He is often regarded, along with Ahmet Rıza Bey and Hasan Fehmi Pasha, as one of the leading statesmen who encouraged and propagated further progressivism.

He started out as a clerk in the Ottoman state structure and gradually climbed the ladder of the hierarchy, becoming the governor of Adana in 1897 and of Yemen in 1902.

That same year in 1902, he was appointed Inspectorate-General of Rumelia (Rumeli Umûmî Müfettişliği) with responsibility over virtually all of the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire at the time, namely the vilayets of Salonica, Kosovo and Manastir.

By all accounts: foreigners, the Sultan, and the Young Turks, he a competent inspector, and helped pass important reforms in the area.

His first term was suddenly interrupted because of the 31 March Incident (which actually occurred on April 13), when for a few days, reactionary absolutists and Islamic fundamentalists took back control of the Ottoman government in Constantinople until the arrival of an army from Selanik that suppressed the attempted countercoup.

[13][14] During the couples' stay in Vienna during World War I, Zehra raised money to treat Turkish soldiers wounded on the Galician Front.