Ottoman pasha’s heirs eyeing another historical castle

GÜMÜŞHANE

After gaining the legal rights over the lands of a castle upon a court’s ruling, a family who claims to be the descendants of an Ottoman pasha has initiated a new legal action to determine the ownership of another castle in the neighboring province of Gümüşhane.

Living in the northeastern province of Gümüşhane, heirs of Üçünzade Ömer Pasha have initiated a legal action to determine the ownership of the Monastery Castle, which they claimed belonged to their late grandfather.

“The castle was built during the Genoese period. When Sultan Mehmed II conquered Trabzon in 1461 and annexed Torul and Kurtün districts to the Ottoman Empire in 1479, he gave these regions to the Üçüncüzade family,” said Güngör Üçüncüoğlu, the chairman of the Üçüncüoğlu Association.

In February 2020, the Güzelhisar Castle, built by the Genoese in the 13th century in the northeastern province of Trabzon, became the property of the grandchildren of the Ottoman pasha.

The five grandchildren of the pasha filed a lawsuit in 2017 demanding the title deed of the castle and its surrounding land, which was a military zone at that time.

The grandchildren claimed that the castle and its lands belonged to Trabzon Governor Üçüncüzade Ömer Pasha during the Ottoman Empire from 1737 to 1745.