]], to whom it was presented on a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed three times before it, and respectfully kissed the beard, expressing aloud his wish that he himself might deserve a similar end. To such an extent did the admiration with which Ali's bravery inspired these men efface the memory of his crimes.<ref name="Dumas"/></blockquote>

Ali Pasha was buried with full honors in a mausoleum next to the [[Fethiye Mosque (Ioannina)|Fethiye Mosque]], which still stands. Despite his brutal rule, villagers paid their last respect to Ali: "Never was seen greater mourning than that of the warlike Epirotes."<ref name="Dumas"/>

The former monastery in which Ali Pasha was killed is today a popular tourist attraction. The holes made by the bullets can still be seen, and the monastery has a museum dedicated to him, which includes a number of his personal possessions.<ref name="ioannina.a3io8eata">{{gr icon}} {{cite web |year= 2009|url = http://www.ioannina.gr/DI/tourismos/a3io8eata.htm#mouseio|title = Μουσεία| accessdate =12 November 2009 | last= Νήσος Ιωαννίνων. | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20091103200740/http://www.ioannina.gr/DI/tourismos/a3io8eata.htm| archivedate=3 November 2009<!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>

==Ali Pasha in literature==

[[File:The Topkapi Diamond.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Spoonmaker's Diamond]], now in the Topkapi Palace, is said to have been part of the treasury of Ali Pasha.|left]]
[[File:Massue Ali Janina.jpg|thumb|right|Ali Pasha's [[Mace (club)|mace]], now at the [[Institut et Musée Voltaire]] in Geneva.]]

In early 19th century, Ali's personal [[ballad]]eer, Haxhi Shekreti,<ref>{{cite book | last= Ruches|first= Pyrrhus J., ed. | title=Albanian Historical Folksongs, 1716–1943: a survey of oral epic poetry from southern Albania, with original texts | publisher=Argonaut| year=1967| location=Chicago |url=http://books.google.com/books?cd=2&id=9H9CAAAAIAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Pyrrhus+J.+Ruches%22&q=alipasiad#search_anchor| page = 123 | isbn=}}</ref> composed the poem ''[[Alipashiad]]''. The poem was written in [[Greek language]], since the author considered it a more prestigious language in which to praise his master.<ref>{{cite book | last=Tziovas|first= Dēmētrēs | title=Greece and the Balkans: identities, perceptions and cultural encounters since the Enlightenment | publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year=2003| editor= | page = 5|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=RjGidYC9pUYC&dq=|isbn=978-0-7546-0998-8}}</ref> Alipashiad bears the unusual feature to be written from the Muslim point of view of that time.<ref>{{cite book | last=Merry|first= Bruce | title=Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| year=2004| editor= | page= 12 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Q-lr20SuvfIC&dq=| isbn=978-0-313-30813-0}}</ref>

In the novel ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' by [[Alexandre Dumas, père]], Ali Pasha's downfall was brought about by the treachery of Fernand Mondego, an officer in the French Army. Not knowing of the betrayal, Pasha entrusted his wife and daughter to Mondego for safekeeping but he sold them into slavery. Monte Cristo subsequently located the daughter, Haydée, and helped her take revenge on Mondego by testifying in Paris of his betrayal of Ali Pasha.

Ali Pasha is also a major character in the 1854 [[Mór Jókai]]'s Hungarian novel ''Janicsárok végnapjai'' ("The Last Days of the [[Janissaries]]"), translated into English by R. Nisbet Bain, 1897, under the title ''The Lion of Janina''.

Ali Pasha and [[Hursid Pasha]] are the main characters in [[Ismail Kadare]]'s historic novel ''[[The Niche of Shame]]'' (original title "[[El Nicho De La Vergüenza]]").

Many of the conflicting versions about the origin of the "[[Spoonmaker's Diamond]]", a major treasure of the [[Topkapi Palace]] in Istanbul, link it with Ali Pasha – though their historical authenticity is doubtful. {{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

==See also==
*[[Greek War of Independence]]
*[[History of Albania]]
*[[History of Ottoman Albania]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* "Ali Pasa Tepelenë." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2005)
* "Ali Pasha (1744? – 1822)". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'' (2004).
* Ellingham et al. ''Rough Guide to Greece'', (2000)
* Fleming, Katherine Elizabeth. [http://books.google.gr/books?id=NX93wUlfYpEC&dq= ''The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece.''] Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-691-00194-4.
* Koliopoulos, John S. (1987) ''Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Modern Greece 1821–1912''. Clarendon Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-822863-5
*{{cite book|last=Sakellariou|first=M. V.|title=Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization|publisher=Ekdotike Athenon|year=1997|isbn=960-213-371-6|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UV1oAAAAMAAJ}}
*S. Aravantinos, Istoria Ali Pasa tou Tepelenli, [the history of Ali Pasha Tepelenli based on the unpublished texts by Panagiotis Arantinos] Athens 1895, (photographic reprint, Athens 1979).
*Gr. Lars, I Albania kai I Epiros sta teli tou IG’ kai stis arches tou IH’ aion. Ta Dytikovalkanika Pasalikia tis Othomanikis Autokratorias [Albania and Epirus I the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Ottoman Eyalets of Western Balkans, transl. A. Dialla, publ. Gutenberg, Athens 1994, pp. 144-173.
*G. Siorokas, I eksoteriki politiki tou Ali pasa ton Ioanninon. Apo to Tilsit sti Vienni [the internal affairs policy of Ali Pasha. From Tilsit to Vienna] (1807-1815), Ioannina, 1999.
*D. Skiotis, “Apo listis pasas. Ta prota vimata stin anodo tou Ali pasa ton Ioanninon [From bandit to Pasha. The early years of Ali Pasha], (1750-1784)”, Thisaurimata 6 (1969), pp. 257-290
*Dim. A. Zotos, I dikaiosyni eis to kratos tou Ali pasa [Justice in the state of Ali Pasha], Athens, 1938.
*Vaso D. Psimouli, Souli kai Souliotes, Athens 1998
*Ali Pasha Archives, 2007, I. Chotzi collection, Gennadius Library, Ed. – Cpmmentary – Index: V. Panagiotopoulos with collaboration of D. Dimitropoulou, P. Michailari, Vol. 4
*A. Papastavros, Ali Pasas, apo listarchos igemonas [Ali Pasha, from bandit to leader], publ. Apeirotan, 2013.
*W. M. Leake, Travels in northern Greece, Α.Μ.Ηakkert-Publisher, (photographic reprint Amsterdam 1967). Vol. 1, pp.295,Vol. 4, pp. 260
*I. Lampridis, “Malakasiaka”, Epirotika Meletimata [Epirote Studies] 5 (1888), publ. 2. Society for Epirote Studies. (EHM),, Ioannina 1993, p. 25
*Ali Pasha Archives, I. Chotzi collection, Gennadius Library, Ed. – Commentary – Index: V. Panagiotopoulos with the collaboration of D. Dimitropoulou, P. Michailari, 2007, Vol. B’, pp. 672-674 (doc. 851), 676-677, (doc. 855), 806-807 (doc. 943).
*G. Plataris, Kodikas Choras Metsovou ton eton 1708-1907 [Chora Metsovou Log of the years 1708-1907], Athens 1982, pp. 105, 120.
*V. Skafidas, “Istoria tou Metsovou” [History of Metsovo], Epirotiki Estia 11/121, 122 (1962), p. 387.
*M. Tritos, “Ta sozomena firmania ton pronomion tou Metsovou” [The surviving firmans about the privileges granted to Metsovo], Minutes of the 1st Conference of Metsovite Studies, Athens 1993, pp. 404.

==Further reading==
* [[Peter Oluf Brøndsted|Brøndsted, Peter Oluf]], ''Interviews with Ali Pacha''; edited by Jacob Isager'', (Athens, 1998)
* Davenport, ''The Life of Ali Pasha'', (London, 1837)
* [[Alexandre Dumas, père|Dumas père, Alexandre]], ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2753 Ali Pacha, Celebrated Crimes]''
* Fauriel, Claude Charles: ''Die Sulioten und ihre Kriege mit Ali Pascha von Janina'', (Breslau, 1834)
* [[Mór Jókai|Jóka, Mór]]: ''Janicsárok végnapjai'', Pest, 1854. (in English: Maurus Jókai: ''The Lion of Janina'', translated by R. Nisbet Bain, 1897). [http://mek.oszk.hu/07100/07146/07146.pdf]
* Manzour, Ibrahim, ''Mémoires sur la Grèce et l'Albanie pendant le gouvernement d'Ali Pacha'', (Paris, 1827)
* Pouqueville, François, ''Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire Ottoman'' (Paris, 1805, 3 vol. in-8°), translated in English, German, Greek, Italian, Swedish, etc. available [http://gallica.bnf.fr/Catalogue/noticesInd/FRBNF31143911.htm on line] at [[Gallica]]
* Pouqueville, François, ''Travels in Epirus, Albania, Macedonia, and Thessaly'' (London: printed for Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1820), an English denatured and truncated edition available [http://www.promacedonia.org/en/fp/index.html on line]
* Pouqueville, François, ''Voyage en Grèce'' (Paris, 1820–1822, 5 vol. in-8° ; 20 édit., 1826–1827, 6 vol. in-8°), his capital work
* Pouqueville, François, ''Histoire de la régénération de la Grèce'' (Paris, 1824, 4 vol. in-8°), translated in many languages. French original edition available on Google books [http://books.google.fr/books?id=kM8GAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPP9,M1]
* Pouqueville, François, ''Notice sur la fin tragique d’Ali-Tébélen'' (Paris 1822, in-8°)
* Skiotis, Dennis N., "From Bandit to Pasha: first steps in the rise to power of Ali of Tepelen, 1750–1784", ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' '''2''': 3: 219–244 (July 1971) ([http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0020-7438%28197107%292%3A3%3C219%3AFBTPFS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 JSTOR])
* Vaudoncourt, Guillaume de ''Memoirs on the Ionian Islands ... : including the life and character of Ali Pacha''. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1816



==External links==
*{{commons-inline|Tepedelenli Ali Paşa}}

{{Greek War of Independence|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control|VIAF=26048799}}

{{Persondata
| NAME = Ali Pasha
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Ottoman ruler
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1740
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Tepelenë]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (now [[Albania]])
| DATE OF DEATH = 24 January 1822
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Ioannina]], Ottoman Empire (now [[Greece]])
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Pasha}}
[[Category:1740 births]]
[[Category:1822 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Tepelenë District]]
[[Category:Albanian Muslims]]
[[Category:Pashas]]
[[Category:Ottoman civil servants]]
[[Category:18th-century Albanian people]]
[[Category:19th-century Albanian people]]
[[Category:18th-century Ottoman people]]
[[Category:19th-century Ottoman people]]
[[Category:Ottoman Greece]]
[[Category:Ottoman Albanians]]
[[Category:Albanian nobility]]
[[Category:Albanian Pashas]]

Revision as of 13:16, 10 July 2014

Ali Pasha of Tepelena
Ali Pasha
Pasha of Yanina
In office
1788–1822
Personal details
Born1740
Beçisht, Ottoman Empire (now Albania)
Died1822 (aged 81–82)
Ioannina, Ottoman Empire (now Greece)
Parent(s)Veli bey and Hanka
Nickname(s)"Arslan" (Template:Lang-tr)
"Lion of Yannina"

Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina (Ioannina), surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina" (1740 – 24 January 1822), was an Ottoman Albanian ruler (pasha) of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory, which was referred to as the Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina, but the territory he governed incorporated most of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece. Ali had three sons: Ahmet Muhtar Pasha (served in the 1809 war against the Russians), Veli Pasha of Morea and Salih Pasha of Vlore.[1][2] Ali Pasha of Tepelena died fighting[3] in 1822 at the age of 81 or 82. He played a major part in the history of Epirus and more generally the history of Greece and Albania around the turn of the 19th century. He first appears in historical accounts as the leader of a band of brigands who became involved in many confrontations with Ottoman state officials in Albania and Epirus. He joined the administrative-military apparatus of the Ottoman Empire, holding various posts until 1788 when he was appointed pasha, ruler of the sanjak of Ioannina. His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modernist ideas and concepts, his popular religiousness, his religious neutrality, his win over the bands terrorizing the area, his revengefulness and harshness in imposing law and order, and his looting practices towards persons and communities in order to increase his proceeds cause both the admiration and the criticism of his contemporaries, as well as an ongoing controversy among historians regarding his personality.

Name

His name in the local languages was: Albanian: Ali Pashë Tepelenjoti; Aromanian: Ali Pãshelu; Greek: Αλή Πασάς Τεπελενλής Ali Pasas Tepelenlis or Αλή Πασάς των Ιωαννίνων Ali Pasas ton Ioanninon (Ali Pasha of Ioannina); and Turkish: Tepedelenli Ali Paşa.

Early years

The statue of Ali Pasha in Tepelene

Ali was born in 1740 into a powerful clan in the village Beçisht, at the foot of the Këlcyrë mountains near the Albanian town of Tepelenë. He was one of the Tosk tribes and his ancestors had for some time held the hereditary office of bey of Tepeleni.[4] His father Veli was bey (and possibly a retired Janissary). His grandfather (father of his mother Hanka) was Ahmet Pasha Kurt, a sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Avlona In the middle of the 18th century, from the Muzaka family who was later appointed to the position of derbendci aga (guardian of the mountain passes). Ahmet Pasha Kurt held this position until the sultan appointed Ahmet's grandson, Ali Pasha, instead of him.[5]

About his origin, Robert Elsie, an expert in Albanian culture and affairs, states that he was born of a Turkish family from Anatolia.[6] However, this has been refuted since it was proven that his family originated from southern Albania.[7] According to other sources Ali Pasha was part of the Albanian Lab tribe (Liapis). As this tribe was in disrepute among the other Albanians for their poverty and predatory habits, he thought it proper to call himself after Tepeleni, a town of the Tosks. No one dared to dispute this until after his death.[8]

Ali's father, Veli Bey, was murdered when Ali was fourteen years old by neighbouring rival chiefs who seized the territories of his Tosk tribe. The family lost much of its political and material status following the murder of his father. In 1758, his mother, Hanko, a woman of extraordinary character, thereupon herself formed and led a brigand band, and studied to inspire the boy with her own fierce and indomitable temper, with a view to revenge and the recovery of their lost wealth. According to Byron: "Ali inherited 6 dram and a musket after the death of his father ... Ali collected a few followers from among the retainers of his father, made himself master, first of one village, then of another, amassed money, increased his power, and at last found himself at the head of a considerable body of Albanians".

Ali became a famous brigand leader and attracted the attention of the Turkish authorities. He was assigned to suppress brigandage and fought for the "Sultan and Empire" with great bravery, particularly against the famous rebel Pazvantoğlu. He aided the pasha of Negroponte in putting down a rebellion at Shkodër, it was during this period that he was introduced to the Janissary units and was inspired by their discipline. In 1768 he married the daughter of the wealthy pasha of Delvina, with whom he entered an alliance.

His rise through Ottoman ranks continued with his appointment as lieutenant to the pasha of Rumelia. In 1787 he was awarded the pashaluk of Trikala in reward for his services at Banat during the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791). In 1788 he seized control of Ioannina, and enlisted most of the Brigands under his own banner. Ioannina would be his power base for the next 33 years. He took advantage of a weak Ottoman government to expand his territory still further until he gained control of most of Albania, western Greece and the Peloponnese.

During war-time, Ali Pasha could assemble an army of 50,000 men in a matter of two to three days, and could double that number in two to three weeks. Leading these armed forces was the Supreme Council.[9] The Commander in Chief was the founder and financier, Ali Pasha. Council members included Myftar Pasha, Veli Pasha, Xheladin bej Ohri, Abdullah Pashe Taushani and a number of his trusted men like Hasan Dervishi, Halil Patrona, Omar Vrioni, Meço Bono, Ago Myhyrdari, Thanasis Vagias, Veli Gega (murdered by Katsantonis), and Tahir Abazi.[9][10]

Ali Pasha as ruler

Fortifications built during Ali Pasha's reign in Butrint, southern Albania
A Firman issued by Ali Pasha in 1810, written in vernacular Greek. Ali used Greek for all his courtly dealings.
Ali Pasha and his favorite mistress (or wife) Kira Vassiliki, by Paul Emil Jacobs.

During the early days of his rule he was personally known for his alertness[clarification needed]. He soon became a well-known Albanian Muslim figure. He also commanded one of the largest battalions of Albanian Janissaries;[11] his servicemen also included men such as Samson Cerfberr of Medelsheim. Ali Pasha adhered to the Sufi Order of the Bektashi Brotherhood. Ali Pasha was also known to have fasted during the month of Ramadan.[12]

As pasha of Ioannina, he slowly laid the foundations to create an almost independent state, which included a large part of Greece and Albania. During his rule, the town of Ioannina developed into a major educational, cultural, political and economic hub. In order to achieve his goals he allied with all religious and ethnic groups in his territory. At the same time he did not hesitate to fiercely crash any opponent. He also developed relations with European powers.[citation needed]

Ali's policy as ruler of Ioánnina was mostly governed by expediency; he operated as a semi-independent despot and pragmatically allied himself with whoever offered the most advantage at the time. In fact, it was Ali Pasha and his Albanian soldiers and mercenaries who subdued the independent Souli.[13]

Ali Pasha wanted to establish in the Mediterranean a sea-power which should be a counterpart of that of the Dey of Algiers, Ahmed ben Ali.[4] In order to gain a seaport on the Albanian coast that was dominated by Venice, Ali Pasha formed an alliance with Napoleon I of France, who had established François Pouqueville as his general consul in Ioannina, with the complete consent of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III.

After the Treaty of Tilsit, where Napoleon granted[clarification needed] the Czar his plan to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, Ali Pasha switched sides and allied with Britain in 1807; a detailed account of his alliance with the British was written by Sir Richard Church. His actions were permitted by the Ottoman government in Constantinople. Ali Pasha was very cautious and unappeased by the emergence of the new Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II in the year 1808.

Lord Byron visited Ali's court in Ioánnina in 1809[14] and recorded the encounter in his work Childe Harold. He evidently had mixed feelings about the despot, noting the splendour of Ali Pasha's court and the Greek cultural revival that he had encouraged in Ioánnina, which Byron described as being "superior in wealth, refinement and learning" to any other Greek town.

In a letter to his mother, however, Byron deplored Ali's cruelty: "His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc, etc.."[15]

Different tales about his sexual proclivities emerged from western visitors to Pasha's court (including Byron, the Baron de Vaudoncourt,[16] and Frederick North, Earl of Guildford). These documenters wrote that he kept a large harem of both women and men. Such accounts may reflect the Orientalist imagination of Europe and underplay the historical role of Pasha rather than telling us anything concrete about his sexuality.[17]

Ali Pasha, according to one opinion, "was a cruel and faithless tyrant; still he was not a Turk, but an Albanian; he was a rebel against the Sultan (Mahmud II), and he was so far an indirect friend of the Sultan's enemies".[18] Throughout his rule he is known to have maintained close relations and corresponded with famous leaders such as Husein Gradaščević, Ibrahim Bushati, Mehmet Ali Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha.[citation needed]

Though certainly no friend to the Greek Nationalists (he had personally ordered the painful execution of the Klepht Katsantonis), however his rule brought relative stability. It was only after his forceful deposition that the people of Greece objected the rule of the Sultan Mahmud II and the newly appointed Hursid Pasha and thus began the Greek War of Independence.

Ali Pasha was using Greek almost as his official language, and over the gate of his castle in Yannina there was an inscription in Greek in which he claimed descent from King Pyrrhus of Epirus. It is reported that he was conversing with foreigners in Greek.[19]

A long epic poem known as the Alipashiad consists of more than 10,000 lines is dedicated to the exploits of Ali Pasha. The Alipashiad was composed by Haxhi Shekreti, an Albanian Muslim from Delvino and was written entirely in Greek.[20]

Impact on modern Greek Enlightenment

Although Ali Pasha's native language was Albanian he used Greek for all his courtly dealings[21] since the population of the region of Epirus (now mainly in northwestern Greece) which he controlled was predominantly Greek speaking.[22] As a consequence, a part of the local Greek population showed sympathy towards his rule.[21] This also activated new educational opportunities, with businessmen of the Greek diaspora, subsidizing a number of new educational purposes. As historian Douglas Dakin notes:[22]

[Ali's] colourful career belongs to Greek as well as to Turkish history. His court was Greek and had been the centre of a Greek renaissance.

Atrocities

"Ali Pasha hunting on the lake" by Louis Dupré (1825)

The cruelties inflicted by Ali Pasha on his subjects became notorious throughout the region, and have been described in local folksong and poetry. Forty years after the inhabitants of Gardhiq and Hormova had wronged his mother after murdering his father Veli Bey (according to the story, she was tied and put in prison and, with her daughter, raped and tortured every night by another group of men), Ali wrought revenge by having 739 male descendants of the original offenders executed.

In 1808, Mühürdar a commanding Janissary of Ali Pasha captured one of his most renowned opponents, the Greek klepht Katsantonis, who was executed in public by having his bones broken with a sledgehammer.[23] One of Ali's notorious crimes was the massive murder of arbitrarily chosen young Greek girls of Ioannina. They were unfoundedly sentenced as adulteresses, tied up in sacks and drowned in Lake Pamvotis.[24] Oral Aromanian tradition (songs) tells about the cruelty of Ali Pasha's troops.

In October 1798 Ali's troops attacked the coastal town of Preveza, which was defended by a small garrison of 280 French grenadiers and local Greeks. When the town was finally conquered a major slaughter occurred against the local people as retaliation for their resistance.[25] He also tortured the French and Greek prisoners of war before their execution. A French officer described the atrocities ordered by Ali Pasha and his cruel character:

"The chamber where Mr. Tissot had been locked, was facing to the place with the bloody remainders of the French and Greeks killed in Preveza. The officer witnessed the cruel death of several Prevezans whom Ali sacrificed to his rage, and the behavior of the Pasha during executions: one hundred times more cruel than Nero, Ali was viewing with sarcasm the torments of his victims. His bloody soul enjoyed with execrable pleasure his indiscribable vengeance, and meditated still more atrocities.

Every French captive was given a razor with which he was forced to skin the severed heads of his compatriots. Those who refused were beaten on the head with clubs. After the heads were skinned, the masks were salted and put in cloth bags. When the operation was finished, the French were driven back into the hangar, and they were warned to prepare for death.

"Soon after they brought the unfortunate Prevezans, whose hands had been tied behind their back by the Albanians. They piled them in large boats and drove to Salagora (a small island in the gulf of Arta), where a legion of executioners were waiting. Ali did a hecatomb of these four hundred misfortunes. Their heads were carried in a triumph offered soon in Ioannina, a spectacle worthy of his ferocity".[26]

In the early nineteenth century his troops completed the destruction of the once prosperous cultural center of Moscopole, in modern southeastern Albania, and forced its Aromanian population to flee from the region.[27]

Ali Pasha and Metsovo

His prevalence as the highest ranking Ottoman ruler in the Epirus-Thessaly region overturned the balanced status hitherto achieved between Metsovo and the Ottoman state. In 1795 he leased to himself the mukataa of Chora Metsovou. Historians see this as the end of the privileged regime enjoyed by the Metsovo region since the mid-17th century. Nevertheless, despite the arbitrary imposing of taxes and the end of the supervision of the area by Ottoman officials in Constantinople, this change does not rescind the tax status and, primarily, the administrative and geographic framework that governed the area until then. Even in 1802, seven years after the mukataa of Metsovo came under the rule of Ali Pasha, Sultan Selim III addressed a document to the ruler and the Islamic judge of the sanjak of Trikala, which notifies them of the reinstatement of the previous orders (firmans) regarding Metsovo. This administrative action confirms that Ali Pasha had not turned Chora Metsovou into his personal fief, as he had done with many other districts in his territory. Despite, however, the respect he formally demosntratestowards the privileged regime of Metsovo, in reality he tries to undermine it in all its aspects. Besides the fact that he becomes the sole lord of the district, he imposes harsh measures on its population. In particular, he increases the amount of taxes paid thus far and makes them include an Albanian garrison appointed by him in the mountain passages they oversaw. Furthermore, he burdens the town of Metsovo with the expenses for the wages of Metsovite builders and carpenters working in his building projects and the cost of the required timber. Still, in spite of the conflicts they cause in the local society, these developments do not change the internal structure of the administration of Chora Metsovou. The tax collection mechanism continues to operate based on the methods applied in the 18th century.

Downfall

In 1819, Halet Efendi brought to the attention of Sultan Mahmud II issues conspicuously related to Ali Pasha; Halet Efendi accused Ali Pasha of grabbing power and influence in Ottoman Rumelia away from the Sublime Porte. In 1820, Ali Pasha, after long tensions with the Turkish Reforms, allegedly ordered the assassination of Gaskho Bey, a political opponent in Constantinople; Sultan Mahmud II, who sought to restore the authority of the Sublime Porte, took this as a major opportunity to move against Ali Pasha by ordering his immediate deposition.

Ali Pasha's head being presented to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II
Ali Pasha's tomb in Ioannina

Ali Pasha refused to resign his official post and put up a fierce resistance to the Sultan's troop movements, as some 20,000 Turkish troops led by Hursid Pasha were fighting Ali Pasha's small but formidable army. Most of his followers abandoned him without fighting and fled, including Androutsos and his sons Veli and Muhtar, or passed to the Ottoman army, such as Omer Vrioni and Alexis Noutsos, who went unopposed to Ioannina, which was besieged from September 1820.

On December 4, 1820, Ali Pasha and the Souliotes formed an anti-Ottoman coalition, to which the Souliotes contributed 3,000 soldiers. Ali Pasha gained the support of the Souliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of the Souliotes to their land, and partly by appeal to their perceived Albanian origin.[28][29] Initially, the coalition was successful and managed to control most of the region, but when the Muslim Albanian troops of Ali Pasha were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts in the Morea, it was terminated.[30]

Ali's rebellion against the Sublime Porte increased the value of the Greek military element since their services were sought by the Porte as well. He is said to have contracted the services of the Klephts and Souliots in exile in the Ionian Islands as well as the armatoles under his command.[31] However he feared that the Klephts might rout him before the arrival of the Ottoman Turks.

His separatist actions constitute a great example of the institutional corruption and dividing trends prevailing in the Ottoman empire at the time. His effort to become an independent ruler finally causes the reaction of the High Gate, which sends the army against him. After about two years of fighting, in January 1822, Ottoman forces had taken most of the fortifications of Ioannina except the fortified palace inside the kastro. Ali Pasha opened negotiations. Deceived with offers of a full pardon, he was persuaded to leave the fortress and settle in the Monastery of St Panteleimon on the island in Lake Pamvotis, previously taken by the Ottoman army during the siege. When asked to surrender for beheading, he famously proclaimed, "My head ... will not be surrendered like the head of a slave,"[3] and kept fighting till the end, but was shot through the floor of his room and his head cut off to be sent to the Sultan. Ali Pasha of Tepelena died in 1822.

Hursid Pasha, to whom it was presented on a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed three times before it, and respectfully kissed the beard, expressing aloud his wish that he himself might deserve a similar end. To such an extent did the admiration with which Ali's bravery inspired these men efface the memory of his crimes.[3]

Ali Pasha was buried with full honors in a mausoleum next to the Fethiye Mosque, which still stands. Despite his brutal rule, villagers paid their last respect to Ali: "Never was seen greater mourning than that of the warlike Epirotes."[3]

The former monastery in which Ali Pasha was killed is today a popular tourist attraction. The holes made by the bullets can still be seen, and the monastery has a museum dedicated to him, which includes a number of his personal possessions.[32]

Ali Pasha in literature

File:The Topkapi Diamond.JPG
The Spoonmaker's Diamond, now in the Topkapi Palace, is said to have been part of the treasury of Ali Pasha.
Ali Pasha's mace, now at the Institut et Musée Voltaire in Geneva.

In early 19th century, Ali's personal balladeer, Haxhi Shekreti,[33] composed the poem Alipashiad. The poem was written in Greek language, since the author considered it a more prestigious language in which to praise his master.[34] Alipashiad bears the unusual feature to be written from the Muslim point of view of that time.[35]

In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, père, Ali Pasha's downfall was brought about by the treachery of Fernand Mondego, an officer in the French Army. Not knowing of the betrayal, Pasha entrusted his wife and daughter to Mondego for safekeeping but he sold them into slavery. Monte Cristo subsequently located the daughter, Haydée, and helped her take revenge on Mondego by testifying in Paris of his betrayal of Ali Pasha.

Ali Pasha is also a major character in the 1854 Mór Jókai's Hungarian novel Janicsárok végnapjai ("The Last Days of the Janissaries"), translated into English by R. Nisbet Bain, 1897, under the title The Lion of Janina.

Ali Pasha and Hursid Pasha are the main characters in Ismail Kadare's historic novel The Niche of Shame (original title "El Nicho De La Vergüenza").

Many of the conflicting versions about the origin of the "Spoonmaker's Diamond", a major treasure of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, link it with Ali Pasha – though their historical authenticity is doubtful. [citation needed]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/18/24/106.pdf
  2. ^ Sellheim, R. (1992). Oriens. BRILL. p. 303. ISBN 978-90-04-09651-6. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d Ali Pacha: Celebrated Crimes by Alexandre Dumas, père
  4. ^ a b http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Ali_Pasha
  5. ^ Robert Elsie (December 24, 2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. I.B.Tauris. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3.
  6. ^ Fishta, Gjergj (2005). The Highland Lute (Lahuta e malcís): the Albanian national epic. London: I.B.Tauris. p. 402. ISBN 978-1-84511-118-2. Retrieved August 26, 2010. Lion of Janina, was born of a Turkish family from Asia Minor. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Ahmet Uzun.Ο Αλή Πασάς ο Τεπελενλής και η περιουσία του.. [Ali Pasha from Tepeleni and his fortune] (Greek), p. 3: "Εξαιτίας της μοναδικότητας του ονόματος μιας οικογένειας που μετανάστευσε από την Ανατολία στη Ρούμελη και εγκαταστάθηκε στο Τεπελένι, υπάρχουν ισχυρισμοί που τον θέλουν Τούρκο. Εντούτοις οι ισχυρισμοί αυτοί είναι αβάσιμοι αφού στην πραγματικότητα είναι αποδεδειγμένο ότι καταγόταν από τη νότια Αλβανία."
  8. ^ George Bowen (1852), Mount Athos, Thessaly and Epirus: A diary of a Journey, Francis & John Rivington, London, p. 192, cited in Hart Laurie Kain (1999)Culture, civilization and demarcation at the northwest borders of Greece, American Ethnologist, 26(1), pp. 196–220, footnote 19.
  9. ^ a b Historia e Popullit Shqipetar. Tirana, Albania: Shtepia Botuese Toena. 2002.
  10. ^ Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë (1987). "Studime Historike". 41: 140. Retrieved August 17, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ Sakellariou pp. 250–251
  14. ^ Lord Byron's Correspondence; John Murray, editor.
  15. ^ Rowland E. Prothero, ed., The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals, Vol. 1, 1898, "mahometan+buonaparte" p. 252 (letter dated Prevesa, 12 November 1809)
  16. ^ Vaudoncourt, Guillaume de Memoirs on the Ionian Islands ... : including the life and character of Ali Pasha. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1816
  17. ^ Murray, Stephen O. & Roscoe, Will (1997) Islamic Homosexualities: culture, history, and literature, NYU Press
  18. ^ The Ottoman Power in Europe by Edward Augustus Freeman
  19. ^ Holland Henry, Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia &c. during the years 1812 and 1813. London 1815, p. 126.
  20. ^ Wace A.J.B. and Thompson M. S. (1914) The nomads of the Balkans: An account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus, Methuen & Co., Ltd., p. 192.
  21. ^ a b Fleming (1999): p. 63.
  22. ^ a b Fleming (1999): p. 64.
  23. ^ Merry, Bruce. Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 978-0-313-30813-0, p. 231.
  24. ^ Fleming (1999): p. 168.
  25. ^ Fleming (1999): p. 99.
  26. ^ Bellaire, J.P.- Précis des opérations générales de la division Française du Levant, Chargée, pendant les années V,VI et VII de la défense des îles et possessions ex-vénitiennes de la mer Ionienne, formant\naujourd' hui la République des Sept-Isles. Paris, 1805. pp. 418-420
  27. ^ Winnifrith, Tom. Vlachs: the history of a Balkan people. Duckworth, 1987, ISBN 978-0-7156-2135-6, p. 130.
  28. ^ Fleming, Katherine Elizabeth (1999). The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece. Princeton University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-691-00194-4. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  29. ^ Fleming, Katherine Elizabeth (1999). The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece. Princeton University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-691-00194-4. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  30. ^ Victor Roudometof; Roland Robertson (2001), Nationalism, globalization, and orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, p. 25, ISBN 978-0-313-31949-5 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |ean= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ John S. Koliopoulos Brigands with a Cause, p. 40
  32. ^ Template:Gr icon Νήσος Ιωαννίνων. (2009). "Μουσεία". Archived from the original on November 3, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Ruches, Pyrrhus J., ed. (1967). Albanian Historical Folksongs, 1716–1943: a survey of oral epic poetry from southern Albania, with original texts. Chicago: Argonaut. p. 123. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Tziovas, Dēmētrēs (2003). Greece and the Balkans: identities, perceptions and cultural encounters since the Enlightenment. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7546-0998-8.
  35. ^ Merry, Bruce (2004). Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-313-30813-0.

Sources

  • "Ali Pasa Tepelenë." Encyclopædia Britannica (2005)
  • "Ali Pasha (1744? – 1822)". The Columbia Encyclopedia (2004).
  • Ellingham et al. Rough Guide to Greece, (2000)
  • Fleming, Katherine Elizabeth. The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece. Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-691-00194-4.
  • Koliopoulos, John S. (1987) Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Modern Greece 1821–1912. Clarendon Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-822863-5
  • Sakellariou, M. V. (1997). Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 960-213-371-6.
  • S. Aravantinos, Istoria Ali Pasa tou Tepelenli, [the history of Ali Pasha Tepelenli based on the unpublished texts by Panagiotis Arantinos] Athens 1895, (photographic reprint, Athens 1979).
  • Gr. Lars, I Albania kai I Epiros sta teli tou IG’ kai stis arches tou IH’ aion. Ta Dytikovalkanika Pasalikia tis Othomanikis Autokratorias [Albania and Epirus I the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Ottoman Eyalets of Western Balkans, transl. A. Dialla, publ. Gutenberg, Athens 1994, pp. 144-173.
  • G. Siorokas, I eksoteriki politiki tou Ali pasa ton Ioanninon. Apo to Tilsit sti Vienni [the internal affairs policy of Ali Pasha. From Tilsit to Vienna] (1807-1815), Ioannina, 1999.
  • D. Skiotis, “Apo listis pasas. Ta prota vimata stin anodo tou Ali pasa ton Ioanninon [From bandit to Pasha. The early years of Ali Pasha], (1750-1784)”, Thisaurimata 6 (1969), pp. 257-290
  • Dim. A. Zotos, I dikaiosyni eis to kratos tou Ali pasa [Justice in the state of Ali Pasha], Athens, 1938.
  • Vaso D. Psimouli, Souli kai Souliotes, Athens 1998
  • Ali Pasha Archives, 2007, I. Chotzi collection, Gennadius Library, Ed. – Cpmmentary – Index: V. Panagiotopoulos with collaboration of D. Dimitropoulou, P. Michailari, Vol. 4
  • A. Papastavros, Ali Pasas, apo listarchos igemonas [Ali Pasha, from bandit to leader], publ. Apeirotan, 2013.
  • W. M. Leake, Travels in northern Greece, Α.Μ.Ηakkert-Publisher, (photographic reprint Amsterdam 1967). Vol. 1, pp.295,Vol. 4, pp. 260
  • I. Lampridis, “Malakasiaka”, Epirotika Meletimata [Epirote Studies] 5 (1888), publ. 2. Society for Epirote Studies. (EHM),, Ioannina 1993, p. 25
  • Ali Pasha Archives, I. Chotzi collection, Gennadius Library, Ed. – Commentary – Index: V. Panagiotopoulos with the collaboration of D. Dimitropoulou, P. Michailari, 2007, Vol. B’, pp. 672-674 (doc. 851), 676-677, (doc. 855), 806-807 (doc. 943).
  • G. Plataris, Kodikas Choras Metsovou ton eton 1708-1907 [Chora Metsovou Log of the years 1708-1907], Athens 1982, pp. 105, 120.
  • V. Skafidas, “Istoria tou Metsovou” [History of Metsovo], Epirotiki Estia 11/121, 122 (1962), p. 387.
  • M. Tritos, “Ta sozomena firmania ton pronomion tou Metsovou” [The surviving firmans about the privileges granted to Metsovo], Minutes of the 1st Conference of Metsovite Studies, Athens 1993, pp. 404.

Further reading

  • Brøndsted, Peter Oluf, Interviews with Ali Pacha; edited by Jacob Isager, (Athens, 1998)
  • Davenport, The Life of Ali Pasha, (London, 1837)
  • Dumas père, Alexandre, Ali Pacha, Celebrated Crimes
  • Fauriel, Claude Charles: Die Sulioten und ihre Kriege mit Ali Pascha von Janina, (Breslau, 1834)
  • Jóka, Mór: Janicsárok végnapjai, Pest, 1854. (in English: Maurus Jókai: The Lion of Janina, translated by R. Nisbet Bain, 1897). [3]
  • Manzour, Ibrahim, Mémoires sur la Grèce et l'Albanie pendant le gouvernement d'Ali Pacha, (Paris, 1827)
  • Pouqueville, François, Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire Ottoman (Paris, 1805, 3 vol. in-8°), translated in English, German, Greek, Italian, Swedish, etc. available on line at Gallica
  • Pouqueville, François, Travels in Epirus, Albania, Macedonia, and Thessaly (London: printed for Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1820), an English denatured and truncated edition available on line
  • Pouqueville, François, Voyage en Grèce (Paris, 1820–1822, 5 vol. in-8° ; 20 édit., 1826–1827, 6 vol. in-8°), his capital work
  • Pouqueville, François, Histoire de la régénération de la Grèce (Paris, 1824, 4 vol. in-8°), translated in many languages. French original edition available on Google books [4]
  • Pouqueville, François, Notice sur la fin tragique d’Ali-Tébélen (Paris 1822, in-8°)
  • Skiotis, Dennis N., "From Bandit to Pasha: first steps in the rise to power of Ali of Tepelen, 1750–1784", International Journal of Middle East Studies 2: 3: 219–244 (July 1971) (JSTOR)
  • Vaudoncourt, Guillaume de Memoirs on the Ionian Islands ... : including the life and character of Ali Pacha. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1816


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