serasker

thumb|Serasker Mehmed Riza Pasha (1899) Serasker, or seraskier (; ), is a title formerly used in the Ottoman Empire for a vizier who commanded an army.

Following the suppression of the Janissaries in 1826, Sultan Mahmud II transferred the functions of the old Agha of the Janissaries to the serasker. The latter now became a distinct office at the head of the Ottoman military, combining the functions of a commander-in-chief and a minister of war. He also took over the Janissary Agha's former duties regarding the upkeep of order in Istanbul. Indeed, as the police system developed and expanded with the empire's progressive centralization, it became one of the main duties of the serasker until 1845, when policing became a separate agency.