AHMET VEFIK PASA

He is reputed for translating and adapting sixteen of the books of Moliere, the French scene poet as from 1869, and constructing a theater in Bursa. Vefik Pasha graduated from high school in Paris, worked as ambassador in Paris and Tehran, and embassy clerk in London, became Minister of Education two times and Prime Minister for two times. He is the one who used the phrase “başvekil (Prime minister)” for the first time.

Today, all of our representative offices hoists our flag. This is a tradition. This tradition was first started by Ahmet Vefik Pasha. When he was on duty as ambassador of Ottoman Empire in Tehran, declaring the embassy building as Ottoman soil, he hoisted Ottoman flag. Other embassies put in practice such tradition thereafter.

Ahmet Vefik Pasha was a very hardworking man with strange dispositions. He knew French, English, Italian and ancient Greek. He could read and understand Arabic and Persian very well. His consciousness of Turk-being brought him to a brand-new history and language understanding for his age. Since he read a lot, foreigners mentioned about him as “Turned over library”.

The most accurate word about him was told by Keçecizade Fuat Pasha saying: “He is so big a brilliant that you neither can attach to a ring or make a sidewalk!”. Vefik Pasha protected state honor fastidiously in his political life. Upon France’s wanting to move soldiers during Damascus rebellions, he was ordered to take part in the negotiations by virtue of his being Paris Ambassador. Vefik Pasha did not show himself until the government could send soldiers to Damascus despite his being the Ambassador, and caused the negotiations to be delayed.

In a meeting, Napoleon the third told to Ahmet Vefik Effendi “Ottoman Empire is collapsing, I can hear its cracks”. Vefik Effendi, with chic words just suitable for an ambassador, said: “Our country is far away from here, the cracks you hear must have been cracks of France”.

In another case, in Paris, he tried to prevent a play against Islam finding out that it was to be put on, but official authorities did not take care. Therefore, Vefik Effendi, going to the theater the first night, walked up to the stage and prevented the play before it was staged. Indeed, his dispositions which are thought to be strange arose from his being progressivist to the requirements of his times.

For example, after having constructed the theater building today called with his name, his showing his own translations and adaptations was not welcomed in Istanbul. This was because that the governor went to the rehearsals everyday and corrected the players listening to them like a director and then obliged the government officials watch these plays and helped existence of theater. He sent back a crowd of officials appointed to Bursa by the government for replacement of many officials having them get on a steamship by saying “I do not need you”.

As a matter of fact, he sustained in Bursa Vizental Effendi, who was appointed to elsewhere by the government saying “I am pleased with you, go on your duty”. Once, when Sait Pasha was the Minister of the Interior he wrote a frank note to the ministry and asked “We receive telegrams signed by someone called Sait now and then. Who is that man?”.

Vefik Pasha, being dismissed from Bursa Governorate due to such incidents, went on dealing with translation job in his mansion in Rumelihisarı in Istanbul. His second prime ministry lasted for only two and a half days. An official investigation was filed against himself after being dismissed from Bursa Governorate. One of the accusations was to “fill upright women by arranging text peculiar to women”.

Vefik Pasha, who made performed services for the country either in his politic life and administrative life wrote the first Turkish language dictionary. He is one of the first to put forward and advocate the idea that Turkish history is a whole, and did not start with only Ottoman generation as thought.

As a matter of fact, when the book of Kasgarli Mahmut named Dîvânu Lügati't-Türk was found, Ahmet Vefik Pasha turned out to be right in his allegations. As to the translations and adaptations of Ahmet Vefik Pasha from Molière; especially the latter group of books are truly compiled books, that is they have to be deemed as his own intellectual property. Vefik Pasha made his works known as adaptation peculiar to himself just as Molière took most of his subjects from the books of Latin, Spanish and Italian stage poets and claimed intellectual property therefor.