Suleiman Pasha

(Süleyman Paşa). Born 1840 in Istanbul; died Aug. 11,1892, in Baghdad. Turkish military leader. General (1877).

Suleiman Pasha graduated from a military school in Istanbul in 1861. He began teaching in 1873 and became assistant director of the Military Academy in 1874. In May 1876 he participated in the overthrow of Sultan Abdul-Aziz. He was appointed commander of Turkish troops in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and at the beginning of the conflict between Serbia, Montenegro, and Turkey in 1876–78, he directed the Turkish offensive against Montenegro. In July 1877, after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, Suleiman’s corps was transferred to Bulgaria, and Suleiman was appointed commander of the Balkan Army, which in August 1877 unsuccessfully stormed the Shipka Pass. From the end of September until mid-December, Suleiman commanded the Eastern Danube Army, and from December 1877 to February 1878 he was commander in chief of Turkish troops. He suffered a defeat at Philippopolis (present-day Plovdiv) in January 1878. He was tried and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment but was later pardoned.