Hadim Yusuf Pasha, or simply Yusuf Pasha (; , died 1614), also ÃÂerkes AÃÂa Yusuf Paà Âa, was an Ottoman governor of Baghdad in 1605âÂÂ1606. Yusuf Pasha was a eunuch ("Hadim") and a Circassian by birth ("ÃÂerkes"). The title "Hadim" literarly means "servant" or "attendant", but its Ottoman connotation in the 16-17th century was "eunuch". Yusuf Pasha was also mentioned as a eunuch by the Portuguese adventurer Teixeira, and this is confirmed by his lack of facial hair and corpulence in the miniatures of Muḥliṣë's travelogue.
Yusuf Pasha occupied various posts, including governor of Van (1598âÂÂ99), governor of Baghdad (1605âÂÂ1606), and muhafñz (keeper) of ÃÂsküdar (1607âÂÂ1608). In 1608, he was sent to Bursa to suppress a rebellion led by KalenderoÃÂlu.
In 1602, Yusuf Pasha was sent from Istanbul to assert an Ottoman presence in the disputed town of Basra, where he held the post of governor despite the presence of a local power-holder named Afrasiyab Paà Âa. His travel from Istanbul to Basra was documented in his travelogue SefernÃÂme.
In 1604 Yusuf Pasha was then was dispatched from Basra to Baghdad, to replace the current Baghdad governor Mehmed Pasha (1602-1604), son of Sinan Pasha, and arrived at the end of 1604. Yusuf Pasha was mentioned by Pedro Teixeira, who visited Baghdad in 1604, and who explained that the newly arrived governor came from Basra and was "called Issuf or Iuçef Paà Âa, a eunuch, and a Xerquez [Circassian] by birth." He also mentioned that the governor recently received the title of vizier.
After Baghdad, Yusuf Pasha became muhafñz (keeper) of ÃÂsküdar (1607âÂÂ1608). In 1608, he was sent to Bursa to suppress a rebellion led by KalenderoÃÂlu. A few years later, he is recorded in the retinue of Sultan Ahmed I during a hunting party in Edirne, and is said to have had a household of three hundred members.
Yusuf Pasha died in 1614. His properties and vizierate were transferred to Kalender Pasha, the second treasurer and building supervisor of the "Blue Mosque" (Sultan Ahmed Mosque).
Yusuf Pasha is relatively well known through Ottoman accounts and miniatures relating his travels in Anatolia and Iraq, particularly a SefernÃÂme (âÂÂBook of a Journeyâ or âÂÂTravelogueâÂÂ) by an artist named Muhlisi who accompanied him in his travels, and who completed the account in 1605âÂÂ06 in Baghdad. Yusuf Pasha is especially described as he visited whirling dervishes in Konya, or the shrine of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi and the tombs of Seljuq rulers in the years 1602âÂÂ1603. In his perigrinations and military conflicts during his tenure in Baghdad, he is described as valorous, just, and pious leader, acting under difficult circumstances.
Among the Ottoman governors of Baghdad, only Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha is also known to have commissioned illustrated manuscripts, which were significantly more ambitious and rather belonged to the genre of universal histories.