Çürüksulu Mahmud Pasha
{{Short description|Ottoman general}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| name = Çürüksulu Mahmud
| honorific-suffix = Pasha
| image = Çürüksulu Mahmut Paşa (Tavdgiridze).JPG
| nationality = Ottoman
| caption =
| order = [https://tr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Um%C3%BBr-%C4%B1_N%C3%A2fia_Nez%C3%A2reti Minister of Public Works of the Ottoman Empire]
| term_start = 10 March
| term_end = 5 November 1914
| monarch = Mehmed V
| 1blankname = Grand Vizier
| 1namedata = Mehmed Said Halim Pasha
| predecessor = Ahmed Cemal Pasha
| successor = Abbas Halim Pasha
| office2 = Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire
| term_start2 = 5 October 1913
| term_end2 = 3 January 1914
| birth_date = 1864
| birth_place = Çürüksu, Lazistan Sanjak, Trebizond Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Kobuleti, Adjara, Georgia)
| death_date = 31 July 1931 (aged 66)
| death_place = Istanbul, Turkey
| party = Committee of Union and Progress
| spouse =
| monarch2 = Mehmed V
| predecessor2 = Ahmed Izzet Pasha
| successor2 = Enver Pasha
| office3 = [https://tr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahriye_Nez%C3%A2reti Minister of the Navy of the Ottoman Empire]
| predecessor3 = Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha
| 1blankname3 = Grand Vizier
| 1namedata3 = Mehmed Said Alim Pasha
| successor3 = Ahmed Cemal Pasha
| termend3 = 9 March 1914
| termstart3 = 23 January 1913
| monarch3 = Mehmed V
| 1blankname2 = Grand Vizier
| 1namedata2 = Mehmed Said Alim Pasha
}}
Çürüksulu Mahmud Pasha ({{langx|tr|Çürüksulu Mahmut Paşa}}; 1864 – 31 July 1931), was an Ottoman army general and statesman of ethnic Georgian background.{{cite web |url=http://www.turkgurcu.com/showthread.php/6845-%C3%87%C3%BCr%C3%BCksulu-Mahmud-Pa%C5%9Fa-%28Tavdgiridze%29 |title=Çürüksulu Mahmud Pasha Tavgiridze |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |publisher=The Platform of Georgians in Turkey (TurkGurcu.com) |accessdate=May 6, 2012}}
Early life and career
Mahmud Pasha was born in 1864 in Kobuleti, then part of the Ottoman Empire known by its Ottoman name Çürüksu, in the present-day Adjara region of the Republic of Georgia.
After 1909, Mahmud Pasha took part in the modernization of the Ottoman army under the auspices of German High Command. He served as the Minister of Public Works in the CUP government.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Mahmud Pasha opposed the Ottoman participation in view of the unpreparedness of the armed forces. He was known as an outspoken but a respected figure in the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Later in the war, Mahmud Pasha served as the Minister of the Navy in the CUP cabinet of Talaat Pasha.
In 1914, Mahmud Pasha's candidacy was put forward by the Sultan to serve in the Ottoman Senate (Ayan Meclisi). After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, Mahmud Pasha led the commission to negotiate peace. Mahmud Pasha's support for territorial concessions to reach an agreement with Armenians in 1919 drew criticism from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.{{cite web |url=http://www.atam.gov.tr/index.php?Page=Nutuk&IcerikNo=130 |title= Public Speeches, Nutuk (1919 - 1927) |last1=Atatürk |first1=Kemal |date= |publisher=Ataturk Research Center |accessdate=May 6, 2012}}
On March 22, 1920, Mahmud Pasha was among the few CUP members arrested and sent by the British authorities for a tribunal in Malta. Upon their repatriation in 1921, he returned to Turkey and joined the forces of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to take part in the Turkish War of Independence. Mahmud Pasha died in Istanbul on July 31, 1931.
References
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Category:Georgians from the Ottoman Empire
Category:Government ministers of the Ottoman Empire