Alemdar Mustafa Pasha - The Assault On Constantinople and Fight Against The Reactionaries

The Assault On Constantinople and Fight Against The Reactionaries

Alemdar Mustafa Pasha had always been a keen supporter of Sultan Selim III. With Mustafa IV on the throne rule and the reactionary rebels commanded by Kabakçı Mustafa in command of the Ottoman capital, Mustafa Pasha gathered a council in Rusçuk and the council decided to take action.

On 21 June 1808, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and his army of about 15,000 men came to İstanbul. They easily took control of the situation and with the order of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, the rebels were killed or exiled.

When Mustafa IV learned the events, he decided to have his uncle, Selim III, as well as his younger brother, Prince Mahmut, killed in order to remain the only member of the imperial family. The executioners arrived first in the room of Selim III in the palace. Selim III, who was playing reed flute and had no weapons, resisted with his flute, but his efforts proved futile and he was strangulated. His dead body was brought in front of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, who began weeping, thinking having failed in all his objectives.

While he was weeping, his men warned him that Mustafa IV's men were going to kill the Prince Mahmud as well. In fact, in those very moments, the executioners had raided the prince's room, the Prince was put to hiding in the roof by the servants. Alemdar Mustafa and his men arrived and broke the palace doors. They killed the rebels and eventually saved the prince.

Alemdar Mustafa Pasha declared prince Mahmud the new sultan with the name Mahmud II, and he became his grand vizier.