According to some sources, Colceag was born in southern Bessarabia (Budjak), at a time when Moldavia was a vassal state to the Ottoman Empire.
In 1717 Sultan Ahmed III awarded him the title of pasha and named him commander of Khotyn Fortress.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, Colceag was appointed commander in chief of the Ottoman armed forces of the Moldavian front.
[4] After defeating the Turks in the Battle of Stavuchany, Russian General Burkhard Christoph von Münnich besieged the Khotyn Fortress.
General von Münnich offered Colceag honorable conditions of surrender following which, on 19 August 1739 the pasha capitulated.