Throughout his career as a politician, Reshid Akif Paşa served as governor, minister of the interior, and in the Council of State.

[5] He eventually moved to Istanbul where he was appointed as minister of the interior on 6 August 1909[6] for a few months, but resigned on health grounds;[7][8] in the same year he became a member of the Senate of the Ottoman Empire.

[8] Reshid Akif Pasha is known for providing important testimony on the Armenian genocide during a session of the Ottoman parliament on 21 November 1918.

What a stain on the reputation of the Ottoman Empire, these criminal people ..."[14] The testimony was considered "extremely remarkable and noteworthy" by the contemporaneous local press.

[10] Historian Vahakn Dadrian has concluded that his statements are the "most incriminating evidence" for the systematic killings of the Armenian Genocide.