Bayezid Pasha orBeyazid Pasha (also known asAmasyalı Beyazid Pasha; died July 1421) was an Ottomanstatesman who served asgrand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421.^[1] He was the first Albanian and first Muslim from Balkans to become Grand Vizier of the Ottoman state.

Bayezid was of Albanian origin and a war captive.^[2][3] The 15th-century Byzantine historianDoukas described Bayezid as a slave ofAlbanian origin. Modern historianUzunçarşılı, without citing a source, wrote that he was born inAmasya as the son of Amasyalı Yahşi Bey, earning him the epithetAmasyalı, meaning "from Amasya," which implied he wasn't a convert or at least not a recent one.^[4] This means their grandfather was an Albanian convert toIslam and joined the Ottoman conquest, settling in Amasya. He was raised in the imperial palace. WhileBayezid I was sultan, he served in various military positions. When Bayezid I's son, the future sultanMehmed I (then known as Mehmed Çelebi), was a provincial governor, Bayezid Pasha served as one of his head advisers.

After the disastrousBattle of Ankara in 1402, whenTamerlane defeated the Ottoman Empire and took sultan Bayezid I prisoner, Bayezid Pasha rescued the 15-year-old Mehmed Çelebi from Tamerlane's forces and brought him to his hometown of Amasya. After the subsequentOttoman Interregnum in 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi finally defeated his brothers' claims to the throne, Bayezid Pasha became the officialgrand vizier under the now-sultanMehmed I.

Under Mehmed I, Bayezid Pasha crushed the rebellion ofSheikh Bedreddin in 1420.

After Mehmed I's death on May 26, 1421, upon Mehmed's request, Bayezid Pasha kept the sultan's death a secret for the 40 days it took his son and successorMurad II to arrive in the capital to ascend the throne. This move was in order to avoid a civil war in an empire still reeling from that of theOttoman Interregnum.

In July 1421, only two months after Murad II's coronation, Bayezid Pasha, still grand vizier, was sent to lead an army against the rebellion ofMustafa Çelebi, Murad II's uncle. Bayezid's forces met with Mustafa in the area of the future village of Sazlıdere inKeşan,Edirne in centralThrace. In the midst of battle, Bayezid Pasha's forces deserted him and joined Mustafa Çelebi's forces, forcing him to surrender to Mustafa. Mustafa's allyJunayd of Aydın, distrustful of Bayezid, urged Mustafa to execute him, which Mustafa did promptly by beheading him. Junayd spared Bayezid's brotherHamza Bey, however, who in 1425 would be the one to avenge him by having Junayd and his family executed. Bayezid Pasha's grave is at the site in Sazlıdere.

• 14th-century births
• 1421 deaths
• 15th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire
• 15th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire
• Albanian grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire
• Deaths by decapitation
• Lalas (title)
• Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire
• People of the Ottoman Interregnum
• People from Amasya
• 15th-century Albanian people

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
• Year of birth unknown