Mahmud Shevket Pasha

Biography:

Mahmud Shevket Pasha was an Ottoman general and statesman of possibe Iraqi Arab and Georgian descent. Some sources also note Chechen or Circassian ancestry. He was born in Baghdad where he finished his primary education before going on to the Military Academy in Constantinople. He joined the army in 1882 as a lieutenant. He spent some time in France investigating military technology and was stationed in Crete for a while.