This text is a fragment of a guidebook to Iznik "The Highlights of Iznik. Treasures of the ancient Nicaea".

Çandarlı Halil Pasha Tomb (tr. Çandarlı Halil Paşa Türbesi) is a historical landmark in Iznik. This is the burial place of Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1439 to 1453.

He was a member of a powerful Çandarlı family as his father, Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Elder, his uncle, Çandarlı Ali Pasha, and his grandfather, Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder all held the position of the Grand Vizier before him. His inconspicuous tomb in Iznik is the testimony of his terrible fate - he was imprisoned and executed by the orders of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror.

Çandarlı Halil Pasha started his career as the Grand Vizier during the reign of Sultan Murad II, who was more interested in religion and the arts than politics. Murad II even retired to the city of Manisa twice during his reign. During the period of Murad II's retirement, Halil Pasha exercised effective control over the empire from the capital city -- Edirne, with Mehmed II, who was still a child, as the nominal sultan only.

On both occasions, in response to the dangers posed by the allied European armies attacking Ottoman territories, Halil Pasha summoned Murad II and removed the adolescent Mehmed II to be replaced by his more capable father. These two incidents resulted in a persistent resentment on the part of Mehmed II towards Halil~Pasha.

This animosity continued until the year 1453 when Sultan Mehmed II, then adult and in full control of the Ottoman Empire, decided to conquer Constantinople and finish the persistent existence of the Byzantine Empire. However, Çandarlı Halil Pasha advocated a peaceful policy towards the Byzantine Empire. Thus, during the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the pet project of Mehmed II, he proposed to withdraw from the city. This act led to speculation that he was in the pay of the Byzantines.

Doukas, a Byzantine Greek historian who flourished under Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor, relates a story that is most likely fictitious, but accurately illustrates the relationship between Halil Pasha and the sultan. One night, Mehmed unexpectedly invited Halil Pasha to the palace. The terrified grand vizier came to the palace, taking with him a golden tray filled with gold, and placed the tray in front of the sultan. Mehmed asked him what it was, and Halil replied: "What I gave is yours, it was only entrusted to me until now," he replied. Mehmed replied: "I do not need your gold. Give me Istanbul." Halil Pasha trembled because he received gifts from the Greeks and was their secret ally.

When Constantinople was taken on 29 May 1453, Çandarlı Halil Pasha was arrested by one of the first commands given by the sultan after his success. Subsequently, Çandarlı Halil Pasha was imprisoned in Edirne, along with his sons, who were later released. Halil Pasha was sentenced to death on 10 July 1453. After the execution, all of Halil Pasha's real estate and treasury were confiscated, but the property was later returned to the family during the reign of Bayezid II. Notably, Çandarlı Halil Pasha was, as such, the first Ottoman grand vizier to be executed by the orders of a sultan.

Çandarlı Halil Pasha was buried in Iznik in an open tomb without a roof in the tomb he had previously built for his son Yusuf Bey, who died on 28 November 1430. In addition to himself and his son Yusuf, Halil Pasha's other sons are buried in his tomb, including the kadiasker Suleyman Çelebi and possibly the grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha.

In this way, Sultan Mehmed II ended the Çandarlı era in the Ottoman Empire, and the later members of the family became no more than provincial notables based in Iznik. However, they were to give yet another, short-term, grand vizier to the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 15th century -- Halil's son, Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Younger.