Uthman Pasha al-Kurji

Uthman had Georgian origins.[3] Prior to his appointment to the governorship of Damascus, Uthman Pasha was a mamluk (slave soldier) of Governor As'ad Pasha al-Azm and thus maintained close links with the powerful al-Azm family.[4] When As'ad Pasha was removed from his post by the Sublime Porte, he was succeeded by a number of short-term governors who were unable to halt the violence between the local forces and the Janissary garrison in the city.[1]

Uthman Pasha was appointed governor of Damascus Eyalet in 1761. He was nominated to this position as a reward for directing the Ottoman imperial authorities to As'ad Pasha's hidden stores of wealth. In addition to the governorship of Damascus, he was appointed beylerbey (governor-general) of the adjacent Tripoli Eyalet and awarded contracts for the districts of Hama and Homs.[3] His rule brought stability to the province and he lowered its inhabitants' taxes.[1]

As governor, one of Uthman Pasha's principal goals became bringing an end to the autonomous rule of Zahir al-Umar, who ruled the Galilee (largely part of Sidon Eyalet) and some of its neighboring regions.[4] al-Umar had previously clashed with the al-Azm governors of Damascus and Sidon and when he annexed the port city of Haifa in 1761, Uthman Pasha began making moves against Zahir. Uthman Pasha obtained an order from the Porte to officially annex Haifa to Damascus Eyalet and he dispatched a ship from Beirut with 30 soldiers and a French captain to take the port. Zahir, having had advance notice of this action, had the ship confiscated and its crew arrested.[5][6] In 1764, Uthman launched an attack against the Jarrar family under their sheikh, Muhammad al-Jarrar, attacking their throne village of Sanur and the city of Nablus. Uthman's forces were defeated.[7][8][9]

Also in 1764, while Uthman was leading the annual Hajj pilgrimage, he had a violent confrontation with Ali Bey al-Kabir, an influential mamluk from Egypt.[10] When Ali Bey was exiled by the governor of Egypt to Gaza (part of Damascus Eyalet) in 1766, Uthman attempted to drive him out.[11] Uthman managed to have his son, Darwish Pasha, appointed as the governor of Sidon in November 1770 and sometime prior to that, had his other son, Muhammad Pasha, appointed as governor of Tripoli.[12] In 1771, Ali Bey, by now the rebellious governor of Egypt, had dispatched an army under commanders Abu al-Dahab and Ismail Bey to subdue Damascus. Together with Zahir, the combined armies of Egypt and Palestine defeated Uthman's army outside of Damascus and Uthman fled north to the city of Homs. The city fell shortly thereafter, although they did not capture the Citadel of Damascus, which was subsequently besieged. However, Abu al-Dahab suddenly withdrew from the area,[13] citing his fears of violating Islamic principles since seizing an Ottoman province was in effect a direct challenge to the authority of the Ottoman sultan, who held the highest religious honor as the caliph of Islam.[14]

In October 1771, Uthman was removed from governorship of Damascus and also was stripped of his control over the district of Maarrat al-Nu'man. He was succeeded by Muhammad Pasha al-Azm.[15] Uthman was transferred to the governorship of Konya and his sons Muhammad Pasha and Darwish Pasha were dismissed from their posts and subsequently assigned to the governorships of Mosul and Karaman, respectively.[16] Uthman succeeded in protecting the Hajj caravans for ten years as amir al-hajj and consistently attempted to end the autonomous rule of Zahir al-Umar, and thus his failure to defend Damascus from the Egyptian Mamluk army was the likely reason for his reassignment.[17] When Muhammad Pasha al-Azm died in 1783, he was succeeded by Uthman Pasha's son Muhammad Pasha and a year later by his other son Darwish Pasha.[18]