He was expected to resolve a highly difficult political situation provoked by king Charles XII of Sweden, who had retreated to Ottoman soil following his defeat in Battle of Poltava 1709.
King Charles and his political ally, Crimean Khan Devlet II Giray, persuaded Ottoman sultan Ahmed III to start a war against Peter the Great's Russia.
In an effort to avoid joining war, Köprülü Numan Pasha promised a great army to escort king Charles to the Baltic Sea through Poland.
In addition, being a pious Muslim, he enacted hardline religious actions against Catholics and Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, causing criticism from abroad.
According to Cantemir, Numan Pasha was bookish and pale of skin, also not of sound mind; his time in office was noted for an incident where he was insistent that there was always a fly that had landed upon his nose.