Koca Sinan Pasha

Koca Sinan Pasha (Albanian: Sinan Pasha Topojani; 1506 – 3 April 1596) was an Ottoman grand vizier, Ottoman military figure, and statesman. From 1580 till his death he served five times as Grand Vizier.

Life

Sinan Pasha, also known as Koca Sinan (Sinan the Great), was born in Topojan in Luma territory and was of Albanian origin. Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall called him the ‘‘unbridled Albanian’’.

Sinan Pasha was appointed governor of Ottoman Egypt in 1569, and was subsequently involved until 1571 in the conquest of Yemen, becoming known as Fātiḥ-i Yemen (Victor of Yemen).

In 1580, Sinan commanded the army against the Safavids in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590), and was appointed grand vizier by Sultan Murad III. He was, however, disgraced and exiled in the following year, owing to the defeat of his lieutenant Mehmed Pasha, at Gori (during an attempt to provision the Ottoman garrison of Tbilisi).

He subsequently became governor of Damascus and, in 1589, after the great revolt of the Janissaries, was appointed grand vizier for the second time. He was involved in the competition for the throne in Wallachia between Mihnea Turcitul and Petru Cercel, and ultimately sided with the former (overseeing Petru's execution in March 1590). Another revolt of Janissaries led to his dismissal in 1591, but in 1593 he was again recalled to become grand vizier for the third time, and in the same year he commanded the Ottoman army in the Long War against the Habsburgs, he was faced with massive casualties on the northern front, which was weakened by the death of Bosniak commander Hasan-paša Predojević during the Battle of Sisak.

Sinan Pasha (Ottoman admiral)

Sinanüddin Yusuf Pasha or in short Sinan Pasha (Croatian: Sinan-paša), (died 21 December 1553) was a Kapudan Pasha (Fleet Admiral) of the Ottoman Navy for nearly four years between 1550 and the end of 1553, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. He was of Croatian descent, the predecessor of Piyale Pasha in this rank and the brother of Grand Vizier Damat Rüstem Pasha, who in turn was married to Sultana Mihrimah, a daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Sinan Pasha and Turgut Reis collaborated on several naval expeditions in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly on the coasts of Italy and North Africa. Sinan was not an expert on naval issues as much as Turgut Reis, who was a more popular commander among the admirals and captains of the navy, and this often caused conflict between the two. In an incident following the Ottoman conquest of Tripoli in 1551, the entire Ottoman fleet left Sinan Pasha on the shore and followed Turgut Reis into the Tyrrhenian Sea, declaring that they would accept only Turgut as their commander. Turgut Reis, however, considered this to be mutiny and treason and ordered them to return.

Sinan

Sinan (Arabic: سنان ‎) is a word found in Aramaic and Early Arabic, meaning spearhead or perhaps spear. It is also possible that the name is derived from the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was subsequently used as a male given name.

It may refer to:

People

Pre-20th century

Ottoman officers

There were several prominent military and government officers referred to as Sinan Pasha in Ottoman history: