Midhat Pasha (mĭdhät` päshä`), 1822–83, Turkish politician. As governor of Bulgaria he succeeded within the few years of his tenure (1864–69) in raising the country from misery to relative prosperity. Schools, roads, and granaries were built from funds obtained by local taxation. His hostility to Pan-Slavism caused the Russian ambassador at Constantinople to secure his transfer to Baghdad. He was briefly grand vizier (chief executive officer) in 1872. In 1876, at the head of the reforming party, he led the revolution that deposed Sultan Abd al-Aziz. The new sultan, Murad V, was in turn shortly deposed because of his insanity, and Abd al-Hamid II Abd al-Hamid II, 1842–1918, Ottoman sultan (1876–1909). His uncle, Abd al-Aziz, was deposed from the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 1876 by the Young Turks, a liberal reformist group.
..... Click the link for more information. succeeded. Late in 1876, as grand vizier, Midhat secured the promulgation of the first Turkish constitution, but as soon as Abd al-Hamid regained control over the situation he sent Midhat into exile. After being recalled as governor of Syria, Midhat was charged with the murder of Abd al-Aziz, imprisoned, and strangled.

Midhat Pasha

(born October 1822, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire—died May 8, 1883, Al-Ta'if, Arabian Peninsula) Civil servant and grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire. As governor of Niš and Baghdad, his successful reforms earned the respect of the sultan Abdülaziz, who in 1872 appointed him grand vizier, a post he held only three months. In 1876 he helped depose Abdülaziz and eventually replaced him with Abdülhamid II. Again appointed grand vizier, he was dismissed after six months. Afterward, he was banished but later was recalled and made governor of Smyrna. He then was arrested and convicted for Abdülaziz's death. His death sentence was commuted to permanent exile. See also Tanzimat.