Ahmed Resmî Efendi
| Ahmed Resmî Efendi | |
|---|---|
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| Ottoman Ambassador at Vienna | |
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In office 1757 – 1758 |
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| Ottoman Ambassador at Berlin | |
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In office 1763 – 1764 |
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| Ottoman Ambassador at Russia | |
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In office 1768–1774 |
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| Chief Ottoman negotiator of Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca | |
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In office 1774–1774 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1700 Rethymon, Crete, Greece, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1783 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
| Nationality | Greek |
Achmet Resmî Efendi (English, "Ahmed Efendi of Resmo"), also called by some Arabic sources as Ahmed bin İbrahim Giridî ("Ahmed the son of İbrahim the Cretan"), was a Greek-Ottoman statesman, diplomat and author of the late 18th century. In international relations terms, his most important - and unfortunate - task was to act as the chief of the Ottoman delegation during the negotiations and the signature of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. In the literary domain, he is remembered for various works among which his sefâretnâme recounting his embassies in Berlin and Vienna occupy a prominent place. He was Turkey's first ever ambassador in Berlin.
Ahmed Resmi was born into a family of Greek descent in the Cretan town of Rethymno, which was known as Resmo in the Ottoman Empire in the year 1700. According to Muhammed Muradî, the source for the little that is known concerning his early life, Ahmed Resmî arrived in İstanbul towards his forties, in 1734. Most sources credit him with expertise in the calligraphic and epistolary arts. Rising through the Ottoman bureaucracy, he allied himself with a circle of reformers, who transformed diplomatic relations of the Ottomans with Europe in the 18th century and established some of the first privately endowed public libraries of Istanbul.
When his father-in-law and first patron Tavukçubaşı Mustafa, a diplomat and one of the prominent figures in grand vizier Koca Mehmed Ragıp Pasha's entourage, died in 1749, Ahmed Resmî began writing his first work, the bibliographical compilation of Ottoman chief scribes "Sefinet ür-rüesa". It was in this period that he wrote "İstinas fi ahval el-efras", to demonstrate his scribal and literary skills, celebrating the spring ritual of releasing the royal horses for grazing and which served as an encomium to the Sultan Mahmud I. These works also served as a means of introduction to potential patrons, such as grand vizier Köse Bahir Mustafa Pasha.
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