GRAND ADMIRAL HASAN PASHA AS THE OZI SERDAR (1627)

As the Ottoman Empire was in constant struggle against its major neighbouring polities such as the Safavids and the Habsburgs, it also had to deal with the sea raiders on the northern frontier of the empire, namely the Cossacks. Toward that effect, the Ottoman administration planned to build a castle against the Cossack threat on the Togan Pass up the Dnieper River in 1626. Hence, the Grand Admiral Çatalcalı Hasan Pasha, who was a rising political figure in the first years of Sultan Murad IV’s reign, was appointed as the commander of the Ottoman land and maritime forces that were headed to the Özi Province. When Hasan Pasha arrived at the Özi border in the summer of 1627, he realized that the means at his disposal did not allow the construction of a castle in the Togan Pass. Nevertheless, the pasha wanted to benefit from the resources he mobilised and decided to strengthen the existing fortification in the Özi settlement. He had two existing castles repaired in Özi, built a castle and a palanka both bearing his name, and added a shipyard and erected a castle wall. As a result of this building activity, the garrison troops in the Özi fortification complex were doubled.