In 1910, he became Minister of the Navy in Ibrahim Hakki Pasha's cabinet and arranged the construction of the first Turkish dreadnought.

He married Princess Nimetullah Khanum Effendi, a daughter of Isma'il Pasha and they had five children.

He later fought in the Turkish War of Independence where he joined the forces of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

On 30 May 1929, Mahmud Muhtar Pasha was put on trial before the Supreme Court (formerly Ottoman Turkish: Divan'ı Ali, today Turkish: Yüce Divan) on charges of damnifying the state treasury by remitting 20,000 pounds without security to the British Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company in conjunction with works for the Anatolian Railway Company.

On 3 November 1929, he was sentenced to making a payment of 22,000 Turkish gold coins discounted by five percent.