Murtaza served Prince Potemkin as translator and seems to have performed some espionage among the Ottomans on behalf of the prince (he was liason with the consul in Constantinople). He earned praised from Catherine II and a string of governors; Murtaza took the rank of captain in 1790 and the civil rank of collegiate assessor in 1792. Served as higher land court deputy, deputy to the noble assembly, land captain of Perekop and marshal of the nobility of Perekop.