Mehmet Vasıf Pasa Gürcü (d. 1865) was an Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 field-marshal (müşir) and administrator of Georgian

Georgians

The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

 descent.

According to the memoirs of the Russian general Nikolay Muravyov

Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky

Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky was a Russian statesman and diplomat, who played a major role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into the Amur River basin and to the shores of the Sea of Japan.-Surname spelling:The surname Muravyov has also been transcribed as Muravyev or Murav'ev.-Early...

, Vasıf was a Georgian from the Guria

Guria

Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 143,357 and Ozurgeti is a regional capital.-Geography:...

 province, born in the village Chokhlati and originally surnamed Gudjabidze. He was sold as a slave at the age of 12 to Reşid Mehmed Pasha

Resid Mehmed Pasha

- Early life :Reşid Mehmed was born in Georgia, the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. As a child, he was captured as a slave by the Turks, and brought to the service of the then Kapudan Pasha Husrev Pasha. His intelligence and ability impressed his master, and secured his rapid rise...

 in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

. The 19th-century Ottoman chronicler Mehmed Süreyya also records his Georgian origins.

Rising through the ranks, Mehmet Vasıf became a ferik

Ferik (rank)

Ferik was a military rank of the Ottoman Army. It is translated as Major General or Lieutenant General . It was superior to a Mirliva and junior to a Birinci Ferik .The title of Ferik was abolished with Act No...

in 1830 or 1831. He then served, from the 1830s through the 1850s, as governor (wali

Wali

Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...

) of Niş

Niš

Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...

, Salonica, Vidin

Vidin

Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

, Arabistan

Arabistan

Arabistan or Arabestan may refer to:*The name of the Arabian Peninsula*A satrapy of the Achaemenid and Sassanid Persian empires.*The region of Khuzestan was also called "Arabistan" in some chronicles and reports, mainly during the Qajar era of the 19th century....

, and Trabzon

Trabzon

Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...

. From the 1830s to the 1850s, Mehmet Vasıf Pasha was as a (governor) of Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, commander of the army in Arabistan

Arabistan

Arabistan or Arabestan may refer to:*The name of the Arabian Peninsula*A satrapy of the Achaemenid and Sassanid Persian empires.*The region of Khuzestan was also called "Arabistan" in some chronicles and reports, mainly during the Qajar era of the 19th century....

 and commander-in-chief in Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

. In 1855, he, as a commander-in-chief in Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, was aided by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 officer William Williams, who effectively led the Turkish defense of Kars

Siege of Kars

The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor...

 against the Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 forces in the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

.