How the Barutçu Name Began: A Story from Ottoman Cyprus

By Eren Erdogan

We know some of these old family names, but how did they begin? This is one story I remember hearing years ago. My brother Sermen recently sent me pages from Ahmet An’s book, Kıbrıs’ın Yetiştirdiği Değerler, and there it was.

According to Matbaacı Akif’s account in Halkın Sesi, Ahmet Taif Efendi came from Aleppo and settled in Lefkoşa. He was an attar, a trader in herbs, spices and remedies.

The story takes us back to around 1821. The wife of Küçük Mehmet Paşa, the Ottoman governor of Cyprus, had given birth but had no milk to feed her baby. A süt annesi—a wet nurse—was needed, and Taif Efendi was called upon to help.

He fulfilled the request, and afterwards the grateful paşa insisted on rewarding him.

What did he ask for? The exclusive right to sell gunpowder on the island.

The request was granted. That, according to the account, was how the Barutçu name began. Barut means gunpowder.

Taif Efendi later used some of his wealth to help provide water at Kara Baba Fountain and Turunçlu Mosque.

The man in this photograph is his grandson, Barutçuzade Hafız Ahmet Vasıf Efendi (1845–1919). He worked in the tobacco business before entering government service, and later served as a judge in Mağusa and Larnaka.

There was another little detail about him I liked. After retiring in 1915, he went to Kalopanayiotis for the spring baths because he suffered from rheumatism. Seeing the difficulties people had using the water, he arranged for it to be piped into a tank with four taps, making it easier for others coming for treatment.

He also helped with the building of the Darülfeyiz school. Having no children of his own, he established a vakıf, an endowment, providing for his wife and others while setting aside a share for the Turkish lycée. The school was still receiving income from it decades after his death.

So there we are a name associated with gunpowder, and a family story that also takes us to fountains, schools and helping others. I thought it was worth passing on.

Source: Ahmet An, Kıbrıs’ın Yetiştirdiği Değerler, drawing on Matbaacı Akif’s articles in Halkın Sesi. My brother Sermen found and shared the pages, and Ahmet Bey kindly helped with clarification.

Photograph: Reproduced in Ahmet An’s book from an old newspaper. Original photographer unknown.

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