The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
February 9, 2018 Friday
Former Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II ruled over decline of his empire
A BRITISH expert called him “mean” and “untrustworthy” but when he died in 1918, former Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid was a very wealthy man.
Troy Lennon
The Daily TelegraphFebruary 9, 201812:00am
Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II rides in an open carriage after proclaiming a new constitution in 1908.Source:Supplied
WHEN he died a century ago this week, the deposed Sultan Abdulhamid II was one of the richest men in the world. But because his wealth was built through abuses of power he was also widely despised — within Turkey and around the world.
An obituary by Lord Eversley, who wrote the widely read book, The Turkish Empire, on the decline of the Ottoman Empire, called him “the most mean, cunning, untrustworthy and cruel intriguer” in the history of Ottoman power.
While some regarded the sultan as evil for his oppression and massacre of people within his empire, as well as fanning the flames of religious hatred, others believed him to be a humble, pious ruler who cared deeply about his people despite having enriched himself at their expense. Deeply paranoid about plots against him, he dissolved parliament and ruled with an iron fist over a declining realm until he was ultimately deposed by a rebellion and became known as Abdulhamid “The Damned”.
A young Abdulhamid II when he was a sehzade (prince) heir to the Ottoman throne at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, in 1867.Source:Supplied
Abdulhamid was born in Topkapi Palace in Constantinople in 1842, the son of Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I and his consort Tirimujgan Kadin, a Circassian woman (although Eversley was adamant she was Armenian). Since he was not expected to succeed his father, Abdulhamid was allowed to indulge a range of interests including making furniture and writing opera.
When his father died in 1861 the throne went to Abdulmecid’s younger half-brother Abdulaziz. Abdulhamid accompanied his uncle — and his brother Murad — to Britain in 1867 where the princes made a favourable impression as highly intelligent, cultured and educated young men.
Abdulaziz became increasingly autocratic and profligate after the death of two influential chief ministers and, in May 1876, was deposed by Turkish parliament. Abdulhamid’s brother became Sultan Murad V. Murad was a liberal who had been in touch with exiled members of the rebel Young Turk movement on a trip to Europe. But after Abdulaziz committed suicide in June and members of Murad’s ministry were murdered, he suffered a breakdown and in August was removed from power leaving Abdulhamid to inherit the throne.
One of his first acts was to introduce a constitution in December 1876, in response to criticism over the Ottoman Empire’s brutal suppression of an uprising in Bulgaria, which threatened to bring foreign intervention.
But while many assumed that he would be liberal like his brother, he soon put paid to that notion. Under the pressures to rule during a disastrous war with Russia, Abdulhamid dismissed the parliament he had created in 1877 and suspended the constitution in 1878.
The empire was crumbling. The war with Russia had seen Balkan States given independence and Ottoman territory ceded to the Russians. The French occupied Tunisia in 1881 and the British in Egypt in 1882.
To counter the power of other European nations, Abdulhamid inflamed local Muslim movements to rise up against European powers. He also forged ties with Germany, giving concessions such as railway construction in the Middle East, and created the alliance that would lead the Ottoman Empire into defeat in World War I.
His mishandling of disputes between Kurds and Armenians lead to a massacre of thousands of Armenians in the 1890s, which would lead to further foreign pressures on Turkey and more intervention.
Abdulhamid retreated further into his palace, ruling through edicts and a secret police force that clamped down on dissent, and became increasingly fearful of assassination attempts. In 1905 Armenian revolutionaries packed a carriage full of explosives and parked it outside a mosque in Constantinople the Sultan was due to visit. He only escaped death because he had been delayed arriving at the mosque.
The deposed Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II in his final years, circa 1918.Source:Supplied
Ottoman leader Sultan Mehmed V, the brother of Abdulhamid who replaced him in 1909.Source:Supplied
But opposition to the power of the sultan was becoming more organised. The Young Turk movement, originally founded by university students, military cadets and civil servants, was growing and, with military reversals against the empire, the movement gained the support of upper levels of the military. The Young Turks wanted to reinstate the constitution and reclaim the military reputation of the empire.
In July 1908 the Young Turks led a revolt against Abdulhamid. The sultan gave in when he realised the military’s support for the revolution and in December 1908 elections were held for a new parliament. But a failed counter-revolt in 1909 led to the government forcing Abdulhamid’s abdication. His brother, Mehmed V, replaced him.
He was exiled to Thessaloniki (under Ottoman rule at the time). But when the city was overrun by the Greek army in WWI, Abdulhamid was taken back to Constantinople and imprisoned in the Beylerbeyi Palace where he died on February 10, 1918, and never saw the breakup of his former empire.