On 31 January 1573, he became the governor of the Diyarbekir Eyalet, where he worked on providing oarsmen for the navy that was bound for Tunis and ammunition for a planned conquest of Bahrain, collection of tariffs and the elimination of the tribes that lived as brigands.
He waited in Damascus until troops arrived from Egypt and moved to Erzurum, where the army gathered, in March 1579.
On 18 October 1580, while he was in the frontline, he was made the governor of Diyarbekir again but the decision was swiftly reversed and he remained in his position in Damascus.
In 1583, he rejoined the war against the Safavids under Serdar Ferhad Pasha, contributed to the conquest of Yerevan and the building of a new fort there.
With the governors of Diyarbekir and Karaman, he helped catch Kara Veli, a brigand that attacked the army.