Ali Pasha (1743 – 24 January 1822), commonly known as Ali Pasha of Yanina or Ali Pasha of Tepelena, was an Albanian ruler who served as pasha of the Pashalik of Yanina, a large part of western Rumelia, in the Ottoman Empire. Under his rule, it acquired a high degree of autonomy and even managed to stay de facto independent. The capital of the Pashalik was Ioannina, which, along with Tepelena, was Ali's headquarters.
Conceiving his territory in increasingly independent terms, Ali Pasha's correspondence and foreign Western correspondence frequently refer to the territories under Ali's control as "Albania". This, by Ali's definition, included central and southern Albania, and parts of mainland Greece; in particular, most of the district of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Macedonia. He managed to stretch his control over the sanjaks of Yanina, Delvina, Vlora and Berat, Elbasan, Ohrid and Monastir, Görice, and Tirhala. Ali was granted the Sanjak of Tirhala in 1787, and he delegated its government in 1788 to his second-born Veli Pasha, who also became Pasha of the Morea Eyalet in 1807. Ali's eldest son, Muhtar Pasha, was granted the Sanjak of Karli-Eli and the Sanjak of Eğriboz in 1792, stretching for the first time Ali's control down to Livadia and the Gulf of Corinth, except Attica. Muhtar Pasha also became governor of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1796–7 and of the Sanjak of Vlora and Berat in 1810.
Ali first appears in historical accounts as the leader of a band of Albanian brigands who became involved in many confrontations with Ottoman state officials in Albania and Epirus. He joined the administrative-military apparatus of the Ottoman Empire, holding various posts until 1788, when he was appointed pasha, ruler of the Sanjak of Ioannina. His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modern ideas and concepts, his popular Muslim piety, his respect towards other religions, his suppression of banditry, his vengefulness and harshness in imposing law and order, and his looting practices towards persons and communities in order to increase his profits caused both the admiration and the criticism by his contemporaries, as well as an ongoing controversy among historians regarding his personality. As his influence grew, his involvement in Ottoman politics increased culminating in his active opposition to the ongoing Ottoman military reforms. He was one of the most prominent leaders in the Ottoman Empire. After being declared a rebel in 1820, he was captured and killed in 1822 at the age of 78 or 79, after a successful military campaign of the Porte against his Albanian rebel forces. The initial Greek uprising in the Morea on the eve of the Greek Revolution in 1821 began as an extension of Ali Pasha's revolt in Albania.
Name Ali Pasha was variously referred to as "of Tepelena", "of Yannina/Janina/Ioannina", "of Albania", the "Lion of Yannina" or the "Lion of Albania". His native name was , and he was referred to as or ; and in other local languages as ; or (Ali Pasha of Ioannina); and ().
Ancestry and early life Ali Pasha was born into the Albanian Meçohysaj clan; they were Christian Albanians who converted to Islam in the Ottoman period. The family was attributed a legendary ancestry as descendants of a Mevlevi dervish named Nazif who migrated from Konya to Tepelenë through Kütahya, and Ali himself would make similar claims to foreigners and Ottoman Turks in order to claim legitimacy to landholdings. Nonetheless, this tradition is unfounded, as Ali's family was of local Albanian origin.Ahmet Uzun. Ο Αλή Πασάς ο Τεπελενλής και η περιουσία του.. [Ali Pasha from Tepeleni and his fortune] (Greek), p. 3: "Εξαιτίας της μοναδικότητας του ονόματος μιας οικογένειας που μετανάστευσε από την Ανατολία στη Ρούμελη και εγκαταστάθηκε στο Τεπελένι, υπάρχουν ισχυρισμοί που τον θέλουν Τούρκο. Εντούτοις οι ισχυρισμοί αυτοί είναι αβάσιμοι αφού στην πραγματικότητα είναι αποδεδειγμένο ότι καταγόταν από τη νότια Αλβανία." [Because of the uniqueness of the name of a family which emigrated from Anatolia to Rumelia and settled in Qendër Tepelenë, there are claims that he was a Turk. However, these claims are unfounded since, in reality, it is proven that he came from southern Albania.]
They had achieved some stature by the 17th century; Ali's great-grandfather, Mustafa Yussuf from the Gjirokastër region, was a notable brigand, warrior and clan chieftain who eventually obtained the title of bey and possibly official recognition as the deputy governor of Tepelena. Ali's grandfather, Muhtar Bey, was also a bandit chieftain who fought both for and against the Ottoman Turks. Muhtar had died during the 1716 siege of Corfu. Ali's father, Veli Bey, was a local ruler of Tepelena.
Ali himself was born in Beçisht, although some claim that he was born in the adjacent town of Tepelena. Ali's father, Veli Bey, was involved in a rivalry with his cousin, Islam Bey, who was also a local ruler. Islam Bey was appointed mutasarrıf of Delvinë in 1752, but Veli Bey managed to kill him and thereby succeed his cousin as mutasarrıf in 1762. Veli Bey was assassinated shortly after when Ali was ten, and Ali was brought up by his mother, Chamko (or Hanko/Hamko), who originally hailed from Konitsa. Chamko was forced to take control of Veli's band in order to retain her family's position. She was said to have poisoned Ali's half-brother (along with the boy's mother) in order to secure Ali's inheritance. She had a great impact on Ali's personality, and Ali deeply respected her. Hamko arranged a marriage between Ali and Emine, the daughter of the Kaplan Pasha of Gjirokastër. Eventually, the villages surrounding Tepelena formed a confederacy against Hamko and forced her and her family out of the town; she was later ambushed and defeated by the men of Hormovë and Kardhiq, two Christian and Muslim Albanian villages respectively. Hamko and Ali's sister were captured by the men of Kardhiq, raped and then humiliated by being forced to walk through the streets with a man on her back. From then on, Hamko would instill a desire for revenge in her son who would avenge her by massacring the inhabitants of Kardhiq in his later years.
Ali would have two sons with Emine, the daughter of Kaplan Pasha of Gjirokastër. The first would be Muhtar Pasha, and the second would be Veli Pasha. Ali's youngest son, Selim, would be born to a slave much later in 1802. Both of his sons with Emine would be married to the daughters of Ibrahim Pasha of Berat. When Ali gained power, Ali's sister, Shainitza, was married off to Sulejman of Gjirokastër; Sulejman's family came from Libohovë in Zagoria, where Ali built a fortified seraglio as his sister's dowry. One claim suggests that she was first married to Sulejman's brother, also called Ali, but he died or was murdered by Sulejman with Ali Pasha's permission. Shainitza's third son, Adem, would become the governor of Libohovë, and her daughter from her first marriage was married to Veli Bey of Këlcyrë.
Rise
In his early years, Ali distinguished himself as a bandit in the mountains. Ali's growing reputation as a notorious bandit forced the Ottoman government to take action, and they authorised Ahmet Kurt Pasha of Berat to subdue him. He was eventually captured by Kurt, possibly twice but definitely in 1775 when it is known that Ali was actually employed in Kurt's service, due to a hostility that had arisen between the two upon Kurt's rejection of Ali's offer to marry Kurt's daughter, Miriem. Instead, Miriem would be married to Ibrahim Bey of Vlorë in 1765, and Ibrahim would later become Pasha of both Vlorë and Berat. As a result, Ibrahim and Ali also became rivals, and this rivalry continued until Ibrahim's death. Ali affiliated himself with the Bektashian sect, although he was not particularly anti-Christian or self-consciously Muslim and showed no favouritism to either group as a ruler.
Venetian records indicate that Ali and his cousin, Islam Bey of Këlcyrë, were part of a force of 9,000 Muslim Albanians under Sulejman Çapari, the aga of Margariti, who were engaged in conflict with the Souliotes in 1772, and it is possible that Ali was also part of Ahmet Kurt Pasha's force in 1775 during Kurt's campaign against the Souliotes. The first military action in which Ali is confirmed to have participated in was Ahmet Kurt Pasha's conflict with Mehmed Pasha Bushati in 1776; Ali and his cousin Islam distinguished themselves during the subsequent engagements around Kavajë and Tirana, but Ali fell out with Kurt over the division of the spoils of war and resumed his life of banditry. In 1778, Ahmet Kurt Pasha was disgraced and dismissed as a result of the schemes employed by Mehmed 'Kalo' Pasha of Yanina, who then took over the Sanjak of Avlona. The guardianship of the mountain passes was bestowed upon a Turk from Thessaly known as Catalcali Haci Ali Pasha; the local Albanians did not like him, and so he appointed Ali Pasha – at this point Ali Bey – as his deputy to establish order amongst the Albanian brigands while Catalcali remained in his fortress in the distant Chalkis of Euboea.
With this new Ottoman administrative position, Ali eliminated the military and civil officials appointed by Kurt in favour of his own men, and established a network between the leaders of Albanian bands and the captains of armatoli. Albanian fighters that refused to serve Ali were relocated to the Morea, where they could continue their occupation of plundering. Ali's new position also meant that he could orchestrate legitimate and illegitimate protection rackets that gave him enough resources to recruit mercenaries and set aside money for bribes. Around this time, Ali went to Missolonghi to collect a debt owed by Michaeles Avronites, a local sea captain who was originally from Cephallonia and therefore a Venetian subject. Ali arrived in the town with his Albanians as a show of force, and when he could not find Avronites, Ali seized a number of Venetian subjects, including the Venetian consul. They were released only after Missolonghi's leaders declared that they would pay the debt themselves, and Ali took 500 barrels of merchandise bound for the Ionian Islands as a guarantee, although these barrels were never returned to the people of Missolonghi. Similar intimidation tactics were used across Epirus by Ali, who although serving in this administrative position for only five months, managed to impose order and a systemic tax regime, as well as amass enormous personal wealth.
Rivalry with Ahmet Kurt Pasha In 1779, Ahmet Kurt Pasha had returned to power through intrigue and bribery of the Sublime Porte. Ali openly challenged Kurt in an effort to get the Porte to recognise that Ali had a stronger power-base. Ali marched an army of 2,000–3,000 Albanians through Thessaly, dispersing them along the journey to intimidate local towns and villages and to extract wealth from them. At Trikkala, Ali led his own detachment of 300 soldiers into the near-deserted town as many of the inhabitants had already fled upon his approach. Once a certain amount of protection money was extracted from the town, Ali and his men left and proceeded to Farsala, where he and Catalcali Haci (who was still Ali's superior) plotted against Ahmet Kurt Pasha.