COMPOSER SULTANS

He was born in Istanbul on 28 Cemaziyelevvel 1021 (July 27, 1612). He is the son of Ahmed I and Mahpeyker (Kösem) Sultan. There is not much information in the sources about his life as a prince. It is said that after the Osman II incident, when he was taken to the palace garden with his brothers to be taken to Üsküdar with the arrangement of Grand Vizier Davud Pasha, he was tried to be killed by one of the gate aghas and was saved with the intervention of the other aghas. 

When the decision was made by the leading figures, especially the Grand Vizier Kemankeş Ali Pasha and the Sheikhulislam Zekeriyyâzâde Yahya Efendi, to dethrone Mustafa I, in order to resolve the confusion that had emerged in the state administration due to the mental instability of his uncle Mustafa I, he was enthroned, probably through the influence of his mother Kösem Sultan, despite his young age (15 Dhu al-Qadah 1032 / 10 September 1623). The next day, he was girded with a sword by Aziz Mahmud Hüdâyî in the Eyüp Sultan Tomb and was circumcised five days later. In the first years of his reign, the administration remained in the hands of statesmen who were mostly under the influence of his mother. During this nine-year period, which continued until 1041 (1632), he had no influence on the events of the period. He took over the administration completely from Shawwal 1041 (May 1632), when he got rid of Grand Vizier Recep Pasha and eliminated the tyrants. 

In the first years of his reign, Grand Vizier Kemankeş Ali Pasha had a say in state affairs. The sources of the period are allies that the state was going through a very difficult period during this time. The lack of authority in Istanbul in particular led to the administrators in the provinces acting on their own. The activities of Abaza Pasha, who came out with the claim of suing for the blood of the murdered Sultan Osman, took control of Erzurum and its surroundings, killed the janissaries he found around and marched on Ankara, and Bekir Subaşı in Baghdad created serious problems. Baghdad fell into the hands of the Safavids as a result of the developing events (1033/1624). In the meantime, some incidents occurred in Georgia (1034/1625). However, the work of recapturing Baghdad was given priority and IV. Murad sent Hafiz Ahmed Pasha to Baghdad, but no result was achieved from the clashes (1035/1626). On the other hand, Abaza Pasha surrendered after long struggles and asked for mercy from the sultan. Murad IV took a close interest in Abaza Pasha who was brought to his presence and appointed him as the governor of Bosnia. 

On 18 Shawwal 1038 (10 June 1629), Hüsrev Pasha, who went on a campaign to Hamadan and Baghdad, captured places such as Kerbela, Necef and Hille through Genç Osman, one of Abaza's old men. He repaired the Shahrizol Castle (Gülanber) and brought the tribes in the region under his command. After capturing the Mihriban Castle, he inflicted heavy losses on the army of Khan-ı Hanan Zeynel near this castle on 22 Ramadan 1039 (5 ​​May 1630) and headed towards Baghdad upon the orders of Murad IV. This second siege of Baghdad, which started on 28 Safer 1040 (6 October 1630), did not yield any results. This failure led to the dismissal of Hüsrev Pasha and the appointment of Hâfız Ahmed Pasha for the second time.

During this period of Murad IV’s reign, Europe was in the crisis of the Thirty Years’ War and sectarian problems were also evident in Ottoman lands. In Istanbul, where Catholic state ambassadors and state ambassadors who accepted Calvin’s sect fought politically, the Dutch and English responded to the French efforts to give Catholicism a superior position and to develop Jesuit activities by trying to spread the Protestant sect. In response to the accusations of the French ambassador M. le Comte de Cézy that Protestantism inculcated evil and disobedience, the Dutch tried to undermine the Jesuits’ activities by portraying them as dangerous to the life of the sultan and the security of the country. In this context, the Ottoman government closed down the printing press established by the Jesuits to spread Catholicism and exiled them to Chios. In Transylvania, Bethlen Gábor made agreements with states such as England, Venice and the Netherlands and provided assistance to Protestant princes against the German Empire. While Bethlen was carrying out military operations in Germany with the help of Murtaza Pasha, he also made attempts in Istanbul to ensure that the Crimean forces entered Poland and managed to obtain a decree to include himself in the agreement to be renewed between the Ottoman Empire and Austria. As in previous periods, the Treaty of Zitvatorok was renewed during the reign of Murad IV. After the agreement made in Gyarmath on 11 Ramadan 1036 (26 May 1627), after close negotiations between Murtaza Pasha and Count von Althan, a twenty-five-year agreement was signed in Szöny (Sonbor in Ottoman sources) on 13 September 1627, essentially confirming and renewing the previous treaties. 

During this period, Murad IV was not in a position to cope with the tyranny of the army in Istanbul, the domination of the statesmen who used this as a tool for their own interests, and the provincial rebellions. After his accession, there were one rebellion after another. Defterdar Yahni-Kapan Abdülkerim Efendi was killed the following year upon the instigation of Topal Receb Pasha, the former Grand Vizier Vizier Gürcü Mehmed Pasha. After Cennetoğlu had gained enough power to disperse the government forces in Balıkesir and after causing the state to struggle for six months, he was defeated in Manisa, captured in Denizli and executed in Birgi (Rebîülevvel 1035 / December 1625). During these difficult years, as Murad IV grew older, the tutelage of his mother, who managed the affairs with the help of Kızlar Ağası Mustafa Ağa, began to weigh heavily on him. The sultan, who proved to have a strong will, changed clothes from time to time and tried to learn the truth of everything by walking around the city, was preparing to take over the administration of the state. It is stated that Kösem Sultan, on the other hand, was afraid of this tendency she saw in her son and encouraged him to party and tried to distract him with gifts and festivities.

The starting point of Murad IV's complete seizure of power was the rebellion that broke out as a result of the dismissal of Hüsrev Pasha and the instigation of the soldiers and tyrants who supported him against Hâfız Ahmed Pasha by the district governor Topal Receb Pasha, who wanted to be the grand vizier. The tyrants gathered in Atmeydanı on 16 Rajab 1041 (February 7, 1632) and went to the palace for three consecutive days, demanding the heads of seventeen of the sultan's closest men, including the Grand Vizier Hâfız Ahmed Pasha, who had caused Hüsrev Pasha's dismissal, the Şeyhülislam Zekeriyyâzâde Yahya Efendi, the Janissary Agha Hasan Khalifa and Musahib Musa Çelebi. IV. Although Murad initially behaved coolly and stalled them, he was forced to accept the rebels' demands after understanding the gravity of the situation due to threats of dethronement and insistence from Topal Receb Pasha. When he witnessed the murder of Hafiz Pasha by tyrants, he vowed to take revenge and retired to his chambers crying (19 Receb / 10 February).

As a result of the events, Receb Pasha became the Grand Vizier. Ahizâde Hüseyin Efendi took the place of Yahya Efendi, who was dismissed, as the sheikh. Although Receb Pasha was pleased when the sultan killed Hüsrev Pasha, who was suspected of having a role in this incident and was in Tokat at the time, he once again mobilized the tyrants in order to eliminate the men around the sultan, whose wrath he feared, and thus to remain without a rival. When the news of Hüsrev Pasha's death spread on 19 Şâban (11 March), a new rebellion began the next day. The tyrants, who gathered in Atmeydanı, marched to the palace and had a meeting held for the Sultan, and wanted the Janissary Agha Hasan Khalifa, Musahib Musa Çelebi and the Chief Defterdar Mustafa Pasha to be killed, said that they no longer trusted the Sultan and brought the princes (Bayezid, Süleyman, Kasım, İbrahim) to see him in front of Babussâade. The words of Princes Bayezid and Süleyman that these actions were dangerous for their lives had no effect. In order to satisfy the rebels, Receb Pasha and Ahizâde declared that they would vouch for the princes. However, the chaos continued. Finally, Hasan Khalifa, Defterdar Mustafa Pasha, Musahib Musa Çelebi, who the sultan had entrusted to Receb Pasha for his life to be spared and Kaptanıderya Canbolatzade Mustafa Pasha had also vouched for, were found in their hiding places, killed and hanged from a tree in Atmeydanı. The rebels, considering the effect of these events on the sultan, thought that he would take revenge one day and that they no longer had the right to live during this sultan's time, and thought of dethroning him and electing one of the princes in his place. However, a disagreement arose between them. Rum Mehmed, one of the ringleaders, was of the opinion that no further action should be taken. Köse Mehmed Agha, who was appointed as Janissary Agha, was reporting the events outside and the arrangements of Receb and Canbolatoğlu Mustafa Pashas to the sultan. The issue of the situation was eliminated with the measures taken, but the unrest in Istanbul reached its peak. The new demands of the tyrants, the chaos they caused to obtain posts and duties, and their demands for usufruct began to put pressure on Receb Pasha. While the situation was at this stage, Murad IV took action to establish his own authority directly.

First of all, he started by getting rid of the statesmen who were becoming tyrants, especially by eliminating Receb Pasha, whom he personally hated and saw as being connected not only to the rebellions in Istanbul but also to some rebellions in Anatolia. Receb Pasha was also under suspicion because of the rebellion of Ilyas Pasha, who gathered many Sarıca and Sekban around him, took control of places such as Balıkesir, Bergama, Karesi, Manisa and then reached out to the island of Midilli, surrendered to Küçük Ahmed Pasha in Bergama Hisarı, where he was besieged, was accepted into the presence in the İstavroz Garden on the Bosphorus and was executed after being scolded a lot (Rebiülevvel 1042 / September 1632). After the council on 28 Şevval 1041 (18 May 1632), Murad IV summoned Receb Pasha and had him killed, and appointed Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha in his place. This sudden blow shocked the sipahis and those who helped them. On Wednesday, 20 Zilkade (8 June), the sipahis gathered in Okmeydanı under the pretext of officially granting them the “services” they had previously seized by force. When they heard that the Grand Vizier had received a decree stating that the sipahis would not be given the duties they had not previously held, they gathered in Sultanahmet Square. When news of the meeting was received, the sultan convened a standing council in the Sinan Pasha Mansion, attended by all the notables, including the Janissary officers, and summoned the sipahi representatives, and after explaining at length that everyone must obey the state and listening to their answers, he made them swear on the Quran. He had Sheikh Mehmed Efendi record what was said and the oaths, and had this document signed by the Grand Vizier and Sheikh al-Islam, as well as by Vizier Hüseyin and Bayram Pashas and Sheikh Efendi. Although the sipahis opposed these decisions at the Sinan Pasha Mansion, they could not do anything because they had lost the support of the Janissaries. First, Murad IV summoned Sipahi Ağa Cafer and Silahdar Ağa Ahmed to the council and immediately gave the order to capture the ringleaders, and when Ahmed Ağa showed incompetence, he had him beheaded. In a meeting held at the Grand Vizier's palace two days after the meeting at the Sinan Pasha Mansion, Ahizade Hüseyin Efendi said that those who revolted should first be advised, and if they did not obey, they should all be killed. After this, a tyrant's pursuit began in Istanbul and the provinces, and those who were caught were immediately killed. According to sources, the Grand Vizier would wander the streets of Istanbul in disguise, and wherever he saw a man dressed as a sipahi, he would immediately deal with him, and from time to time, the Janissaries and the people of the city were also affected by this violence. Although it is known that Murad IV's harsh actions in order to establish his own strict authority led to many unjust practices, it is clear that this ensured public order and security. In addition, at the beginning of 1042 (July 1632), a roll call was held among the Anatolian and Rumelian beylerbeys to grant the timars to those who deserved them, and upon this, many of the sipahis and janissaries gave up their ulufes and began to receive timars. Thus, the corrupted timar-holding sipahis organization was put in order.

While calm was achieved in the center by eliminating the sipahi tyrants, activities in this direction continued in the provinces. The rebellion of the Druze Emir Ma‘noğlu Fahreddin, who virtually established an independent administration in Cebelelübnan, was suppressed (1044/1635). The Zaydi imam Mueyyed-Billah Muhammed b. Qasim, who took advantage of the weakness of the Ottoman administration and dominated many regions and acted as if they were independent by minting coins in Kevkeban, besieged the Governor of Yemen Haydar Pasha in Sanaa, rendered the Abyssinian Governor Aydın Pasha helpless, and the clashes that continued for years with the sipahis and other forces sent by the government under the name of “Yemen servant” by the Egyptian umera appointed to Yemen, Kansu Pasha. While returning from Yemen, he entered into a battle with the Emir of Mecca, Sherif Zeyd, due to a misunderstanding and won, and took control of Mecca (Shaban 1040 / March 1631). When the situation in Hejaz became complicated, the Governor of Egypt, Halil Pasha, sent Koca Qasim Bey there. Some of the tyrants retreated to Basra and were destroyed by the Arabs, while others were expelled from the Imperial Council, where they applied to request their sipahis (1042/1633). On the other hand, when Kansu Pasha could not stay in Yemen any longer and returned, the Zeydi imam took control of the entire country. 

A fire caused by a ship caulker outside Cibalikapisi in Istanbul, which expanded with the force of the wind, reduced one-fifth of the city to ashes (27 Safer 1043 / September 2, 1633). Kâtib Çelebi, while indicating the irreparable losses, notes that many manuscripts were destroyed in the mansions of the ulema and the notables. Since this fire caused a lot of gossip, especially back and forth talk in the coffeehouses, with the encouragement of Kadızâde Mehmed Efendi, who considered coffee and tobacco as forbidden, Murad IV had the coffeehouses demolished on the pretext of a new fire and had rooms built in their place for bachelors, tanners and blacksmiths, and banned tobacco. Despite the rumors that he hated tobacco and opium, the sultan, who was extremely fond of alcohol, considered it a suitable opportunity for his domestic politics to comply with the inclinations of the bigoted groups. It is known that the sultan, who also had the coffeehouses in Edirne demolished, had a significant number of people killed, some of whom were tortured, both in the capital and during the campaigns in Revan and Baghdad due to his morbid hostility towards tobacco. 

IV. Murad, during his trip to Bursa in the month of Jumada al-Akhir in 1043 (December 1633), had the judge of Iznik, whom he had stopped by for hunting, hanged because of his negligence in repairing the roads, which caused reactions in the scholarly community. The scholarly Sheikh al-Islam Ahizade Hüseyin Efendi wrote a memorandum to Kösem Sultan to inform the sultan that it would be dangerous to attract the hatred of the scholars. When the scholars gathered at a banquet, the mother sultan suspected that they were discussing the matter of their situation and immediately informed her son about the situation. The sultan, who had gone hunting in Bursa on the fifth day of his stay, received the news and immediately came to Istanbul, dismissed the Sheikh al-Islam and exiled him to Cyprus. However, he could not control his anger and had him landed on the coast of Çekmece while the ship was still in the Marmara Sea due to a storm. He went to that region with Abaza Pasha by his side and ordered Bostancıbaşı Duçe Mehmed Ağa to have Ahîzâde strangled (7 Rajab 1043 / 7 January 1634). Murad IV was the first sultan to resort to the murder of a sheikh al-islam, which was unprecedented in Ottoman history and rarely seen after him.

During the reign of Murad IV, there were notable phases in Ottoman-Polish relations, including the Crimean Khanate, the Kazakhs and Russia, but these ended with agreements. The Crimeans' attempts against the Kazakhs and Russians did not materialize because they were assigned to the Iranian campaigns. Özü Beylerbeyi Murtaza Pasha signed a seven-article agreement with the Poles (1 Safer 1040 / 9 September 1630). With this agreement, Poland would continue to pay taxes to Crimea, would remove the Kazakhs from the islands they were on, and the Ottoman Empire would prevent the Crimean raids. After a while, relations deteriorated again and signs of war appeared. Abaza Pasha, who had attracted attention with his struggles on the Venetian border during his Bosnian beylerbeyi and who had always been in the sultan's favor despite his cruelty to the people of the country, was appointed as the guard of Özü and Silistre, was assigned to the operation. IV. Murad sent a reply to Russian Tsar Mikhail Romanov, who had requested his help against Poland, stating that he would provide this help when the situation permitted and that he should remain friendly with Sweden until then. The Sublime Porte also began political relations with Sweden for the first time during this time. Abaza Pasha, who entered Polish territory, came to a place called Eskitabur near Khotyn Castle (18 Rebiulâhir 1043 / 22 October 1633) and attacked the positions in front of Kamieniec Castle. Although he forced the Poles to withdraw, he was unable to besiege the castle. He later withdrew. Meanwhile, the Polish ambassador Alexandre Trzebinski, who had come to Istanbul, was received by the sultan. The ambassador proposed that the relations between the two states be arranged under the conditions of the time of Suleiman the Magnificent, and in response, IV. When Murad demanded the destruction of the palankas on the Dniester (Turla) River and that Poland pay taxes, no ground could be found for agreement. In this case, the sultan appointed Murtaza Pasha as serdar of the forces on the border and then took Abaza Pasha with him and set off for Edirne (16 Şevval 1043 / 15 April 1634). Poland, which was under heavy attack by the Russians, saw that the issue was taken seriously and made another peace offer. Since Murad IV aimed to conduct an expedition against Iran, he did not insist on the Polish issue too much and left the responsibility to Murtaza Pasha and left Edirne (1 Safer 1044 / 27 July 1634). According to the seven-article agreement that Murtaza Pasha signed with Trzebinski, the Ottoman Empire would remove the Tatar tribes settled in the Bielgorod steppes from their place and Poland would take the Zaporozhians under control. IV. After returning from Edirne to Istanbul, Murad declared a ban on alcohol and destroyed the taverns before his Iran expedition (10 Safer 1044 / 5 August 1634). He enforced this ban as severely as he did with the coffee and tobacco bans.

Taking the administration of the state completely into his own hands, Murad IV went on two major expeditions that he personally led. In 1042 (1632-33), when Shah Safi began invading Georgia and broke the resistance of Tahmuras Khan, and on the other hand, when the Iranian army attacked Van, the sultan left the protection of Van to Murtaza Pasha and began preparations for a major expedition, and brought the army under the command of Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha to the Üsküdar plain (11 Rebiülâhir 1043 / 15 October 1633). Although Van was saved from the siege on the same day, the serdar continued the expedition and went to Aleppo with the army, and after suppressing a janissary rebellion that broke out there under the pretext of ulûfe, he went to Diyarbekir. In the meantime, Murad IV had Abaza Pasha, whom he had kept as his closest man for a while, killed, and then the poet Nef‘î, whom he loved very much. 

Murad IV’s first Iran campaign was called the Revan campaign after the castle he conquered. He set off from Üsküdar on 9 Şevval 1044 (28 March 1635) with Şeyhülislam Zekeriyyâzâde Yahya Efendi by his side. The sultan punished those who neglected their duties, the judges, viziers or those who smoked tobacco in the places he stopped during the army’s march, and followed the route of İzmit, Eskişehir, Konya and Kayseri. After leaving Sivas, he had the Anatolian and Rumelian soldiers conduct a large war maneuver in the border plain, in which he himself participated. In the meantime, Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha came from Erzurum, where he was making preparations, and joined the army around Bayburt. According to the story, with 200,000 soldiers, twenty-five balyemez and more than 100 shahi cannons, he crossed the Soğanlı plateau in six days and reached Kars, the Iranian border (1 Safer 1045 / 17 July 1635) and from there entered Iranian territory. He came before Revan on 10 Safer (26 July). He had his tent, which was set up at a place quite far from the castle, moved to a place closer to the walls and this place was later called Hünkâr Tepesi. Revan surrendered after eleven days of resistance (23 Safer 1045 / 8 August 1635). The sultan received the castle ruler Emirguneoğlu Tahmasp Kulu Khan with a magnificent ceremony and released the Mazandaran riflemen under the command of Mir Fettah, whom the shah had placed in the castle, and ordered the castle to be repaired. He gave the governorship of Aleppo to Emirguneoğlu, who surrendered with his mother and entered Ottoman service. Although he converted to the Sunni sect and his name was changed to Yusuf Pasha, this person, who was always referred to by his old name, was dismissed upon complaint due to his remarkable behavior in Aleppo, where he stayed for about two months, and was summoned by the sultan. In addition to the privileges of the viziership, he was given a garden on the Bosphorus (Feridun Pasha garden, today Emirgan), a palace in Ahırkapı and a farm in Kağıthane. Due to his expertise in music and his experience in entertainment and dissoluteness, he became one of the sultan's close associates.

After assigning a force under the command of Kenan Pasha to the conquest of Ahıska, which had fallen because it had not been helped before, Murad IV marched to Tabriz. He fell ill on the way to Hoy and had to take a sedan chair. In the meantime, he began to eliminate his brothers because he was worried that his mother would plot against him and, seeing the positive atmosphere that the victory of Revan would create, he had Prince Bayezid and Süleyman, who were in Istanbul, killed (13 Rabi'ul-Awwal night / 27 August). The killing of the twenty-five-year-old princes on the night of the day when the good news of the conquest of Revan arrived in Istanbul and the festivities that would last for four nights began, aroused sorrow and hatred in everyone. While Murad IV had Tabriz, which had been evacuated, destroyed on 28 Rabi'ul-Awwal (11 September), the Cihan Shah and Sultan Hasan mosques were not touched with the intervention of Yahya Efendi. He did not go any further and returned because of the approach of winter and his illness. Among those who welcomed him in Izmit were Kenan Pasha and Emirguneoglu, who had captured Ahıska after a twenty-three-day siege and captured four or five other small castles. Murad IV set off from Izmit with galleys and arrived in Üsküdar (7 Rajab 1045 / Tuesday, 17 December 1635) and entered Istanbul with a large regiment on Thursday. 

After the departure of the Ottoman army, Revan fell into Safavid hands again (24 Shawwal 1045 / 1 April 1636). Although Shah Safi had recaptured Revan and then defeated the forces of Küçük Ahmed Pasha near Mihriban Castle, he sent Maksud Khan to Istanbul for peace, but the sultan refused to accept the ambassador, saying that the response to the letter would be given in Baghdad, and began preparations for a major expedition. Before setting out on the campaign, he executed Prince Kasım, whom he considered dangerous to him. On 23 Zilhicce 1047 (8 May 1638), he set off towards Baghdad with his enormous army, which reminded one of the era of great conquests and whose size would increase throughout the campaign, accompanied by Şeyhülislam Yahya Efendi and Kaptanıderya Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha. In the meantime, Sakarya Şeyh Ahmed, who had come forward with the claim of being Mahdi and tried to impose tribute on the people of Eskişehir, was killed. He passed through Ereğli, Adana, İskenderun and Aleppo and reached Ayıntap, Birecik and Urfa. Since Bayram Pasha died at Cülab, which was in the vicinity, he appointed the Governor of Mosul Tayyar Mehmed Pasha as the Grand Vizier. When he arrived in Diyarbekir, he sent Derviş Pasha as the vanguard. On 28 Jumada al-Akhir 1048 (6 November 1638) they reached Mosul. The army arrived near the Shrine of Imam Musa (Kazimiye) on 7 Rajab (14 November), and the sultan went down to his tent opposite the Shrine of Imam-i Azam (Azamiye) the next day. Murad IV closely followed all the stages of the siege in front of Baghdad and from time to time went as far as the metris. Although it was decided to make a general assault on the fourteenth day of the siege, it was rumored that the defenders were preparing metris inside, which prevented this. Since it was deemed appropriate to capture Baghdad by imposing a metris, the siege continued for days, increasing in intensity. Tayyar Mehmed Pasha, who had been reprimanded by the sultan for not marching the day before, was killed by a bullet in his forehead when he entered the battle at the head of the serdengeçti, after capturing the towers opposite his own front, and was replaced by Kaptanıderya Kemankeş Mustafa Pasha. The next day (Friday, 17 Shaban 1048 / 24 December 1638), the castle commander Bektaş Khan decided to surrender Baghdad and was received into the presence of Murad IV with ceremonial and courtesy. The sultan told them to surrender the castle and announced that the soldiers defending it were free to remain with him or go to the shah. However, when news spread that the Iranians, who were still in Baghdad, were placing sewers under the towers held by the Ottomans, the fighting resumed and lasted for a day and a night. Many Iranians were captured, their khans were imprisoned and many of the others were killed.

After the conquest, Murad IV occupied himself with the repair of the castle, the tombs of Imam-i Azam and Abdulkadir Geylani. He visited the tomb of Imam-i Azam and went to the Kazimiye area. He left the Grand Vizier in Baghdad and set off for Istanbul on 12 Ramadan 1048 (17 January 1639). His illness is shown as the reason why he could not realize his dream of entering Iranian territory and going as far as Isfahan and left the solution of the peace issue to Kemankeş Mustafa Pasha. When he arrived in Mosul, he sent a letter to the Iranian ambassador Maksud Khan, whom he had not accepted and kept waiting in Mosul, despite coming to Istanbul before the expedition, and to the Shah of Iran, requesting the return of the lands that had previously belonged to the Ottoman Empire, sending gifts and sacks every year, or that otherwise the war would start again. He stayed here for seventy-one days because he got sick while coming to Diyarbekir and was afraid of traveling in the winter, and then he left on 11 Zilhicce 1048 (15 April 1639) and arrived in Izmit via Malatya, Sivas, Tokat and Ankara. He set off for Istanbul by sea again and landed at the Sinan Pasha Mansion (8 Safer 1049 / 10 June 1639). Although his feet were in pain due to his illness, which was also aggravated by the difficulties of the expedition, he entered the city with a large procession from Bahçekapı two days later. In the meantime, the Treaty of Kasrışîrin, which ended the Iranian wars and was taken as a basis in the following centuries, was signed at the Zühâb location near Kasrışîrin (14 Muharram 1049 / 17 May 1639). The text of the treaty was brought to Istanbul by the Iranian ambassador Muhammed Kulu Khan and presented to Murad IV for approval. 

On the other hand, in addition to the Iranian issue, IV. From the beginning to the end of the reign of Murad, the chaotic situation of the Crimean Khanate and the Cossack attacks were among the main issues that preoccupied the Ottoman Empire. Efforts were made to solve these issues with measures such as the dispatch of the army and navy, the construction of fortresses on the Özü River and the prevention of the Cossacks from going to sea, but it was not possible to solve them completely at that time. In addition to other activities carried out by the Cossacks, it is known that they entered the Bosphorus on 4 Şevval 1033 (20 July 1624) and plundered Sarıyer, Tarabya and especially Yeniköy, although this was eliminated in a short time, it caused great excitement in Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire responded to this by defeating the Cossacks, which it pursued with its navy under the command of Kaptanıderyâ Receb Paşa, off the coast of Karaharman, north of Constanta (Muharrem 1035 / October 1625).

During his Baghdad campaign, Murad IV had assigned Duçe Mehmed Pasha to calm the unrest that broke out in various parts of Albania and Bosnia. It is seen that Duçe’s activities in these areas were not very successful and the issue continued until the last years of Murad IV. Again during his period, the Avlonya incident became so important that it caused the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice to be cut off for a while. Ali Piçinoğlu, who was the head of the Algerian and Tunisian navies tasked with ensuring the security of the Mediterranean, came to the Port of Avlonya after operating on the coasts of Crete and Italy. The Venetian government blockaded Avlonya with a fleet of twenty-eight galleys and one large ship under the command of Marino Capello, shelled the castle and the city, and took away Piçinoğlu’s ships (1048/1638). Upon hearing the incident, IV. Murad was enraged, ordered the termination of commercial relations with Venice, which had violated the treaty, and the closure of the Spalato Customs, which brought in 50 loads of silver a year. Finally, a treaty was signed based on the principle of preserving the commercial relations that had been going on for a long time and including compensation (15 Rebiülevvel 1049 / 16 July 1639). 

The sultan was afflicted with gout, which started during the Revan campaign and was getting worse. He had to travel by litter at times during the Baghdad campaign and on his return he had a severe headache and then tremors and fell into bed. Doctors, who first attributed this to malaria, later diagnosed it as paralysis. Although he improved somewhat after the campaign, he could barely attend the triumphal procession in Istanbul. When he got worse again in the Beykoz region, where he went hunting in November, he gave up his excessive use of alcohol upon the advice of those around him. After ten days of rest in the Üsküdar palace, he recovered but his spiritual state was very bad; he was drawing negative meanings about his life from the solar eclipse and a book of cifir he found in the treasury. However, he was thinking about the future and was continuing his preparations for a great expedition against the Venetians by land and sea. His activities such as building new ships in the shipyard and armory, casting cannons, and sending soldiers to the Salonika region caused great concern in the West. There are rumors that this expedition was against the Maltese pirates and that the sultan sent a man to get a plan of the island. 

IV. After accepting the holiday greetings on 1 Shawwal 1049 (25 January 1640), watching the various skills of the inner aghas at the Sinan Pasha Mansion and galloping for a while, Murad went to the palace allocated to Silâhdar Mustafa Pasha in Atmeydanı and rested, and at dinner, upon the suggestion of his relatives such as Silâhdar and Emirgûneoğlu, he ate and drank as before. The next day of this night, he fell ill; despite all the treatments, he got worse day by day. According to the account of Imam-ı Sultânî Şâmî Yûsuf Efendi, who was with him, he occasionally lost consciousness. He died in the room where he had Prince Kasım strangled after the night prayer on Thursday, 15 Shawwal 1049 (8 February 1640). His funeral was carried out with great ceremony, with the three horses he rode in the holy wars saddled backwards in front of his coffin, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Ahmed I next to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

Murad IV is a person with a different character among the Ottoman sultans. This ruler, who had a strong will and memory, who was never afraid of anything, dealt with state affairs during the years he lived under tutelage, traveled in different places and tried to see and understand everything closely, and was able to improve the internal and external situation of the country. He showed his increasingly harsh attitude mostly against those he believed were evil. In some Western sources, it is narrated that he had spies everywhere and read Machiavelli, which he had translated by a convert. 

Murad IV, who was among the Ottoman sultans who participated in the war at the head of the army, is described in the sources as a tall, broad-shouldered, and majestic person. Again, in contemporary sources, it is stated that he was very strong, that he lifted Silahdar Musa (Pasha), a large man, by the belt and carried him around the Has Oda several times, that he wrestled with the famous wrestlers of the period, that he used a 200-okka mace, that he was a sword, arrow, harpoon, etc. It is stated that he was skilled in using weapons. It is known that he pierced the iron (silver) gate of Topkapi Palace, the rhinoceros-skin shield that was among the gifts presented by Mir Zarif, the ambassador of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in Mosul during the Baghdad campaign, with a harpoon and arrow, that the javelin he threw from the Old Palace hit the minaret of Beyazit Mosque and the one he threw from Aleppo Castle hit the city's Saraçhane vicinity, and that he proved his skill as a violinist on various occasions. 

Murad IV had many children. Evliya Çelebi indicates their number as thirty-two, but the ones that can be identified are around sixteen, five of whom were boys. The names of the princes who died while their fathers were still alive are Süleyman, Mehmed, Alaeddin, Ahmed and Mahmud. Among his daughters, Kaya Ismihan Sultan married Melek Ahmed Pasha, Rukiye Sultan Melek (Devil) married Ibrahim Pasha, and Hafize Sultan married Hüseyin Pasha, while the others died at a young age. Since he had three of his brothers (Bayezid, Suleyman and Kasim) and according to one account his uncle Mustafa I killed, there was no one left to succeed him except Ibrahim. It is also said that he ordered the killing of Prince Ibrahim, whom he saw as the reason why his serious illness could not be cured, and that Kösem Sultan prevented the order from reaching the officials and ensured Ibrahim's survival. 

The reign of Murad IV was the most remarkable period of the Ottoman Empire in terms of intellectuals trained in various fields such as scholars, poets, historians, calligraphers and musicians. Names such as Evliya Çelebi, Katib Çelebi, Nef‘î, Şeyhülislam Yahya, Veysi, Koçi Bey, Azmîzâde Hâletî are only a few of the prominent figures of the period in the field of literature. 

Murad IV, who knew Arabic and Persian, did not have a high literary talent but wrote poems under the pen name Murâdî, his interest in music reached the level of composing (see.bk.), although it is not known from whom he learned it, he wrote especially the ta‘lik calligraphy beautifully, and although he wanted to use it for his political purposes, he was keen to deal with the controversial issues of his time. It is clear that he was more influenced by Kadızâde Mehmed Efendi in the debates that arose from differences of understanding in religious matters. However, he also liked Abdülmecid Sivâsî and did not want to offend his supporters. 

IV. Although Murad did not create any great works since he was busy with campaigns and other issues throughout his reign, he had some activities in this field. He had a mosque built in Çamlıca, Üsküdar, and castles with annexes and mosques built in Anadolukavağı and Rumelikavağı to defend the strait against Kazakh attacks. Bayram Pasha, upon the order he gave during the Revan campaign, worked on the construction of Istanbul and rebuilt the walls and the burnt mosques. The placement of a pulpit in the Okmeydanı Namazgah also dates back to the time of Murad IV. He had the İstavroz Palace built on the Üsküdar side and a palace that does not exist today in Kandilli, as well as the Baghdad and Revan Kiosks built in Topkapı Palace in memory of the conquests of Revan and Baghdad. Among these structures completed in 1636 and 1639, the Baghdad Kiosk, in particular, is the 17th-century Ottoman Palace that brought together various branches of Turkish art. It is one of the highest works of art in the 16th century. As a result of heavy rains (19 Shaban 1039 / 3 April 1630), the Kaaba, which was damaged by the waters that flooded the Masjid al-Haram, was repaired thoroughly by Kadı Mehmed Efendi and Architect Rıdvan Ağa, and the sultan's name was written on the arch of the Beytullah.

He was born in Edirne on 3 Muharram 1108 (2 August 1696). He was the eldest son of Mustafa II and his mother was Saliha Sultan. He spent his childhood in Edirne and began receiving his primary education there. He was taught by İbrahim Efendi, the son of Şeyhülislam Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi (Anonymous Ottoman History, p. 146). After the Edirne Incident, which resulted in his father being dethroned (1115/1703), he was brought to Istanbul with his brothers. He was circumcised with his brothers in 1117 (1705) (Silâhdar, II, 220). After a life in prison that lasted twenty-seven years, during which he mostly worked as a goldsmith, he became the sultan on 19 Rebiülevvel 1143 (2 October 1730) when Ahmed III abdicated as a result of the Patrona Halil Rebellion. It is stated that his uncle Ahmed III, who was the first to pay homage to him, advised him to take the state administration into his own hands and not to trust anyone (Destari Salih History, p. 16). 

Mahmud I took care to fulfill the demands of the rebel leaders in the first weeks of his reign. Patrona Halil and his supporters, who were content with large amounts of cash and did not want any official position, appointed their own men to the posts of sheikhulislam and kazasker, and to important guild aghas, especially janissary agha, and Silâhdar Mehmed Pasha to the position of grand vizier. They also abolished some taxes imposed during the time of Nevşehirli Damad İbrahim Pasha. The rebels' request to demolish the mansions in Kağıthane and Sadabad, which were places of pleasure during the Tulip Era, was also accepted by Mahmud I (Subhî, p. 38). The state was virtually under the tutelage of Patrona Halil and was governed from the room where the forty-ninth congregation was located in Etmeydanı. For this reason, the sultan primarily wanted to get rid of Patrona Halil and his supporters. He managed to draw the leading military officers to his side through his trusted men, to break Patrona Halil’s influence, and then to call him to a meeting in the palace and eliminate him, thus gaining control of the situation. In the meantime, precautions were taken against a possible uprising by thousands of Albanians who supported Patrona Halil. A few months later, the rebellion that started with the participation of the Janissaries and the cebeciler failed thanks to the support of the city’s people. The Janissaries, Bosnians and Albanians who were involved in the incidents were removed from Istanbul. Another uprising attempt on 29 Safer 1144 (2 September 1731) was also prevented. The sultan, who implemented strict discipline in Istanbul, took measures for public order; he was closely interested in social events such as women’s attire, prostitution, inspection of tradesmen and price-fixing issues. While carrying out these first activities, he sent ambassadors to Austria, Poland and Russia to announce his accession.

Having eliminated the rebel groups and completely dominated the state administration, Mahmud I began to deal with foreign affairs. The Ottoman-Iranian struggle in particular was showing a tendency to escalate. The Baghdad Governor Ahmed Pasha, whom he appointed as the Serasker of the East, defeated the Iranians on 13 Rabi'ul-Awwal 1144 (15 September 1731), and Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha took Urmia and Tabriz. According to the peace treaty signed between Ahmed Pasha and Muhammed Rıza Kulı on 12 Rajab 1144 (10 January 1732), Tabriz, Erdelan, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Huwayza and Luristan would be Iran's; Ganja, Tiflis, Revan, Shirvan, Shemahi and the Dagestan region would be the Ottomans. However, Mahmud I opposed the transfer of Tabriz to Iran. He dismissed the peace-loving Grand Vizier Topal Osman Pasha and the Sheikhulislam Paşmakçızâde Abdullah Efendi from their posts. With the suggestion of Beşir Ağa, Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha was appointed as the Grand Vizier and on 26 Rebiülâhir 1146 (6 October 1733) war was declared on Iran. At that time, Nâdir Ali, who had returned from Kandahar, also did not accept this agreement and after taking control of Iran, he attacked Kirkuk and laid siege to Baghdad. The siege, which lasted for eight months, was lifted with the help of Osman Pasha, the Governor of Erzurum. Then, when Tabriz was recaptured, Mahmud I was given the title of “Gazi”. However, Tabriz could not be held and Baghdad was also besieged. After Abdullah Pasha, who was appointed as the Iranian serasker, was defeated in the Arpachayi battle near Revan in Muharram 1148 (June 1735), Mahmud I removed Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha from the Grand Viziership and appointed the Baghdad Governor Gürcü İsmail Pasha instead, and the Rakka Governor Ahmed Pasha as the Iranian serasker. In the meantime, he ordered the Crimean Khan to immediately go to Iran via the Caucasus. However, when this development led to a deterioration between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, ways of reaching an agreement with Iran began to be sought. An agreement was established according to the terms of the Kasrışîrin Treaty of 1049 (1639). Nadir Ali Shah, who dethroned Abbas Mirza of the Safavid dynasty and declared his own kingship, sent Abdulbaki Khan to Istanbul with the proposal that the Ja'fari school be recognized, that an emir-i hajj be sent to Mecca by Iran every year, that prisoners be exchanged, and that each side have a permanent ambassador. When the Iranian ambassador's efforts did not yield any results, Mustafa Agha was sent to this country, finding it appropriate to resolve the issue in Iran. Finally, an agreement was reached in 1149 (1736) on the condition that the proposal to accept Ja'fari as the fifth school of thought was rejected, but that Nadir's kingship be recognized, and that Sunnism be officially declared in Iran.

Russia, which had concluded the Polish succession wars with its ally Austria in its favor, had begun to build new fortresses on the Ukrainian and Podolian borders, in violation of the agreements it had recently made with the Ottomans, and had also begun to send forces to places near the Azak Fortress. The Russians, who protested Mahmud I’s order for the Crimean forces to pass through the Kabartay region in the Caucasus to support the Ottoman forces on the Iranian border, on the grounds that these areas belonged to them, used this as an excuse to attack the Azak Fortress in Dhu al-Khaqadah 1148 (March 1736) despite the order being revoked, and then marched towards Orkapi in the direction of Crimea. In the face of Russian attacks, the Ottoman government was forced to make a decision to go to war against Russia at the council that convened on 20 Dhu al-Hijjah 1148 (May 2, 1736), also instigated by the French ambassador Marquis de Villeuneve. Grand Vizier Seyyid Mehmed Pasha was appointed as the army commander. Kaptanıderya Canım Hoca Mehmed Pasha was sent to the Crimean coast with the fleet. Trabzon Governor Yahya Pasha was appointed as the guard of Özü. Some of the forces on the Iranian border were sent to Kefe, and it was decided that the forces that had previously been decided to be collected from Bosnia would join the army at Babadağ. The French ambassador Villeuneve was making diplomatic efforts to prevent Austria from joining the war on the side of Russia. In return, Charles VI, who had reached an agreement with Tsarina Anna, was trying to distract the Sublime Porte through his ambassador to the Ottomans, Talman, in order to complete the preparations he had made. Despite the fact that the Russians captured the Azak Castle, Gözleve, Orkapı and Kılburun on July 13, 1736, and caused destruction in Bahçesaray and Akmescid, the Ottoman government maintained hope for peace. Even the news of the guards of Ozyu, Bender and Vidin that Austria was preparing for war was not heeded. On 6 Safer 1149 (16 June 1736), the Ottoman army setting out from Istanbul reached Babadag and began to wait. Talman, who was accepted by Mahmud I, continued to delay the Ottoman government. While it was decided that the talks would be held in Nemirov, the war began with Austria attacking Ottoman lands from three fronts (Safer 1150 / June 1737). 

On 11 July 1737, while the Russians occupied Ozyu, the Austrians attacked Nis, Banyaluka and Izvornik; they entered Wallachia and captured Bucharest. Mahmud I, who was very upset by these losses, appointed Muhsinzade Abdullah Pasha as the Grand Vizier. The district governor of Rikab, Kopruluzade Hafiz Ahmed Pasha, was also assigned to recapture Nis as the governor of Rumelia. While Grand Vizier Abdullah Pasha was in Banyaluka, Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha in Bosnia, and İvaz Mehmed Pasha was forcing the Austrians to retreat around Vidin, Hafız Ahmed Pasha entered Nis. After the army returned to Istanbul, Mahmud I, who appointed Yeğen Mehmed Pasha as Grand Vizier, accepted France’s peace mediation on the condition that Austria would be responsible for the war, but continued to build fortifications along the border and had all preparations made according to the plan to recapture Belgrade. In the meantime, Rakoczi Ferenc II, who had been residing in Tekirdağ for a while, was crowned the King of Transylvania at the beginning of 1738 and sent to this country. While the army, which set out on an expedition in the spring of 1150 (1738), was moving towards Adakale and Belgrade, the Austrians attacked from Timisoara; fierce fighting took place around Orsova, Mehâdiye and Semendire. The Ottomans took Mehadiye, besieged Orsova and Adakale, crossed the Danube, and raided Timisvar. During this time, the Sebeş and Lugoş castles were destroyed, and Adakale was taken on August 17, 1738. Then, Yeğen Mehmed Pasha came to Niš and from there raided Belgrade.

On the Russian fronts, the Bender commander Numan Pasha was fighting on the banks of Aksu and the Dniester to recapture Özü. The Russians who wanted to cross the Dniester were repelled in early 1738; the Russian fleet that sailed from Azak to the Black Sea was burned by the Ottoman fleet under the command of Kaptanıderya Süleyman Pasha. Meanwhile, the attempts made by France for peace within the principles of the Treaty of Passarowitz were not accepted by the defeated allies. Mahmud I appointed İvaz Mehmed Pasha as the Grand Vizier instead of Yeğen Mehmed Pasha. The target of İvaz Mehmed Pasha, who commanded the army that set out from Istanbul in Muharram 1152 (April 1739), was Belgrade. In the fierce battles between Belgrade and Hisarcık, the Ottoman forces defeated the Austrians and took Belgrade back. Thereupon, the Austrian government requested peace from the Ottoman Empire. On 24 Cemaziyelahier 1152 (28 September 1739), the wars were ended with the agreement made for twenty-seven years and the Austrians withdrew to the north of the Danube. On the other hand, the Russians, who wanted to enter Memleketeyn via Bessarabia, were alarmed by the Swedish-French agreement, France sending its fleet to the Baltic and the rapprochement between the Ottomans and Prussia. The Ottoman government's signing of a trade agreement with Sweden on 8 Ramadan 1149 (10 January 1737) made the Russians even more anxious. In the face of developments in Europe, Russia was forced to make peace with the Ottoman Empire (11 Ramadan 1152 / 12 December 1739) due to the role of its ally's withdrawal from the war despite the capture of Khotyn. Accordingly, the Azak Fortress would remain with the Russians, but it would not be fortified, and the Kabartay region would be neutral. The French ambassador Villeuneve, who played an important role in the making of these agreements, managed to have the capitulations expanded and renewed in 1740. On 4 Shawwal 1152 (4 January 1740), a defense agreement was signed with Sweden, and again as a result of the initiative of the French ambassador, a trade agreement was signed with Spain. Thus, a balance was established between the Ottoman Empire and the European states, and a long period of peace began that would last until 1182 (1768).

After the war ended, the harsh winter conditions led to a small-scale rebellion in 1740, but it was easily suppressed, and the unemployed in Istanbul were sent back to their hometowns. Meanwhile, Nadir Shah’s activities in the east caused new problems. His initiatives towards the Caucasus were met with a reaction. Soon, Nadir Shah demanded the surrender of Baghdad from Ahmed Pasha, then laid siege to it and Kirkuk, and in 1156 Jumada al-Awwal (July 1743) he captured Kirkuk, which led to the start of a new struggle. Mahmud I removed Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha from the position of Grand Vizier and sent his successor, Seyyid Hasan Pasha, to the Iranian campaign. In the meantime, Safi Mirza, who was from the Safavid dynasty and had been in Rhodes for a while, was nominated as a candidate for the Iranian throne. However, no definitive results were obtained from the battle in front of Kars. The struggles continued until 4 Dhu al-Qadah 1157 (9 December 1744). Yeğen Mehmed Pasha, who was brought in to replace the Eastern Serasker Ahmed Pasha, followed the retreating Iranian army and caught up with it at Revan, but he lost his life during the fighting, which led to the dispersion of the army and the fall of Kars. However, when the raids of Diyarbekir Governor Abdullah Pasha towards Hamadan put him in a difficult situation, Nadir Shah sent a message to Serasker Ahmed Pasha and Baghdad Governor Ahmed Pasha, informing them that he had abandoned the idea of ​​accepting Ja'fariism as the fifth sect, but requested that Mosul and Basra be given to him. When Feth Ali Khan, who came to Istanbul, reported that the Shah was sincere in his request for peace, it was decided to make an agreement, and Nazif Mustafa Efendi informed Nadir Shah of the Ottoman proposals in Kazvin. An agreement was reached with the Baghdad Governor Ahmed Pasha within the principles of the Treaty of Kasrişîr (17 Shaban 1159 / 4 September 1746); the issues of the Iranians being respectful to the companions, the safety of pilgrims and travelers, and the return of captives were decided. The famous Taurus throne and other gifts sent by the Shah of Iran as a token of friendship remained in Baghdad for a long time due to the chaos that arose after his assassination, and were only brought to Istanbul during the reign of Mustafa III (Şem‘dânîzâde, II/A, pp. 31-32).

Despite the provocations of France, Mahmud I did not deviate from peaceful politics by not trying to benefit from the wars of succession that broke out after the death of Charles VI in 1740, and even maintained the same attitude during the unrest that broke out in Iran after the assassination of Nadir Shah. During his reign, he had to deal with events such as the palace aghas incident that broke out during the reign of Dârüssaâde Ağası Moralı Beşir Ağa, the repression of the Levant bandits in Anatolia, especially Sarıbeyoğlu who became semi-independent in Aydın, the punishment of Seyyid Fethi in Damascus, the rebellion that broke out in Istanbul in Rajab 1161 (July 1748) and the Wahhabi issue in Nejd. He tried to strengthen and modernize the army, while leaving the Janissary Corps untouched, he was careful to keep them under control and ensured that their salaries were paid regularly. He summoned Ibrahim Muteferrika to his presence and asked him about the reasons for the defeat in the wars and the measures to be taken, thus paving the way for the writing of Usûlü’l-hikem. In line with his advice, the French convert Humbaracı Ahmed Pasha (Comte de Bonneval), who had requested asylum during the reign of Ahmed III, but whose request was granted during the reign of Mahmud I, and who was assigned to reform the Humbaracı Ocağı, established a salaried Humbaracı Ocağı on the one hand (ibid., II/A, p. 35), and on the other hand, opened a barracks and a school called Hendesehâne (Humbarahâne) in Üsküdar in 1146 (1734), thus creating the first example of the engineering schools that would be established during the reigns of Mustafa III and Selim III. In the meantime, the Artillery Corps was put into order and new cannons were cast, and a new law was prepared for the timari sipahis in 1732, which would form the basis of later laws. The re-opening of the printing house, which had been closed after the death of Ibrahim Muteferrika in 1160 (1747), the bringing of masters from Poland for this work, the opening of a paper mill in Yalova (Ahmet Refik, pp. 159-160, 164-165), the import of paper and the use of hose fire pumps against fires for the first time were also carried out in this period (Şem‘dânîzâde, I, 175). Mahmud I, who tried to establish the power of the central government in the provinces but could not prevent the groups called notables from becoming a center of power, issued a justice document in 1153 (1740) in order to protect the people from the oppression and cruelty of both them and the administrators in the provinces. No significant financial crisis was experienced during his reign. The state was prevented from the losses it suffered by starting to make the financial payments that had been made according to the Hijri calendar according to the solar calendar. The sultan, who had gold, silver and copper coins minted throughout his reign, banned minting in Anatolia and Rumelia, and only permitted this in Egypt, the North African provinces, Baghdad and Tbilisi, which were far from the center.

Mahmud I, who led the Ottoman Empire to its last glorious period and left a long period of peace to his successors, died on 27 Safer 1168 (13 December 1754) at the Demirkapı entrance of Topkapı Palace while returning from Friday prayers. He was not buried in the tomb he had prepared next to the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, but was buried next to his father Mustafa II in the Tomb of Valide Turhan Sultan next to Yeni Camii upon the will of his successor Osman III. Mahmud I followed a balance policy in foreign and domestic affairs, tried to prevent domestic unrest by frequently changing grand viziers, and signed successful agreements in foreign policy. It is stated that he was closely interested in domestic affairs, listened to the people's troubles by attending the Divan-ı Hümayun meetings, and enjoyed javelin, horse racing, swimming and especially moonlight watching. Mahmud I, described in the sources as a pious, intelligent, knowledgeable, gentle, patriotic, peace-loving, just and dignified sultan, wrote poems under the pen name "Sebkatî", dabbled in music and composed some of which have survived to the present day. He was probably a tambouri instrument player. It is narrated that he loved flowers, especially tulips, and was fond of chess (ibid., I, 178).

Mahmud I, who had all the mansions belonging to the mîrî between Istanbul and Edirne repaired (Ahmet Refik, p. 137), especially worked for the development of Istanbul and was described as “muammir-i bilâd” by contemporary historians, continued the construction activities that started in the Tulip Era more consciously. He started the construction of the Nuruosmaniye Complex, but since it was completed during the time of his successor Osman III, it was named after him. The name of the Topkapı Coastal Palace, which he had built on the shore of the New Palace, whose Orta Kapısı he had repaired, was later extended to the entire palace. He also had the Treasury of the Envoys built in addition to the Treasury Department in Topkapı Palace, and expanded the Beşiktaş Coastal Palace and the Yalı Kiosk with additional kiosks and gardens. Apart from these, Mahmud I, who was the founder of many temples such as Yıldız Dede, Tulumbacılar Odası and Defterdar Kapısı mosques, Hacı Kemaleddin (Pier) in Rumelihisarı, Arap İskelesi in Beşiktaş, Sultan Mahmud and Kandilli mosques in Üsküdar, repaired the dome of Beyazıt Mosque and the mosque in Beylerbeyi, converted Kurşunlu Mahzen, known today as the Underground Mosque, into a temple (Vâsıf, I, 12-13) and moved the graves of the companions there into the mosque. Mahmud I’s inscription with a tughra is above the door of the mosque. He took on the water issue of the Galata and Beyoğlu sides of Istanbul in particular, and distributed the water collected in the dams he had built to the square fountain he had completed in Tophane (İzzî, p. 213), the Saliha Sultan Fountain in Azapkapı, and more than 100 fountains in the Kasımpaşa, Tepebaşı, Galata and Beşiktaş districts. The famous name "Taksim" has been used since his time due to the water main he had built. The filling of the Tophane shores and the expansion of the square, the renewal of the Tersane depot and the garbage dump next to it also took place during the reign of this sultan.

Mahmud I had libraries built in Hagia Sophia, Fatih and Süleymaniye mosques and Galata Palace, and he endowed villages in Vidin and Semendire for his expenses, and he had valuable manuscripts collected from the provinces and works that were lying idle in the palace placed there. He virtually re-established the Galata Palace School and opened a classroom, and visited it frequently. He paid special attention to the teaching of Ṣaḥîḥ-i Buḫârî in the classroom he opened next to the Fatih Mosque. He had libraries built in Belgrade and Vidin outside of Istanbul, and sent valuable books to these places. He had the Revan Kiosk section opened in the library established by Ahmed III in Topkapı Palace, and endowed books there. The statesmen of the time also participated in these cultural activities of his, and thus Istanbul was virtually adorned with libraries. Among these, the libraries of Âşir Efendi and Reîsülküttâb Mustafa Efendi continue their activities within the Süleymaniye Library, while Atıf Efendi’s own building continues its activities (Erünsal, p. 83 ff.). In the meantime, he had the primary school built in the Hagia Sophia Complex and the Bayıldım Pavilion in Beşiktaş. Sultan Mahmud, who had the Tokat Pavilion on Yuşa Hill rebuilt under the name of Hümâyunâbâd, is also the benefactor of the Mihrâbâd Pavilion in Kanlıca. He is also the one who had the Cağaloğlu Bathhouse, which is still active today, built foundation houses around it to provide income, opened it to settlement and turned it into a neighborhood, and repaired the treasury building in Çatalçeşme in Sultanahmet. He had the Kadem-i Şerif, which was in the Chamber of Sacred Relics in Topkapı Palace, placed in a twenty-eyed marble arch on the qibla side of the Eyüp Sultan Tomb and opened it to public visitation (Şem‘dânîzâde, I, 26). Mahmud I, who also had his beloved Kandilli rebuilt, named it Nevâbâd and opened it to settlement, and had a külliye built in Cairo, had many other charitable works outside of Istanbul. The necessary materials for the repair of the Han Palace, mosque and library in Bahçesaray, which were destroyed by the Russians in 1736, were sent by him.

He was born on 27 Cemaziyelevvel 1175 (24 December 1761) (Vâsıf, I, 206-207). His father was Mustafa III and his mother was Mihrişah Sultan. It is said that his mother, who was originally Georgian (Hammer, IV, 528) or Circassian, was given to his father as a gift by Şeyhülislam Veliyyüddin Efendi (Zinkeisen, VII, 323). Since Mahmud I and Osman III, who came to the throne after Ahmed III (1730), had no children and no male prince was born in the dynasty in the forty years that passed, Selim's birth was celebrated with a week of festivities. His education began with a ceremony when he turned five (20 Cemaziyelevvel 1180 / 24 October 1766) and he received a meticulous education, especially during the time of his father. He grew up with the love of his parents. He took his place in the state ceremony at a young age and began to take part in official affairs and ceremonies. He participated in his father’s inspection tours to Tophane and Tersane while he was still a child. Following the example of his grandfather Ahmed III who took his children with him when receiving ambassadors, Mustafa III took Selim with him to such ceremonies, ensuring that he met the ambassadors and learned the rules of state conduct; he consciously accustomed his son to state affairs. It is true that Selim acquired the reformist mentality as a legacy from his father (Karal, Selim III’ün Hatt-ı Hümayunları [Nizam-ı Cedit], p. 12) at a young age, and it would not be wrong to say that this settled in his subconscious in a way that would determine his fate. However, he did not remain aloof from the effects of the developments in Europe, which was undergoing radical changes in the material and spiritual fields, on the general atmosphere of the period. 

After his father’s death (Dhu al-Khattab 8, 1187 / January 21, 1774), his uncle Abdulhamid I ascended to the throne (Vâsıf, II, 278). Abdulhamid I treated his thirteen-year-old nephew well. Due to the principle of superiority, the fact that nephews were in the hands of uncles resulted in uncles treating their nephews well, and when Selim became sultan, he treated his cousins ​​Mustafa and Mahmud well. It is possible to say that the fact that he had no children was as much a factor in this as the scarcity of male children in the dynasty. However, the fact that Mustafa, who would be his successor, attempted to kill both himself and his only brother Mahmud, and that Mahmud was even forced to have Mustafa killed in order to remain the only male member of the dynasty, shows that this was not very effective in extraordinary circumstances.

His father’s lamentations about not being able to find a useful statesman after Raghib Pasha, his complaints about the bad times and the lack of possibility for improvement are among the important data for evaluating the Selim era. The Russo-Turkish War (1768), which started during his father’s time, ended in defeat shortly after his uncle ascended to the throne. When Crimea, which was made independent in the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), was finally annexed by Russia and this situation was confirmed with a deed (January 8, 1783), rumors that it was requested that Prince Selim’s signature be included in this document as the heir to the throne (Cabi Ömer Efendi, I, 7) pointed to the young prince’s position among the people at a time when the concept of the heir to the throne had not yet been institutionalized. When the difficulties arising from the implementation of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, the surrender to the Russian threat, and the abandonment of the entire Crimea with the Muslim population caused a public opinion against his uncle, the rumors of preparations for an action to enthrone him became a discourse that was more serious than possible. The dismissal and execution of Grand Vizier Halil Hamid Pasha, who was said to be his supporter, and one of his close men, Vizier Raif Ismail Pasha, for this reason (1785) gave validity to the existence of such an attempt. Selim, who did not forget the role of the Arsenal Emini Selim Agha and his son Ahmed Nazif Efendi in these executions, gave the first death sentence to them when he ascended to the throne, as one of the rare examples of political assassination that would be of vital importance to him not to implement in later years. It is understood that as a result of the attempt, which was prevented before any action could be taken regarding his enthronement, his surveillance was tightened and his life was made a little difficult. Indeed, while he was chatting with his peer, Çuhadar Hüseyin, who was a few years older than him, from the window of the Boxwood Office where he spent fifteen years, and with whom he had been friends since his childhood, Selim Ağa saw this and reported it, and despite saying that this window was his only entertainment, it was closed (Cevdet, IV, 270-271), indicating that this period was not very comfortable. His long-standing friendship with Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, who was the chief aide and later (1792) admiral of the navy when he ascended to the throne, and who was the most important supporter of his actions, and who was said to have been nursed by the same wet nurse, dates back to these periods. Rumors that he was attempted to be poisoned during this time, and that the concubine who was assigned to do this could not bear the prince out of love (Câbî Ömer Efendi, I, 9) indicate that his name found favor among the people with fairy-tale-like stories. During this difficult period, he wrote poems using the pen name “İlhâmî” expressing his determination to fight the enemy, he expressed his belief that the bad situation would end with his accession to the throne, and the music lessons he took from one of his uncle’s imams, Kîrîmî Ahmed Kâmil Efendi, were the fruit of his superior talent and enabled him to compose his most beautiful compositions during this period. Despite this, it is understood that after a while his situation eased again, from his establishing contacts with the outside world and even entering into correspondence with King Louis XVI of France (1786). The French ambassador Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier assisted him in these matters, and the letters were written in draft form by Ebûbekir Râtib, corrected by Selim himself and sent to France through İshak Bey (Uzunçarşılı, II [1938], pp. 199-200). Selim signed these letters with the titles of “heir to the throne” and “heir to the throne”. This was the first time such a title was officially used as a privilege specific to him (Sarıcaoğlu, p. 3). It is known that as the future ruler, he was not very pleased with what the king had written, especially the lines that touched on the state’s not-so-bright situation, and he responded by writing a letter full of puns and insinuations. It is clear that this correspondence confronted him with the naked truth of the political atmosphere in Europe and how the state was viewed, and further strengthened his desire to ascend to the throne as soon as possible. The fact that the poems he wrote during this period, expressing that he saw the throne as a means of serving the people (“The purest essence of my heart is to serve the people”) completely coincide with the lines of his contemporary, King Frederick the Great of Prussia, which say, “It is my duty to make you happy” (Porträt des Genius, p. 26), with the same meaning, can be considered an indication that the Enlightenment mentality in Europe, which united these two great rulers of the East and the West in the same sentiment, was also represented in the Ottoman palace.

The Russian and Austrian war, which continued on two fronts in 1787-1788, was going badly, especially on the Russian front. Abdulhamid I died of a stroke of asphyxiation under the pain of defeat. When Selim ascended to the throne on 11 Rajab 1203 (April 7, 1789) (Cevdet, IV, 234-235), he was twenty-eight years old. His first task was to bring his mother, from whom he had been separated for fifteen years and who he had rarely seen, perhaps with the permission of the sultan, with a grand ceremony from the Old Palace. Two days later, the sword procession was held (April 17). He visited his sisters Shah, Hatice and Beyhan Sultans, whom he would later visit frequently, separately after the first three Friday greetings, and relieved his longing for his family. 

Selim was raised from birth to believe that he was a “sâhipkırân” (a “sâhipkırân”) who would save and renew the state and be victorious against the enemies. It is said that his father, who was known for his fondness for the science of divination and who did not undertake any work without determining the most suitable hour (Şem‘dânîzâde, II-B, p. 116), arranged his son’s birth accordingly and ensured that he came to the world at the “kıran” time. The truth in the story that the astrologer slightly interfered with the hand of the clock for this (Cevdet, VIII, 148-149) does not cast a shadow over the fact that Selim was raised in this atmosphere. Despite this, he did not pay attention to the auspicious day and the most suitable hour and warned about them as a matter of ceremonial.

When he ascended to the throne, he tried to prevent the ongoing Russian and Austrian war from going badly, and even attempted to go on a campaign himself (Karal, Selim III’ün Hatt-ı Hümayunları, p. 23). He had difficulty in finding competent commanders who could change the course of the war and appointing them as grand viziers. The elections he made by istikhara and drawing lots also surprised those who were elected in this way. The fact that he left things to chance during wartime left a negative mark on his life story, which portrays an enlightened ruler. When he was unsuccessful against the enemy despite the prayers recited in mosques, he was so open-minded and realistic that he said, “No good comes from prayers made with money.” He worked with all his might to equip the army. He did not hesitate for a moment to make an alliance with Prussia and worked very hard to make it happen. He responded to the fact that the army dignitaries, who realistically saw it more beneficial to make peace as soon as possible under the current conditions, embraced the excuse that such an alliance with a Christian state was not religiously permissible, with the counter-fetvas he received and eliminated the opposition on this issue (1790). He did not accept ending the war without taking back Crimea and winning a victory, both because he wanted to start his reign brightly and because of the conditioning of the period he was raised. He was hopeful that Austria would be inclined to peace with the intervention of Prussia (1791), and he encouraged everyone to end the war with Russia victoriously. However, the army dignitaries, led by Grand Vizier Koca Yusuf Pasha, who were faced with the realities of the war, made a completely different decision. This was an unprecedented boycott incident in Ottoman history. The uneducated army, which was in a corrupt order, had completely lost hope of victory, was in no position to continue the fight against the enemy and demanded peace as soon as possible. This decision was officially notified to him with a joint petition signed by the entire army and state dignitaries. In the face of this development, Selim III understood that he had no other choice but to consent to peace (Mehmed Emin Edib Efendi’nin Hayatı ve Tarih, pp. 242-247; Cevdet, V, 161-165; Beydilli, p. 12 [2005], pp. 221-224).

This development made Selim III understand the necessity of a total renewal and reconstruction and gave certainty to his ideas on this subject. While the army was on its way back, he gave orders to prepare drafts on what needed to be done. The end of the Russian war was also the starting date of the Nizam-ı Cedid renewal that symbolized the Selim period (1792). Although the superiority of European institutions and the necessity of taking them as examples had been mentioned in previous periods, Selim was now expressing this openly for the first time and putting it into practice on a large scale. Since he did not find it possible to carry out the reforms with the army and statesmen who had fled from fighting the enemy, he found it more appropriate to go on the road with a team that was close to him, understood the necessity of the job and was ready to sacrifice their lives for this purpose by going to an unconventional practice. He changed almost all the army commanders who participated in the war, broke the chain of command and made appointments from outside the army. As the most important step of the military reforms, he inspected the timars, liquidated the useless ones and seized the vacant ones. However, the first opponents of the innovations emerged in this way. He successfully continued the work of establishing an army trained in European style (the Nizam-ı Cedid Army) and building a new navy. He established an independent treasury and fund (the Nizam-ı Cedid treasury) to meet the heavy expenses of the army and navy, imposed new taxes and prevented losses. He gave importance to saving, ending the use of luxury imported goods, increasing state revenues and developing trade; for this purpose, he encouraged statesmen and those who had the means to acquire ships and engage in maritime trade and transportation. He granted non-Muslim Ottoman subjects who wanted to do so the right to trade with the status of European merchants by granting them a charter under the name of European merchant. D’Ohsson reports that a trade fleet of eighty-two ships was thus formed (Öner, p. 152). Conditions, especially in the military field, forced Selim to live the old and the new together. The preservation of the old army organization was based on the fact that a force that would eliminate it had not yet been formed. 

The revision and development of the existing Mühendishane-i Bahrî, and finally the establishment of a military engineering school in Hasköy, which provided training to its members like the Military Academy by establishing Humbaracı and Lağımcı corps (1795), the opening of a printing house here (1797), the construction of large barracks in Levent and Üsküdar, and the construction of similar ones in various parts of Anatolia for the new military organization, strengthened the image that the modernization movement was military-oriented. In fact, this was inevitable and constituted the most important area of ​​transfer of European technology, laying the foundations for the state administration to be military-oriented in the future periods. However, the reform had to embrace all branches of the civil administration. Success in making the necessary innovations could not be achieved with a corrupt civil administration. There is sufficient data to accept that Selim's reform program was much more comprehensive in this sense.

The printing house became an important occupation of Selim III’s intellectual personality, whose heavy expenses he tolerated. He would inspect it, determine and examine the books to be printed, and reward the masters and craftsmen. Like his father, he would frequently inspect military institutions. He would write down his impressions and inform the relevant parties and make necessary warnings. He would often fill his writings with educational and instructive information. These notes could sometimes be full of subtle witticisms, sarcastic insinuations and mockery. His statement to the Grand Vizier, “If I were to collect my warning notes, they would make a whole book,” when he was angry that what he had written forty times had still not been understood, is an example reflecting this side of his temperament. The fact that such negligence and laxity should be countered with politics is proven by his statement, “My gentleness is the reason for all this,” which he confessed with regret years later when he was forced to leave the throne. Being mild-tempered, tolerant, very forgiving and merciful indicates his high human qualities. However, this indicates a serious weakness that endangers the lives of those who set out with him for a statesman who was embarking on radical reforms. He did not display a solid and stable character line throughout his reign; he is described as being “inclined like water” and appears to have a dual temperament and personality. Finally, one of the worst things for a ruler, he gradually ceases to be feared and completely loses his majesty. All of these are great inadequacies for the claim of being a renewer. However, it was not possible for him to get rid of what had been told to him since his childhood until the last moment, and in complete submission, without using the thousands of trained soldiers at his disposal, he left them to the mercy of the counter-operation, left everything without fighting and politely retired to his corner (Cevdet, VIII, 171). Before doing this, the fact that he handed over to the executioner all those who had set out with him and those who had joined him later, except for a few people who remained from the first team, and even put an end to the reform period with his own hand, is a testament to the character analyses conducted at the time. In May 1789, the Prussian ambassador Diez said, “This ruler is above his nation in terms of his qualities and merits and it seems destined that he will be the renewer of his nation; however, long years are necessary for the renewal of a state that has been in decline for more than 100 years” (Zinkeisen, VI, 722). Time has shown that Selim III, despite all his good intentions, lacked the strength of character, perseverance and foresight to continue such a tremendous task with energy for many years and to bring it to success (ibid., VII, 319). The general opinion is that he did not have the personality to handle the task he had undertaken.

By putting the Grand Vizier in the background, he removed the Divan from having the primary say in reform affairs and tried to run the affairs with an “inner cabinet” consisting of some people close to him or a reform team whose number was given as forty by the Prussian ambassador Knobelsdorf in his report dated 25 September 1792 (ibid., VII, 322) did not yield the expected results. It has been argued that this created a division within the administration and led to the opposition of the Grand Viziers with these people (atabek-i saltanat), the division of authority and finally the Divan not giving sincere support to the reform affairs, and also that the formation of factions within this team reduced the chance of success (Olivier, Travelogue of Turkey, p. 155). It is clear that this development was related to the indignation that meant the liquidation of all the dignitaries involved in the recent army boycott. Selim III started the work with a team that believed in the reforms. It has even been stated that there was an agreement between them that the sultan would not sacrifice them if things went wrong (Cevdet, VIII, 164). It is clear that the assessments made that Selim III would yield better results if he entrusted the implementation of the reforms to a responsible and powerful grand vizier (Zinkeisen, VII, 322) were made under the influence of the bad ending of the reform attempts and are not valid. The success of such a big task -if we evaluate it in the light of the settled judgments since the 16th century and in the words of Kâtib Çelebi- is only possible if it is carried out by the sultans and the reason why all the old military and civil institutions were able to be eliminated ruthlessly in the future was because Mahmud II carried out the work with great severity and held absolute power in his own hands. 

His period was full of important events in foreign and domestic politics. The desired results could not be obtained from the efforts he made to strengthen the central administration in the country. He had to tolerate powerful nobles such as Pazvandoğlu, Tirsiniklioğlu, Tepedelenli, İşkodralı, Canikli, Cezzar, and Kavalalı. Among these, he mobilized as if he were fighting a foreign state, but could not eliminate Pazvandoğlu's rebellion, and in addition to trying to suppress it (1798), he especially worked to eliminate the bandit gangs (Kırcalılar) known as Dağlılar, of whom Selim said, "They disgraced us to the world" and who had been wreaking havoc in the Balkans for years after the 1792 peace (1796). Serbian rebellions first emerged as a national action during this period (1804). The Wahhabis' capture of holy cities such as Mecca and Medina, their massacres and plunder, and their obstruction of pilgrimages reached dimensions that would shake his sultanate and damage his legitimacy (1806).

Developments in foreign policy had more serious consequences. The French Revolution had started a period of general European war from 1792 onwards. These developments created suitable conditions for the reforms that were initially undertaken due to the preoccupation of the European states with France. The disintegrating monarchy provided the market with a large number of unemployed officers and educated people with technical skills. Selim III did not hesitate to employ these people in the army, navy and engineering schools. These people ranged from shipbuilding architects and engineers to pool builders in the arsenal, instructors of trained soldiers, cannon foundrymen, caulkers and augers to carpenters. Selim III was closely interested in the supply of these personnel and the provision of attractive payments. He tried to benefit from the permanent embassies opened in London (1792), Paris, Berlin and Vienna (1797) for such works. However, after a while, the struggle against revolutionary France in Europe spread to the Ottoman world. Napoleon Bonaparte's conquest of Italy, the destruction and division of the ancient Republic of Venice (October 1797), becoming a neighbor of France in the Adriatic and finally the attack on Egypt (July 1798) as an extension of the Anglo-French struggle, the capture of which in a short time brought the Ottoman Empire face to face with France, as part of an alliance that included Russia (January 1799). When France was finally forced to make peace and leave Egypt in 1802 with the help of the Anglo-Russian alliances, the successes of the regular soldiers sent to the battlefields, even in small numbers, were already evident.

Selim III attempted to introduce universal military service in March 1805 and, inspired by the practice in Prussia, proposed compulsory military service for those between the ages of twenty and twenty-five; however, he had to abandon this as it caused general discontent (Zinkeisen, VII, 342-343). His insistence on the same practice the following year and his decision to implement it in Rumelia also marked the turning point of his reign. Kadı Abdurrahman Pasha, who had achieved success in military renewal in Anatolia, was assigned to this task and set out with the Nizam-ı Cedid forces under his command; he encountered fierce opposition in Silivri, Tekirdağ and Çorlu. The attempt drew the reaction of the local ayans and armed clashes broke out between the parties. The betrayal of Grand Vizier Hafız İsmail Pasha himself and his covert support for them were important factors in this development. Eventually, the attempt resulted in the Edirne Incident and the application was cancelled. Selim, who was content with only dismissing and exiling the Grand Vizier due to his leniency, was also forced to dismiss the Sheikh-ul-Islam Salihzade Esad Efendi, who was known to be a supporter of innovation, and in order to calm the opposition, he appointed the Janissary Chief Ibrahim Hilmi Agha as the Grand Vizier and Topal Atullah Efendi, one of the fierce enemies of innovation, as the Sheikh (September 14, 1806). This development, which was the beginning of the end, dealt a heavy blow to his reign, causing him to lose all his grandeur and it was not possible for him to establish authority again. 

The acceptance of Napoleon as emperor had become an important issue in Europe. As a result of the military defeats of the opposing states (1806), when this was first recognized by Prussia, there was no other option left for the Ottoman Empire. Since the return to a policy dominated by France meant abandoning the existing alliance with England and Russia, a state of war emerged with these two states in 1806. The British fleet easily passing through Çanakkale and reaching Istanbul again dealt a major blow to Selim III’s power (February 1807). The blockade caused famine and high prices in the city, which brought the people’s anger accumulated due to the reforms to the surface and brought them to the point of explosion. Unfounded rumors that the fleet had come at the invitation of the statesmen to destroy the Janissary Corps caused even more confusion.

After the withdrawal of the British fleet at the end of February, the army set out on the Russian expedition on April 12, 1807, and Köse Mûsâ Pasha, who was against the Nizam-ı Cedid and was alleged to have made a secret agreement with Prince Mustafa, became the Grand Vizier Kaymakam. When the army arrived in Edirne, preparations for the uprising against Selim III in Istanbul had been completed. Since the Grand Vizier İbrahim Hilmi Pasha and the state dignitaries were on the expedition with the people of the hearth, this was a coup that was carried out entirely by second hand. The rebellion against the Nizam-ı Cedid, which was orchestrated by Köse Musa Pasha and Şeyhülislam Topal Atâullah Efendi, was initiated by the Bosphorus apprentices (Kabakçı Mustafa Rebellion) and showed a development that should be suspected of having a Russian hand, especially supporting the opposition factions against the reforms, as well as the British (ibid., VII, 343, 390), and resulted in the dethronement of Selim within four days without much bloodshed (17-21 Rebiülevvel 1222 / 25-29 May 1807). The rebels contented themselves with the execution of the Nizam-ı Cedid officials on the list of eleven people prepared by the grand vizier and the şeyhülislam duo. On the first day of the rebellion, only Mahmud Raif Efendi and Halil Ağa, who were with the apprentices, were killed. Selim did not hesitate to sacrifice his work in the hope that he could stay on the throne, and abolished the treasury (Treasury of the Irad-i Cedid) established for reform expenditures and hated as a source of extraordinary taxation. Although he gave the opportunity to those with whom he had made a pact (İbrâhim Nesim, Hacı İbrâhim nicknamed Gizli Sitma, Sır Kâtibi Ahmed) to escape, he handed over the other dignitaries on the list to the executioner; those who escaped were caught and executed in the squares with insults and torture. The fact that almost half of the people of Istanbul from all professions, classes and strata were registered in the janissary registers and received salaries without performing any military service (Krauter, p. 19) ensured that the rebels were silently supported by the masses. Despite his sacrifices, Selim III could not save his throne; his reformism, Westernism, apostasy and lack of lineage were used as excuses. It was claimed that he would no longer be able to rule and finally, as it was planned, the name of Prince Mustafa began to be mentioned. Although Selim had a son named Ahmed after he ascended to the throne, he did not live long after this birth (Karal, Selim III’ün Hatt-ı Hümayunları, p. 162-163) and with the compassion and love that came from not having children, he treated his nephews very softly. He even turned a blind eye to Mustafa’s negative activities in contact with the outside world through his men and, just as his uncle had treated him in the past, he ignored such activities and contented himself with giving some gentle warnings. The suspicion about his nephews’ lives hurt him greatly. Without much resistance, perhaps discouraged, a little offended and fed up, but certainly in the surrender of a wounded state of mind, he abdicated the throne without attempting to defend his own rights, placed his nephew on the throne himself, and returned to the Boxwood Department, which he had abandoned eighteen years before. Mustafa IV was able to remain on the throne for only fourteen months. In the meantime, he tried to have his uncle poisoned by the doctor Lorenzo, but Lorenzo vehemently refused and ran away and hid (Krauter, p. 23).

The coup attempt by Selim's supporters gathered around Alemdar Mustafa Pasha ended in failure. The coup began with an attack on the palace on 4 Jumada al-Akhir 1223 (July 28, 1808) and reached a point of life and death in the afternoon. When Alemdar broke through the palace doors and entered, he found Selim's body laid on a mattress in the hall in front of the door of the Arz Room facing Babussaade. At around 4 o'clock, cannon fire began to be heard from Sarayburnu, which was a sign of a change of sultanate, but the embassies in Pera, like the rest of Istanbul, did not yet know who had ascended to the throne. It was generally thought that Selim had regained his throne (ibid., p. 24). About an hour later, the heralds announced that the new sultan was Mahmud II. Selim was killed, and Mahmud barely escaped and was saved (July 28, 1808). III. Selim spent his days in the cage in a certain closeness with his nephew Mahmud, giving him useful advice from his rich experiences. He attempted to defend himself and had to struggle with about twenty murderers, including Chief Custodian Abdülfettah, Kethüdâ Ebe Selim, and the treasury deputy Nezir Ağa, all of whom were later caught and executed. It is reported that when Ebe Selim squeezed his testicles, the executioner threw the rope and strangled him (ibid., pp. 25-26), but the marks of beatings on his body, his bloody bruise, and the description of the skin of his right temple being stripped down to his chin, along with his beard (Cevdet, VIII, 308) indicate that he was martyred in a bloody manner. The next day, with a large crowd of people attending and shouting with regret, he was buried in a great ceremony in the tomb of the mosque his father had built in Lâleli and next to it. Having been treated undeservedly, his merits and deeds continued to be told like legends in Istanbul coffeehouses for a long time. Alemdar’s pursuit of the murderers, his capture of all of them one by one and his execution of them were also met with applause (Saint-Denys, II, 192; Zinkeisen, VII, 562). 

Selim III, who was attacked with harsh words by the opposition that emerged due to his innovations, began to be acknowledged within fifteen years. In particular, the end of the Greek uprising that had been going on since 1821 and could not be suppressed despite long years of futile efforts by the modernly trained Egyptian forces sent to Morea within five or six months, revealed the value of the Western-trained army in Istanbul in all its nakedness and Sultan Selim’s reputation was restored among the people. This psychological atmosphere told Mahmud II that it was time to deal the final blow to the Janissary Corps (Rosen, I, 8). In the sources, it is stated that despite his mild-mannered personality, he used old-style weapons very well, was a good archer, and also shot rifles. In the chronicles of his period, there is information that after his shots in Okmeydanı exceeded 900 gezi (594 m.), he became one of the master archers and had the surroundings of Okmeydanı reorganized and the lodges and mansions there repaired. It is known that Selim III, who had a voluminous divan under the pseudonym "İlhâmî" in poetry, was a Mevlevi and that he patronized the famous poet of the period, Şeyh Galib. His poems reflect an introverted state of mind. However, a heroic style is felt in the poems he wrote on the occasion of wars. His illuminated and beautifully written copies can be found in various libraries (İÜ Library, TY, no. 5514). He also has compositions of high artistic value. He also considered his musicality to be superior to his poetry. He also discovered and organized the makam suzidilara (see above).

According to the ambassador's impressions, he was a benevolent person of medium height, handsome, slightly overweight, with a dark bushy beard, a slightly pockmarked face, calm demeanor, pleasant features, and a soft character (Krauter, p. 13). He was a sultan who worked with great seriousness and desire to restore the state to its former power and glory. He was an enlightened ruler who devoted himself to his nation and believed that he was sent for its welfare, and who wanted to immortalize his name with his services in this direction. He felt a certain admiration for the crazy modernization craze of the age, and looked with affection on the French who represented this, so much so that he even tolerated the Jacobins who showed excesses in Istanbul (Zinkeisen, VII, 318-319). 

Selim III also had a wide knowledge of the science of war. He had the works of Vauban, a French military expert, translated and printed for this purpose. He read them and recommended that they be read. Selim took his interest in contemporary warfare techniques, methods and weapons to the point of personally writing a treatise on these subjects. It is learned that the second part of the sultan’s treatise was about cartridges and the third part was about cannons, when the Kaptanpaşa who examined the treatise said that the cartridges and cannons mentioned here were not available on the ships in the navy and requested that they be provided (Beydilli, Engineering House in the History of Turkish Science and Printing, p. 181). 

Selim III left behind many works with military functions. He repaired the Kasımpaşa, Beşiktaş and Galata Mevlevi lodges. He had fountains built in various places, revived the Eyüp Sultan Mosque and Tomb, had the tomb’s grids cast from solid silver and had gold chandeliers installed. He established a new district called Selimiye behind the Üsküdar Harem Pier, and made it prosperous with the construction of a large barracks, a mosque named after him, a lodge, a bathhouse and other buildings, officers' houses, and workplaces (see SELİMİYE MOSQUE AND COMPLEX), and moved the Mühendishane Printing House here by having a large and independent building built (1802).

MUSIC 

It is known that most of the Ottoman sultans were interested in various branches of art, encouraged and supported scientific and artistic studies. Among these, Selim III, with his poetry, instrument playing, knowledge of musical theory and especially his composition, has taken his place among the leading figures in the history of Turkish music and his period has been evaluated within the framework of a music school named after him. This school is not only limited to the years of the sultan's reign, but is also important in terms of preparing the infrastructure for certain changes that would take shape after his death. Selim III's closeness to musicians and his protection of them played an important role in the advancement and rise of this art. None of the Ottoman sultans reached the level of Selim III in terms of love, interest and composition for music. 

III. Selim's musical life, which began at a young age with the practice of usul and piece from his uncle, the chief muezzin of Abdulhamid I, Kırımlı Ahmed Kamil (Kamilî) Efendi, continued with the tambour lessons he took from Hacı Sadullah Ağa and especially from the master of the traditional tambour style, Tanbûrî İzak. The period in which he was most occupied with music was during his years as a prince, and he composed his most beautiful works during this period. Ahmed Kamil Efendi was appointed as the imam-ı sani when Selim III ascended to the throne. The sultan also had great respect for Tanbûrî İzak. During the time of Selim III as a prince, many musicians gathered around him both inside and outside the palace. After he became Sultan, the Enderun School was given importance and the meşkhane was reorganized, regular salaries were given to the teachers who had been giving lessons on a daily basis until then, a music meşkhane for women was opened in the Harem Department and Hacı Sadullah Ağa was appointed as its head. Many musicians who became famous after Selim III were trained during his reign. He continued his interest in music throughout his reign and continued to compose new works, although not as much as during his time as a prince.

The group fasils performed in the presence of the sultan by inviting famous musicians outside the palace to the palace have been remembered as important performances in the history of music. These fasils were mostly performed in the Serdab Pavilion in Topkapi Palace and the Çağlayan Pavilion in Kagithane. Among the musicians who took part here, Haci Sadullah Aga, Tanburi Izak, Tanburi Emin Aga, Abdulhalim Aga, Vardakosta Ahmed Aga, Kucuk Mehmed Aga, Kemani Mustafa Aga, Shakir Aga, Genc Ismail (Dede Efendi) should be especially mentioned. Selim III made great contributions to the training of Hamamizade Ismail Dede Efendi. When Dede Efendi composed the buselik song that started with the line “Zülfündedir benim baht-ı sıyâhım” in the second year of his suffering at the Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge, and it caused a great resonance in music circles, Selim III invited İsmail Efendi to the palace and expressed his appreciation after listening to the song from him. When the composition of hicaz embroidery that he composed a while later, that started with the line “Ey çeşm-i âhû hijr ile loneliness saldın beni” was also very much appreciated by the sultan, Dede Efendi began to participate in the group fasıls organized twice a week in the palace as a singer upon the request of the sultan. 

The reign of Selim III also has an important place in the history of Turkish musical writing. III. With the encouragement of Selim, Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede and Hamparsum Limonciyan developed a musical notation system and presented it to the sultan. Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede adapted the ebced notation and organized a notation alphabet named after himself, explaining its use in his work Tahrîriyye, which he presented to the sultan, and in the same work, he wrote down the Mevlevi rite in the makam sûzidilara and three saz pieces composed by the sultan in this notation. Although Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede’s notation alphabet did not meet the expected popularity, Hamparsum’s musical notation system named after himself was largely adopted and used throughout the 19th century until Western notation was established.

In the 19th century, Selim III and Mahmud II had great influence on the progress that Mevlevi music made compared to other centuries. A member of the Mevlevi order, Selim III would occasionally go to the Mevlevi lodges in Istanbul and follow the musical activities there. He would show favor to the sheikhs of the Yenikapı Mevlevi lodge, Ali Nutkî Dede and Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede, would frequently go to the Galata Mevlevi lodge and listen to the service after the Friday prayers and would have poetry and music conversations with Şeyh Galib at the end of the service. In the early years of his post, when the restoration of the Mevlevi lodge was on the agenda, Şeyh Galib added a poem to his petition in which he presented the issue to Süleyman III. He presented it to Selim, and the sultan, who liked the ode very much, immediately ordered the repair of the lodge to the chief architect, and the repair was completed in a short time. Selim III was also present at the opening of the lodge, which was held on a Friday, and the sûzidilara âyîn composed by the sultan was performed in response. 

In the reign of Selim III, which was a period when some new pursuits began to emerge in culture and art, reflections of new approaches were seen in music, along with the classical. Within this framework, new compositions and compositions in which a new style was felt emerged. In the work of Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede, one of the most important musical sources of the period, Tedkīk u Tahkīk, III. It is stated that Selim composed the makams arazbâr-bûselik, dilârâ, evc-ârâ, hicâzeyn, hüzzâm-ı cedîd, ısfahânek-i cedîd, muhayyer-sünbüle, nevâ-kürdî, nevâ-bûselik and sûzidilârâ. Suphi Ezgi states in his work titled Nazarî-Amelî Türk Musikisi that the makams acem-bûselik, pesendîde and şevkefzâ may have been composed by him. In some works, it is stated that the makams dilnüvâz, gerdâniye-kürdî, hüseynî-zemzeme, nevâ-kürdî, rast-ı cedîd and şevkutarab were composed by Selim III.

Selim III composed over 100 works in the forms of âyin, durak, na‘t, tevşîh, ilahi, peşrev, saz semai,kâr, beste, ağır semai, yürük semai and şarkı (Koç, p. 117, Öztuna lists 108 works, see bibl.). More than half of his identified works are peşrev and saz semai. Rauf Yekta Bey states that he is a composer at the level of Tab‘î Mustafa Efendi, Hacı Sadullah Ağa and Dellâlzâde İsmâil Efendi. In addition to the Mevlevi âyin in the makam Suzidilara, his suite consisting of the same makam’s peşrev, two bestes, Ağır and Yürük semai and saz semai are among the most beautiful works of classical Turkish music. It is said that the compositions under the pen name "Selim Dede" in the Turkish music repertoire also belong to him. The lyrics of some of his works also belong to him. The Sûzidilara starting with the line "They called Çin-i giyimsûsuna zencîr-i teselsül", the Zâvil compositions starting with the line "Bezm-i âlemde rejoice bana canan ile"; the Sûzidilara Yürük semai starting with the line "With Âb ü tâb this sheb house my canan is coming"; The buselik that starts with the line “A pure heart is a pleasant woman,” the huzzam that starts with the line “I gave my heart to a young man,” the muhayyer-sünbüle that starts with the line “O my delicate rosebud,” the shehnaz that starts with the line “The tongue is addicted to a chick,” the şevkefzâ songs that start with the line “O the serv-i gülzâr-ı vefa,” the şevkutarab na‘tı that starts with the line “The mouth of the tongue is filled with heedlessness, O Messenger of Allah,” and in the same maqam, the tevşîhi that starts with the line “Cenâbındır is the lady-in-waiting, O Messenger of Allah.” His most beautiful works include the hymns “İrak” which begins with the line “Zahidâ suret ûret etme go in, look at your soul” and “Andelib olmak dilesen ol güle” which begins with the line “Andelib olmak desen ol güle”. It is also said that the composer of the Isfahan song/folk song which begins with the line “Ey gāziler yol gördüğüm bu garîb serime” is Selim III. A postgraduate study was conducted on the compositions of Selim III by Ferdi Koç (see bibl.). In addition to being a composer, Selim III, who was a good tambour player and ney player, was also interested in Western music. He first listened to Western music in the palace of his sister Hatice Sultan and this was later followed by some performances in Topkapı Palace, and on May 2, 1797, an opera was staged in the palace by a foreign group in the presence of the sultan. In addition, a trumpet-trumpet team was established to be used in the daily training of the newly established Nizam-ı Cedîd units.

He was born on 13 Ramadan 1199 (July 20, 1785). He was the son of Abdulhamid I. The claim that his mother Nakşidil Sultan was of French origin is not true. The pseudonym Adlî was given at his birth. He is also known as the "great". He became sultan on 4 Jumada al-Akhir 1223 (July 28, 1808) after his uncle Selim III was dethroned (May 29, 1807), his elder brother Mustafa IV was enthroned and this was resolved by Alemdar Mustafa Pasha. His reign, which began with coups and counter-coups, having narrowly escaped death during the assassination of Selim III, continued with the same intensity. Janissary rebellions, the discipline of tyrannical administrators and notables who weakened the central administration, Serbian and Greek nationalist uprisings, the Iranian and Russian wars and especially the rebellion of the Egyptian Governor Mehmed Ali Pasha are among the important developments that completely occupied his period. Among all these, the continuation of radical reforms that were of vital importance and necessity regarding the restructuring of the state constitutes the distinctive feature of his reign. 

The first period of his reign, until the abolition of the Janissary Corps (1826), was spent under the domination of the anti-reform front, which brought the name of this corps to the fore, saw its interest in the preservation of the traditional order, was represented mainly by the military and scholarly class, and was supported by the notables in Anatolia and Rumelia. Although the Deed of Alliance, which was created during the four-month Grand Viziership of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, aimed to legitimize the institution of the ayans, this attempt was unsuccessful because it could not reach the stage where the ayans could form a single front against the central government. The long-term struggle against them gradually reached the stage of eliminating powerful ayans such as Tepedelenli Ali Pasha, and by 1832 the European and Anatolian sides of the state had been largely cleared of them.

Internal and External Developments. When Mahmud II ascended to the throne, the struggle against France in Europe was ongoing and the Ottoman Empire was at war with Russia and England (1806) due to the necessity to return to pro-French politics. Although the war with England ended with the Treaty of Kal‘a-i Sultâniyye (January 9, 1809), the Russian war continued until the Treaty of Bucharest (May 28, 1812). With this peace, the loss of Bessarabia was in question, the Russians were granted some important rights, Memleketeyn was evacuated, the Russian advance in the Caucasus was recognized and especially the granting of autonomy to the Serbs became inevitable. However, Napoleon’s departure for the Moscow campaign (1812), the final reckoning in Europe and the preoccupation with the reconstruction that began with the Congress of Vienna allowed the suspension of the implementation of the articles of this treaty regarding the Serbs for a while. However, Russia later brought this issue back to the agenda, making it necessary to grant the Serbs de facto autonomy (1817). 

The Greek rebellion that started in 1821 became an inter-state issue because it could not be suppressed in a short time. The rebellion greatly fueled anti-Turkish sentiment in Europe. The successful operation of Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha's forces and the stage of suppressing the rebellion accelerated external intervention. The Ottoman-Egyptian fleet anchored in Navarino was burned in a sudden raid (October 20, 1827), and the French landed troops in Morea. Although Russia had resolved the pending issues between the two states according to its own will and gained important rights with the Akkirman Treaty (October 7, 1826), it declared war using the Greek issue as an excuse. Russian forces came as far as Edirne and as a result of the peace made here (August 14, 1829), the way was opened for the establishment of a small Greek state centered in Athens, encompassing Morea and some islands. In this crisis, Mahmud II displayed a tough and determined attitude and did not accept the interventions of the great powers in favor of the Greeks, who had massacred all the Muslims in Morea and committed genocide, until the last moment.

After Serbia gained autonomy, the establishment of an independent Greek State had an exemplary effect on other Christian peoples in the Balkans and accelerated the rising nationalist movements. The uprising, engaging in conflicts with the sovereign state, provoking the Christian solidarity of Europe and activating the prejudices against Muslim Turks, and achieving independence through the intervention of the great powers emerged as a path promising success to be followed in the coming years. The occupation of Algeria by the French in 1830 revealed the danger of disintegration and fragmentation coming from the colonial-imperialist front. 

The struggle that Mahmud II entered into with the Governor of Egypt, Mehmed Ali Pasha, is of particular importance in terms of the threat of fragmentation coming from the east and from a Muslim power, and not only shook his sultanate, but also seriously brought to the agenda the danger of a dynasty change. The intervention of the European states in the struggle led to the emergence of the Straits issue along with the Egyptian issue. The victorious advance of the Egyptian forces to Konya, their defeat of the Ottoman army under the command of Grand Vizier Reşid Mehmed Pasha in the battle there (December 21, 1832) and their capture of the Grand Vizier and their advance to Kütahya (February 2, 1833) constituted one of the greatest dangers that Mahmud II faced. Considering the possibility that the Ottoman State could fall into the hands of Mehmed Ali and that the state could be restructured and strengthened in line with the reforms in Egypt, there was little need for a special invitation to Russia, which saw it more beneficial for its own interests to maintain the existence of a weak neighbor, to come to its aid; Russian land and naval forces arrived in Beykoz (February 1833). As a result, with the agreement reached in Kütahya, Mahmud II was forced to leave the lands acquired through the conquests of 1516 and 1517 to the administration of Mehmed Ali. He signed an alliance agreement with Russia at the Hünkâr İskelesi (July 8, 1833) and granted this state important rights over the Straits and superiority over other European states. The first phase of the Egyptian crisis, which had become a European issue with Russia’s intervention, was thus closed, while Russian superiority over the Straits caused outrage in Europe. The fact that the Austrian and Russian rulers, who came together at Münchengrätz (September 1833), agreed that Mehmed Ali would be victorious again in a new struggle that would occur in the future, that he would gain Anatolia and ascend to the Ottoman throne, but that he would not be allowed to extend his rule to the lands in Europe and that independent Christian states would be established there, reveals the extent of the danger that these developments posed to Mahmud II.

After long preparations by both sides, the final showdown in Nizip on June 24, 1839 resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman forces again and the gates of Anatolia were reopened to the Egyptian forces. The issue of Egypt and the Straits, this time, was resolved thanks to the armed intervention of England, which would enter into solidarity with the Ottoman State against Mehmed Ali, who had been supported by France in every way from the beginning. Mehmed Ali was bound to strict conditions and was forced to be content with obtaining the governorship of Egypt by inheritance (1840). The Straits issue was resolved by being placed in an inter-state position (1841). 

Reforms. Internal and external threats were an important incitement factor for the reforms that were undertaken. The issue of ensuring the superior authority of the central administration, which was an inevitable necessity for the contemporary states of the period, necessitated the struggle to eliminate the tyrant administrators known by various names within the country. Although the example of Mehmed Ali was the only unsuccessful exception to this attempt, the II. Mahmud managed to make the weight of the central authority felt on Ottoman lands to a degree that had not been possible in previous periods. The turning point of the reforms undertaken in order to create a modern state structure in the European sense was the elimination of the Janissary mentality, which had become the general symbol of supporting the traditional structure and being against renewal, and the Janissary Corps, which was its concrete entity. Mahmud II considered this issue, which he had been thinking about since the moment he ascended to the throne, as a sensitive issue that required careful calculations and observance of balances. He took the necessary lessons from the developments during the reign of Selim III and took measures, especially aiming to eliminate the alliance between the military and the ulema, and took action. The leading ulema were convinced of the necessity of reform. He gathered those who shared this belief, especially the office of sheikh al-Islam, around him and tried to reward and please the lower-level ulema, thus this important group was brought under control. It is noteworthy in terms of Mahmud II’s aim that the books printed in the printing house ranged from dictionaries, Arabic grammar, religious works to works related to the Naqshbandi order, which was an important movement of the period and which spoke of a return to Islamic purity and a just system against all kinds of bad practices and was an effective movement in the direction of renewal (Beydilli, Mühendishane in the History of Turkish Science and Printing, pp. 256, 258). He also showed care in this sense in the appointments he made to the leading positions in the army and waited for the right opportunity to strike the final blow, having taken precautions.

Although the attempt to destroy the Janissary Corps at a time when the Greek uprising and related external threats were at their peak seems untimely and in need of explanation, this decision is an indication of how well Mahmud II followed developments and how well he chose the most appropriate time. The fact that regular Egyptian forces trained according to modern methods brought the rebellion under control in a short time, which Ottoman forces lacking all discipline and training had been unable to suppress for years, had a significant psychological effect, especially on the public opinion in Istanbul. The success of the trained Egyptian forces was perceived as a development that restored Selim III’s reputation and acknowledged his rightness in terms of reforms, and Mahmud II, who had been waiting with all precautions, thus seized the opportunity he had been waiting for years. His attempt to establish a new military organization under the name of Eşkinci Ocağı, which would be trained with modern methods, knowing that the same reaction would be shown, just like the Sekban-ı Cedid application that was tried in the time of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and incurred the wrath of the Janissaries, was only a part of the trap he designed (May 29, 1826). Moreover, with some arrangements, such as announcing that the Eşkinci soldiers would start training on June 11 wearing European-style uniforms, he openly led them to revolt (Rosen, I, 11). There is no doubt that the last Janissary revolt that would lead to their destruction (June 15, 1826) was not a coincidental uprising and was the work of Mahmud II, who believed that the time had come.

The abolition of the Janissary Corps paved the way for reforms that marked the last thirteen-year period of the reign of Mahmud II. Unlike the reforms of the Nizam-ı Cedid era, which had to keep the old and the new side by side, the old order and its institutions were not given any right to life in this new period. The formation of a modern army was taken as a priority. The financing of the army was attempted to be realized especially by using the foundation wealth in a rational manner, and for this purpose the Evkāf-ı Hümayun Nezâreti was established (1826) and all foundation wealth was collected under the administration of this ministry. In this way, it was aimed to put an end to the existing bad practices and abuse. Mahmud II continued the practice quite strictly. Despite the existing foundation revenues of many mosques, their repairs were delayed and their servants were given inadequate salaries. In addition to harsh practices such as the prosecution of the Bektashi order because they represented the Janissary mentality, the destruction of their ancient lodges, especially in Istanbul, and the execution or exile of leading members of the order, and the transfer of existing lodges to the Naqshbandi order, which sided with the regime, financial aid was provided to some of the sheikhs of the order in the expectation that they would support the new order (Beydilli, Imams in the Ottoman Period, p. 39 ff.). In this sense, Mahmud II was the first sultan to follow a policy that emphasized winning over the public opinion and to make use of the press for this purpose. The newspaper Takvîm-i Vekāyi, which started to be published in Istanbul in 1831 and published issues in other major languages ​​in the empire, attempted to win over the public opinion by including news about the reforms. The travels of the sultan that brought him together with the people, the disciplinary measures taken to ensure peace and security, the publication of price lists regarding the fixing and determination of food prices, or, for example, the announcement in the newspaper of the salary increases made to mosque imams, as well as the works such as Üss-i Zafer, Neticetü’l-vekāyi‘, and Gülzâr-ı Fütûhât, which expressed the rightfulness and necessity of the abolition of the Janissary Corps, are among Mahmud II’s approaches that aimed to carry propaganda in this sense. 

Like nations belonging to another civilization and cultural world outside of Europe, which was taken as an example - such as in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great - Mahmud II also resorted to formal measures that provided a psychological effect on the masses at first impression of the reforms. His regulations regarding dress code are in this sense. Even if it was not in the example of Peter, who determined the dimensions of skirts and beards and left the implementation to the shearers who were waiting at the gates of the cities by hanging copies showing the required measurements, it was determined that the length of the moustache should not exceed the width of the eyebrows and that the beard should hang only two fingers below the chin. Although religious scholars and religious officials preserved their special clothes, a European dress code of jackets and trousers was envisaged for civil administration personnel who would take part in state service, and the traditional clothes were abandoned by accepting the wearing of the fez. It is clear that the adoption of the uniform adopted for soldiers and known since the time of Selim III was a technical necessity related to the modern service seen in the military sense and the armed training received, as the practice in Muslim Egypt also shows. It was not possible to conduct modern education and wars in the old traditional costumes, and since the trumpet and bugle, which were the means of communication and warning of war tactics and tricks of the new armies, were inevitable (Beydilli, Scientific Research, p. 8 [1999], p. 36), there was no longer any place for the mehterhane in this context, in addition to the disadvantage of reminding us of the old period. Thus, this institution was eliminated. The Sublime Porte mehterhanes were made the chamberlains and the mehter chief was made the chamberlain-chief, thus preventing them from being victimized. In his European attire, with the exception of the fez on his head, he was no different in appearance from the Russian Tsar, the Austrian Emperor or the Prussian King, had his pictures hung in government offices and embassies abroad, and caused terror in Friday greetings with the distorted tones of opera songs played inexperiencedly instead of mehter music. The fact that Mahmud was called an “infidel sultan” by his people, just like the people who called Peter “crazy”, must be the common fate of the great reformers who changed the fate of nations.

The criticisms that Mahmud II weakened the old Turkish cavalry, that in this context he eliminated the Turkish saddles and replaced them with flat European saddles in the English style, and that the Turkish cavalry could not show their old skills on them are meaningless. Since it is a matter of taking the European cavalry units as an example, their training and their saggy stirrups and flat saddles suitable for their long-booted equipment, and therefore the acceptance of straight and long European swords instead of curved Turkish swords, the criticisms made in this direction (Slade, II, 210-211) are the result of superficial observations and emotional approaches that are far from understanding the technical necessity of the matter. 

Mahmud II also made important changes in the organization and ceremonial procedures of the palace and government. The officials in Topkapı Palace, which had not been continuously inhabited for a long time, were dismissed. The old ceremonial procedures were largely abandoned. The sultan stayed mostly in the wooden coastal palace in Beşiktaş. According to the observations of observers, the ceremonies and daily life here were simple and unpretentious. According to Prussian officers such as Moltke, who was taken into the presence here, or Mülbach, who appeared in the Beylerbeyi coastal palace, the mansion of a rich Hamburg merchant was furnished more magnificently than these. This was a lifestyle suitable for the solid and tough character of Mahmud II, who, during the 1828-1829 war, when the Russians would advance to Edirne, slept and slept in the Rami Barracks in his military uniform, having received the rank of a simple colonel for more than a year. 

New administrative bodies were established for the reorganization of government affairs and the needs of centralization. Since the Divan had lost its function, it became necessary to establish ministries that could function independently and to form some assemblies. Mahmud II tried a system that would approach the European cabinet method. He gave the civil administration a contemporary function with new names such as the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Finance, and Evkaf. With one of the ministers organizing government affairs with the title of prime minister, the office of the Grand Vizier became history for a while at the end of his term (1838). The disbanding of the divan and the gradual relegation of the office of the Grand Vizier, which had absolute authority, to the background, express Mahmud II's determination to personally follow the reforms. In this sense, it is clear that he did not repeat the mistake of his uncle, who generally left the implementation of the reforms to the dignitaries of the New Nizam. Various councils (Dâr-ı Şûrâ-yı Bâbıâlî, Dâr-ı Şûrâ-yı Askeri, Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkâm-ı Adliyye, Meclis-i Has, Meclis-i Vükelâ, Meclis-i Umûr-ı Sıhhiyye), ministries (directorates) such as the press, calendar, quarantine, and post offices, whose members were composed of civil and military dignitaries and prominent scholars, were institutions that were exemplified in Europe and were nothing more than a contemporary solution to cope with the increasingly intense state affairs, but were specific to the practices of the reign of Mahmud II.

Education, especially the deficiency in human resources trained to serve the modern state, was a subject that Mahmud II felt the most lack of and urgently tried to remedy. The difficulty in providing Muslim linguists to replace the Greek translators in the Imperial Council and the navy who were executed or dismissed from their duties in the 1821 Greek rebellion must have been an extremely painful experience for an empire that still had vast territories on three continents at the end of the first quarter of the 19th century. Mahmud II personally encouraged the learning of French, the dominant language of the period, as in the example of Mustafa Reşid Pasha, and for this purpose he had a translation room opened in the Sublime Porte. He sent students abroad for the first time and rewarded those who improved their foreign language skills. Although he did not know a foreign language himself, it is certain that he did not want this deficiency to continue in his children. French became the language of education in institutions such as the School of Engineering, the Military Academy and the newly opened School of Medicine. From the 1820s onwards, the embassies abroad, which had been neglected and left in the hands of non-Muslim clerks, became functional again and the appointment of Muslim ambassadors provided an opportunity for young people to learn languages. The fact that he specifically requested this from the Austrian ambassador Baron von Ottenfels, who presented him with the emperor's credentials (October 15, 1822) and delivered his speech in beautiful Turkish, and that he spoke to him in Turkish, going beyond protocol, is evidence of his admiration for those who spoke foreign languages ​​(Krauter, pp. 88-89). Although it was planned to open junior high schools in 1838, they could not be put into practice. The two schools opened under the names of Mekteb-i Maârif-i Adliyye and Mekteb-i Ulûm-i Edebiyye were generally considered as educational institutions that would meet the need for civil servants, but they were not very successful with their traditional curriculum. 

II. Mahmud ensured that the civil servants serving in the civil administration were put into a new order, their hierarchical structures, and the ranks and grades they had were determined; he abolished the confiscation procedure, which had long been a subject of complaint as a bad practice. The closure of the Confiscation and Mahlulat offices, and the announcement that the practice of confiscating the properties of exiled or executed people was abandoned, although it was against the treasury, were useful initiatives in terms of giving hope that state services could be seen in the security of life and property. The abolition of the timar system, which had collapsed for a long time (1831) and the payment of salaries to the relevant persons were important and necessary arrangements within the newly established military order, which would gradually lead to the change of the system.

Mahmud II saw the embracing of all people, regardless of whether they were Muslims or non-Muslims, and their warming to the state as a vital necessity, especially in the face of the realities revealed by the recent wars in which the Russians had advanced to Edirne and the Egyptian forces to Kütahya. The effects of the Russians, who had crossed the Balkans, on the Bulgarian people and the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia, which they had occupied, were an important warning for the sultan, who had also personally observed the lack of effort of the people of Istanbul in this war and voiced his complaints. However, a more important development that worried and wounded him was the warm approach shown by the Muslim people to the advance of the Egyptian forces in Anatolia. He had to pay special attention to the rapid improvement of the administration, the search for solutions to eliminate the discontent of the people and especially the warming of the non-Muslims to the state. His words that the problems would be solved if “the honorable people put their own cauldrons in front of their doors” and therefore invited the people to take the initiative, and that he did not discriminate between Muslim and non-Muslim people as a ruler, are in this sense. Mahmud II allowed the repair of thousands of churches, an intensity not seen in previous periods. He ensured that the emerging Catholic Armenians were officially recognized as an independent community (1830) and that new churches were built for them. He displayed a forgiving attitude towards the Armenians and Bulgarians who had collaborated with the Russians in the last war. He took action to repair mosques and lodges within the limits of his financial means. He paid as much attention to the repair of state buildings that had been neglected for many years as the heavy war compensation paid to Russia, which was much more than the state’s total annual income (400 million kuruş), and the state’s expenses, which were difficult to meet, allowed. However, the weakness in the financial field was the weakest aspect of Mahmud II’s era. It was a significant characteristic of the period of high cost of living and a continuous decline in the value of money. In particular, the silver content of the kuruş, which was the payment unit, decreased by 80% as a result of the devaluation that was carried out ten times (Pamuk, p. 210 et seq.), which caused great hardship for those who had to make do with small salaries. 

Personality, Illness and Death. It is accepted that Mahmud II received state knowledge and the necessity of reform, in addition to his classical education, from his uncle Selim III, who also ensured that he had a comfortable princely period. He was interested in music and calligraphy. A tablet he wrote with his own hand hangs in the tomb of his father Abdulhamid I. Those who see him state that he is sturdy and that the first thing that catches your eye is his large black eyes, surrounded by long eyelashes, that examine the person in front of him carefully, and his small and elegant hands.

As a trait observed in his grandson Abdulhamid II, he personally followed state affairs down to the smallest detail. He particularly focused on the understandable language and plain expression of political documents and correspondence. He examined the translations of the notes given to the Sublime Porte in terms of narration and the meanings hidden between the lines, tried to develop his diplomatic expression skills and personally wrote some important official documents to be given to foreign states (Münch, p. 220). It is known that his sensitivity in terms of beautiful expression and writing (selîka) played an important role in his discovery of the young Mustafa Reşid, who wrote the document prepared to be presented to him. He followed what was published in the foreign press about him and his activities and tried to benefit from them; he especially tried to respond to the counter-propaganda that Mehmed Ali Pasha created through the press by spending a lot of money, using the same weapon. In this sense, he followed the path of his father, who created a pen that would follow the foreign press; however, in terms of seeing and caring about the press and public opinion as a political element, he occupied a conscious place far above his predecessors. It is clear that Abdulhamid II also took his grandfather as an example in this regard to a great extent. 

He was astute, determined and hardworking; as can be understood from his behavior when he gave his first orders to Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, who had just returned from death, he was very cool-headed. Although he was generous enough to forgive his personal anger, he never forgave crimes committed against the state. The fact that he had kept a list of such people from the very beginning, in order to eliminate them when the opportunity arose in the future, and that he used it when the time came (Rosen, I, 19) is an indication of this. His memory was strong enough to later recall the incident and the people mentioned in the telhis he had read a few months earlier (Beydilli, Catholic Armenian Community in the Period of Mahmud II, p. 6).

Mahmud II, who struggled to keep the state standing throughout his reign and spent the last thirteen years of his reign with intense reforms despite serious domestic and foreign issues, was honored as a “revivalist” (ashâb-ı mie) who came once a century to revive the state (Şirvanlı Fâtih Efendi, p. XLI) and rumors about his guardianship arose among the people (Câbî Ömer Efendi, I, 604-605). His life, which was spent in such an intense struggle that he said, “I am tired of the burden of the sultanate” and as a result, he started to drink excessively in recent years, soon faced him with fatal health problems (Akyıldız, Journal of Turkish Culture Studies, p. 4 [2001], p. 52 ff.). It is understood that his illness, which was kept secret so that it would not be heard and left to the treatment of local doctors, could not be diagnosed accurately from the beginning and the intervention of the doctors brought from Europe was delayed. As his condition worsened, he was transferred to a summer resort in Çamlıca for a change of air, while the public was entertained with news that he was in good health. On June 26, after saying goodbye to his son Abdülmecid, his wife Bezmiâlem Sultan, who was thirty-four at the time, his son-in-law Halil Pasha and the head of the Council of Judgement Hüsrev Pasha, and making a will to his son regarding the pursuit of state affairs and reforms, his condition worsened and he died on June 28 (Münch, p. 215). Due to concerns that his death could trigger the Janissary mentality and lead to unrest and even riots, it was kept secret until June 30 in order to take military and disciplinary measures in the city. His body was brought to Topkapı Palace on July 1. The funeral ceremony held in the afternoon revealed how groundless these concerns were. The official ceremony turned into a funeral procession attended by a large mass of Muslims and non-Muslims (Akyıldız, Journal of Turkish Culture Studies, no. 4 [2001], pp. 69-70). According to his will, he was buried in the place known today as the Tomb and the road passing in front of it was named Janissary Street with an insensitivity that would offend his memory. The number of known wives of Mahmud II is seventeen. Although he had thirty-six children, he lost most of them at a young age. When he died, he left behind six children, two boys (Sultan Abdülmecid, Sultan Abdülaziz) and four girls (Sâliha, Atıyye, Hatice, Adile).

He was the son of Mahmud II and the brother of Abdulmecid, and his mother was Pertevniyal Valide Sultan. He was born on the night of February 7-8, 1830. He lived a very free life during the reign of his brother Abdulmecid and received a meticulous education. He studied Arabic language and literature and religious sciences from Akşehirli Hasan Fehmi Efendi. He took music lessons from Neyzen and composer Yusuf Pasha. He was also interested in sports and engaged in activities such as hunting, wrestling, swimming and javelin throwing in his mansion in Kurbağalıdere. Unlike his brother, Abdulaziz, who did not enjoy drinking and debauchery and lived a simple life, won the love of the people with this modest state during his time as the heir apparent. His strong, healthy and ostentatious structure increased the trust the people had in him. Those who were uneasy about Abdülmecid’s excessive love of innovation, which bordered on imitation, saw him as a future Yavuz and expected him to ascend to the throne. Even the supporters of innovation, who were not happy with Abdülmecid’s dissoluteness and extravagance in recent years, welcomed Abdülaziz’s accession to the throne on June 25, 1861, upon the death of his brother. Abdülaziz, who disliked European customs, was seen as the only person who would stay away from European imitation and save the empire. 

The situation of the Ottoman Empire was extremely chaotic when Abdülaziz ascended to the throne. The financial crisis had reached its peak, the Montenegro rebellion had reached a point where it would turn into war. The province of Herzegovina was also in great turmoil. The European states were increasing their interventions and offering mediation on these pretexts. The great powers, concerned that Abdülaziz would abandon the Tanzimat, were inclined to go even further. A few days after ascending to the throne, Abdulaziz issued a decree to alleviate these concerns. This decree, addressed to the Grand Vizier, was read out ceremoniously at the Sublime Porte. In his decree, the sultan stated that he wanted to continue the Tanzimat and that he would leave the old government in power as evidence of this, and he particularly expressed the need to restore the state's financial prestige and ensure that all subjects benefit from judicial equality regardless of race or sect. This decree partially eliminated the concerns of the Western great powers regarding the Tanzimat.

Since the biggest difficulty encountered was financial difficulties, Abdulaziz asked the government to address this issue first. With the same aim, he also agreed to reduce his allocation and palace expenses in the early days. He also promised to be content with a single wife and not to establish a harem. In keeping with these promises, he removed unnecessary officials who were receiving high salaries from the palace. He prohibited the use of gold, silver and other valuables in the palace. He announced that he would leave one third of the income from the royal treasury to the state treasury. He issued a general amnesty for political prisoners. He punished those involved in bribery and extortion. He also reduced the number of officials in the ministries and especially in the Serasker Gate. With these measures taken, the financial situation of the state improved somewhat. 

With the encouragement of Yusuf Kamil Pasha, whom he appointed as the Grand Vizier instead of Fuad Pasha, Abdulaziz traveled to Egypt on April 3, 1863. He was welcomed with great cheers there. By going to this Ottoman province, which had become a separate state since the rebellion of Kavalali Mehmed Ali Pasha, the sultan aimed to strengthen the loyalty of the Egyptians to the Ottoman State. The governor of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, managed to win the sultan’s favor with the magnificent entertainment parties he organized. He provided the appropriate environment to obtain privileges that would later facilitate Egypt’s separation from the Ottoman State. On the other hand, it is claimed that these entertainment parties in Egypt also played a major role in Abdulaziz’s descent into dissoluteness and extravagance. Ismail Pasha, who ensured that the Egyptian inheritance system was changed on May 28, 1866, received the title of “khedive” from the sultan on June 2, 1866 and also established the principle that the khedivate should pass from father to son. He even went further and attempted to take independent actions such as borrowing money from abroad without the permission of the Sultan, purchasing warships, and inviting foreign statesmen to the opening of the Suez Canal on his behalf, but this was prevented by the efforts of Ali Pasha.

The second important issue encountered during this time was the internal uprisings that led to an increase in external interventions. The separatist activities of non-Muslim subjects who were not satisfied with the rights granted to them by the Tanzimat and Islahat decrees were increasing. The great powers saw these as a means to achieve their ambitions over the Ottoman Empire and increased their interventions against the Sublime Porte. The events that emerged as a result of Russia’s provocation of the Slavs living in the Balkans gradually led to the intervention of other states. Bloody struggles started again between the Druze and the Maronites in Lebanon with the instigation of the Western states. Intense efforts were made to strengthen the state authority that had been shaken by all these events. The uprising in Montenegro in 1862 for independence was suppressed. However, since Russia and France opposed the measures taken to prevent similar events, these were abandoned in 1864. This situation soon led to new incidents in Serbia, Romania and Crete. The events were also supported by France and Russia. 

The French Emperor Napoleon III invited Sultan Abdulaziz to France on the occasion of the opening of the International Paris Industrial Exhibition. He also informed him through his ambassador in Istanbul that ideas could be exchanged to strengthen general peace. In the meantime, when the English Queen Victoria invited the sultan to London, Abdulaziz accepted both invitations and set off on a European journey on June 21, 1867. Thus, Abdulaziz became the only sultan in Ottoman history to travel to foreign countries and the first caliph to visit the Christian world as a friend. The sultan, who visited France and England and also visited Belgium, Prussia and Austria, returned to Istanbul on August 7, 1867.

This trip of Abdulaziz played an important role in establishing general peace. Relations with Europe entered a good state. However, after long struggles and negotiations with the rebels who relied on the support and protection of Western states, Karol's principality was recognized in Romania; the withdrawal of the Turkish army from the Serbian fortresses was also accepted (1867). The annexation of Crete to Greece was rejected. With the efforts of Ali Pasha, a regulation was published that gave Crete a special administration (1867). The desire of the Bulgarians who wanted to separate from the Greek Orthodox Church under the influence of the Russians was accepted and permission was given to establish an independent Bulgarian church in 1870. Thus, the ground was prepared for the Bulgarians to take another step towards autonomy. 

The political developments in Europe, especially the defeat of France against Germany, also affected the Ottoman Empire. In this way, the Sublime Porte lost France, its greatest supporter in the implementation of the reform program, and Russia declared that it did not recognize the provisions of the Paris Treaty of 1856 (1871). Thus, the Russian threat reasserted itself for the Ottoman Empire; Russia intensified its provocations against the Balkan nations. The first movement towards autonomy and independence began in Herzegovina in 1875, then spread to Bosnia. The rebels were supported by Russia, Serbia and Montenegro. The reform project prepared by the Austrian Prime Minister Count Andraşi, who did not want Russia to take over the Balkans, could not prevent the rebellion from spreading to Bulgaria in 1876. In the meantime, the murder of two consuls in an incident in Thessaloniki mobilized the Western states. The Western states decided to give the memorandum called the “Berlin Memorandum” to the Sublime Porte. However, before the memorandum could be given, Abdulaziz was dethroned.

It cannot be said that Abdülaziz was very successful in resolving domestic issues during his reign, which was full of such intense foreign affairs. The work done in the fields of reform and development should be evaluated more according to the people he appointed as grand vizier. In this respect, the reign of Abdülaziz can be divided into two periods. In the first period, from his accession to the throne until the death of Ali Pasha in 1871, the administration remained in the hands of Ali and Fuad Pashas. The first period was marked by the continuation of the Tanzimat and Reforms, the establishment of some new institutions and the implementation of a very successful foreign policy. In the second period, from the death of Ali Pasha until the sultan was dethroned in 1876, Mahmud Nedim and Midhat Pashas had more say in the administration. 

Abdülaziz saw the continuation of the Ottoman State as having a strong military force against Russia. For this reason, he spent millions of liras from his own allocations and the state budget, which was organized with loans, for this purpose during his reign. He purchased many new model weapons from Europe. The castles on the Straits and the border were fortified with the large-scale cannons purchased, and the armory was modernized. The War College was reorganized by bringing expert officers from Prussia (1866). Military laws were reviewed according to the conditions of the day (1869). Military secondary schools were opened. New barracks such as Taşkışla, Gümüşsuyu Barracks, and Taksim Barracks were built. The building used today as Istanbul University was also built by Abdülaziz as the Ministry of War. Abdülaziz also attached great importance to maritime affairs. He spent money beyond his budget in order to have a navy on par with England and France. Shipyards were reformed. Armored ships that could not be built in local shipyards were purchased from abroad. He was assigned to the British Hubart Pasha Naval School to train naval officers. The Ministry of Naval Affairs was established. Thus, the Turkish naval force, which was formed with the sultan's curiosity and enthusiasm, took third place in the world. At the end of Abdulaziz's reign, the naval force consisted of twenty battleships, four galleys, five frigates, seven corvettes and forty-three transport ships.

During the reign of Abdülaziz, significant progress was also made in the fields of transportation and communication. The total length of the railway network, which was 452 kilometers, was increased to 1344 kilometers during his time. The privilege of a 2000-kilometer railway connecting Istanbul to Paris was given to the Austrian Baron Hirsch. Although the fact that this line would pass through the palace garden caused various objections, Abdülaziz showed the importance he gave to the issue by saying, “Let the railway pass through and pass through my back if he wants.” The section of this road up to Sofia was put into operation in 1874. On the other hand, the construction of railways by the state was started as much as the budget allowed. The first of these, the 99-kilometer Haydarpaşa-İzmit line, was opened in 1873. With the construction of foreigners in Anatolia, the length of the railway increased to 329 kilometers during this period. In 1862, the repair of existing highways and the construction of new ones were taken up. In 1863, new roads were opened in Nis, Bosnia and Vidin. In Anatolia, new roads were built in Amasya, Samsun and Kastamonu. However, the lack of interest shown by foreign capital in land routes and the limited budget possibilities prevented this work from being undertaken in a planned and rapid manner. On the other hand, another work that was focused on and achieved the most was the work to spread the telegraph network to all provinces. Telegraphy, which had begun during the reign of Abdülmecid, developed gradually and 76 centers were put into operation in 1864. By the end of Abdülaziz’s reign, the entire empire, including the districts, was connected by a telegraph network. The attempt to operate ships on the Danube and Tigris was also initiated during the reign of Sultan Aziz. Again during this period, the construction of the ports of Istanbul, Constanta, Varna and the Izmir dock was tendered to foreign companies. A “navigation administration” called the Administration was established, and a privilege was granted to Şirket-i Hayriyye to operate ships on the Bosphorus. The Galata Tunnel, which was tendered to a foreign company, was put into operation in 1874. In the same year, a Hungarian expert was commissioned to establish a fire department in Istanbul.

During the reign of Abdülaziz, there were also important developments in the field of national education. In 1862, Mekteb-i Mahrec-i Aklâm, which could be attended by those who had completed the secondary school in order to train clerks for government offices, was established; this school continued its activities until 1874. A language school was opened in 1864. İnâs Rüşdiyesi, which was established in 1858, began its activities in 1861. From 1867 onwards, Christian children were also accepted to the secondary schools on the condition that they pass the Turkish exam. As a result of a note given by France in 1867 and their constant insistence, Mekteb-i Sultânî (Galatasaray High School), which provided education entirely according to the French education system, was opened in 1868. In this school, Muslim and non-Muslim children would study together, education would be in French and the administration would be in the hands of the French. In 1869, the General Education Regulation was published and the education organization was reorganized. Primary education was made compulsory. It was accepted that national education services were a state duty. A Council of Higher Education was established under the presidency of the Minister of Education in order to establish and run various educational levels outside of institutions providing religious education. In 1870, regulations were prepared for the implementation of this regulation in all provinces. The copyright and translation regulation was published in the same year. In 1870, the first girls' teacher training school called Dârülmuallimât was opened. The dârülfünun, which was recommended to be opened in the French note of 1867, was included in the General Education Regulation published two years after this date. After long-term efforts, the first university, Darülfünûn-ı Osmânî, was officially opened in the newly constructed building in Çemberlitaş (today's Press Museum) on February 8, 1870. However, it was closed again by Abdülaziz towards the end of 1871. During Cevdet Pasha's term as Minister of Education, the university started operating again in the Mekteb-i Sultânî building in 1874.

During the reign of Abdülaziz, advanced steps were also taken in technical and vocational education. While Midhat Pasha was the governor of Nis, he established the first art school there in 1860. This school, which accepted orphaned and destitute children, was called “islahhane”. In 1864, islahhanes were also opened in Sofia and Rusçuk. In the same year, an industrial exhibition was organized in Istanbul under the management of the Ministry of Education and an industrial reform commission was established on this occasion. It was decided to open an industrial school in Sultanahmet in order to train personnel with sufficient knowledge so that domestic products could compete with European products. Various professions were taught here. In 1869, a girls’ industrial school was opened, and the following year, a civilian captain’s school was opened in the Naval Academy on Heybeliada. The Islamic Educational Association, founded in 1865 by Yusuf Ziya Pasha, Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha and Tevfik Pasha and giving free lessons to apprentices of the Grand Bazaar tradesmen, was very popular, and the members of the association decided to establish Darüşşafaka to educate only orphaned Muslim children. The construction of the school was started with thirty-five thousand gold coins donated by statesmen, especially Abdulaziz, the Khedive of Egypt and some organizations. This institution, which started high school education in 1873, was thus brought to the country. The first museum, established in 1847 with the efforts of Damad Ahmed Fethi Pasha, was developed under the name of Müze-i Hümayun in 1869. In the Ottoman country, research on ancient artifacts was subject to the permission of the Ministry of Education. One third of the objects to be unearthed from the excavations would belong to the country. In 1866, the first civilian medical school was opened under the name of Mekteb-i Tıbbiyye-i Şahane and began teaching in a separate classroom in the Military Medical School building. In 1867, a pharmacy school was opened.

During the reign of Abdülaziz, important steps were taken in the administrative and legal fields. The administrative organization law, most of whose articles were taken from the French system, was first implemented in the Tuna province by Midhat Pasha. The deficiencies were corrected and the first provincial law was issued in 1864. The provincial organization applied in the Ottomans until this date was abandoned and the provincial system was adopted. In each degree of this civil division, a council, most of whose members were elected, and new courts were established in addition to the religious courts (see NİZAMİYE COURTS). According to the main provisions of the law, the people participated in the administration, albeit indirectly, by electing members to the councils in the provinces. In 1868, the Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkam-ı Adliyye was divided into two: Şûrâ-yı Devlet and Divân-ı Ahkam-ı Adliyye. Thus, administrative and judicial affairs within this assembly were completely separated from each other. In the meantime, some of the sultan’s powers were also restricted. This was an important step towards constitutionalism in the Ottoman State. The old Meclis-i Vâlâ members would also participate in the Council of State, which was intended to be given the identity of a representative assembly with members coming from the provincial assemblies. The Council of State was tasked with preparing the budget as well as having legislative authority. The assembly was opened with a speech by the sultan on May 10, 1868. In his speech, Abdülaziz stated that he wanted those who had a say, regardless of their nationality, to participate in this assembly and assist the state administrators, and said that the new organization was based on the principle of separating the executive power from the judicial power. The Divan-ı Ahkam-ı Adliyye had the characteristics of a high court. It consisted of Muslim and non-Muslim members and was divided into two parts in terms of organization. The first of these was the Court of Cassation, responsible for appealing the decisions of the nizamiye courts established outside the sharia courts, and the other was the Court of Appeal. The decisions of the Divan-ı Ahkam-ı Adliyye could not be interfered with in any way and its members could not be changed without a court decision. In this way, the independence of the judiciary power against the executive power was strengthened (see DÎVÎN-ı AHkam-ı ADLİYYE).

On the other hand, the Western-style legislative activities carried out since the Tanzimat continued during this period. A commission established upon the recommendation of the French ambassador, in preparation for the Ottoman Civil Code, began the translation of the French Civil Code (Code civil). Upon the proposal of Cevdet Pasha, who opposed this, the Mecelle Society was established to prepare a code of conduct in accordance with the requirements of the time by making use of fiqh books. As a result of the ten-year work of this society, the Mecelle-i Ahkam-ı Adliyye, which would serve as a civil code, was prepared (see MECELLE-i AHkam-ı ADLIYYE). 

Another innovation made during the reign of Abdülaziz was the granting of the right to own property to foreigners. This issue, which was touched upon in the Reform Edict of 1856, was resolved with a five-article law on June 10, 1868, after prolonged pressure from Western states. Accordingly, foreigners gained the right to own property in the Ottoman territory, except for the Hejaz region. Again, the issue of "conversion of foundations into property", which was the most complained about by Western capitalists, was resolved with a decree issued in 1873. Thus, the old law preventing the sale of foundation properties to foreigners was abolished.

During the reign of Abdülaziz, important steps were also taken in the field of banking. As a result of the efforts initiated by Midhat Pasha in Nis in 1863 to organize agricultural credits and support farmers, the “homeland funds” were established in 1867, and again with his efforts, the Security Fund was established in 1868. In addition, permission was granted to a joint French and British group to establish a bank called Bank-i Osmânî-yi Şahâhâne (Ottoman Bank) in 1863. This foreign-capital bank, which was established as a commercial bank, was later given the authority to issue banknotes. Until 1930, this bank served as the Central Bank of Turkey. 

Many of these successive innovations during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz were implemented as a result of pressure from Western states. However, some Turkish intellectuals who saw these as inadequate formed an opposition front. Since the criticisms launched by this front against the government’s actions were also reflected in the press, which was developing considerably at the time, the first censorship regulation, Kararnâme-i Âlî, was published (March 5, 1867). Following this, some intellectuals of the period, especially Ziyâ Paşa, Namık Kemal and Ali Suâvi, escaped to Europe and continued their activities there. These intellectuals, supported by the Egyptian Mustafa Fâzıl Paşa, became known as the New Ottomans. 

Many important structures were built during the reign of Abdülaziz. The Çırağan Palace is the most important of these. This palace, superior to its peers in Europe, cost four million Ottoman gold coins. The Beylerbeyi Palace was also built during this period. In addition to these, the Kağıthane Pavilion was repaired, and the Çekmece and İzmit hunting lodges were also built during this period. The Valide Mosque in Aksaray, built by Abdülaziz’s mother Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, was completed in 1871. The Grand Mosque in Kasımpaşa, which was destroyed by a fire, was also rebuilt by Abdülaziz with two minarets. 

During the time of Abdülaziz, debts had reached 200 million gold coins. The amount paid in debt and interest in one year had increased to fourteen million gold coins. The financial policy followed by the Ottoman Empire at that time was to pay off debts with debt and to cover the budget deficit with new debts. In cases where it was not possible to borrow from abroad, borrowing was resorted to from Galata money changers at high interest rates. This financial policy eventually brought the state to the brink of bankruptcy. 

There was a deficit of five million gold coins in the budget of 1875 and there was no longer any possibility of domestic or foreign borrowing. Grand Vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha, following the advice of the Russian ambassador General Ignatiyev, resorted to a measure that drew the wrath of all Europe upon the Ottoman Empire. In a decree dated October 6, 1875, it was announced that half of the fourteen million liras paid annually by the state as debt installments and interest would be cut for five years, and in return, “esham” with five percent interest would be given. This esham was shown as the equivalent of customs, salt, tobacco revenues and the Egyptian tax. The government would cover the budget deficit with five million of this seven million, and cover the expenses of military operations in Rumelia with two million.

The decision had a great impact both domestically and internationally. In Europe, those holding Ottoman bonds began to demonstrate in front of Turkish embassies. Harsh articles against the Turks appeared in European newspapers. This situation not only lowered the reputation of the state but also made the British and French people hostile to the Ottomans. This was essentially the aim of the Russian ambassador. On the other hand, the events developing in Herzegovina pushed the European states to new decisions. The struggle between the statesmen was also increasing day by day. 

Midhat and Hüseyin Avni Pashas were hostile towards Abdülaziz because they saw him as harmful to both the state and themselves. In the meantime, they were secretly provoking the students in the Istanbul madrasahs. On May 10, 1876, the students of the Fatih, Bayezid and Süleymaniye madrasahs boycotted classes and began demonstrations. Some high-ranking scholars such as Şirvânîzâde Ahmed Hulûsi and Gürcü Şerif Efendi also joined them. The operation plan was made in the mansion of Midhat Pasha, who had been dismissed from his duty at the time, outside Topkapı. Midhat Pasha had also sent money to be given to the students. The demonstrators came to the front of Yıldız Palace and demanded the dismissal of the Sheikh-ul-Islam and the Grand Vizier. On Friday, May 12, Abdülaziz announced that he had appointed Interpreter Rushdu Pasha as the Grand Vizier, Hasan Hayrullah Efendi as the Sheikh-ul-Islam, and Hüseyin Avni Pasha as the Serasker, and that Midhat Pasha had been assigned as a member of the Council of Ministers. Thus, the student demonstration ended. 

After the Interpreter Rushdu, Midhat and Hüseyin Avni Pashas and Hasan Hayrullah Efendi team took charge, they took up the second phase of their plan, namely Abdülaziz’s situation. It was necessary to give the work a form that was in accordance with the understanding of the era and in accordance with the sharia. For this, the Fatwa Emini Kara Halil Efendi was invited to Midhat Pasha’s mansion through the Sheikh al-Islam. Midhat Pasha asked him, “The Sultan destroyed the property and the people and wasted the Muslim treasury. He is being considered for dethroning in order to improve the people’s situation. Is this permissible according to the Sharia?” Kara Halil Efendi said, “I will give a fatwa as big as a sheet for this auspicious act.” Thereupon, it was decided that Hüseyin Avni Pasha would surround the Dolmabahçe Palace with soldiers, take the crown prince Murad Efendi and bring him to the Serasker Gate, where they would pay homage to Murad and dethrone Abdulaziz. Abdulaziz, who thought that the events had calmed down, was unaware of all this.

The implementation of the state decision was reviewed again on May 26, 1876 among the commanders who gathered at Hüseyin Avni Pasha’s mansion in Paşalimanı. May 31 was decided as the date; however, due to some unexpected events, it was moved to May 30. Sultan Abdülaziz was first brought from Dolmabahçe Palace to Topkapı Palace. He was upset when he saw that Selim III’s apartment had been allocated to him. “They want to end me here like my uncle Sultan Selim,” he said. Moreover, there was no place to sit in the apartment. The fact that he and his children were left soaked from the rain at that time hurt the former ruler even more. After a while, when he moved to the prepared room, he wrote a letter to Sultan Murad and was transferred to Feriye Palace at his own request (June 1, 1876). However, on June 4, 1876, he was found in his room with his wrist veins cut. 

The first state dignitary to arrive at the scene was Serasker Hüseyin Avni Pasha, and his first task was to quiet the palace residents who were still shouting and crying. Again, upon his order, Abdülaziz’s body was carried to the coffeehouse of the Fer‘iye Police Station, laid on a bed of grass and covered with a curtain. Other state dignitaries who learned the news later also began to arrive at the Fer‘iye Palace. 

It was decided that a committee of doctors consisting of nineteen people, including the embassy doctors, would examine Abdülaziz and prepare a report. However, some doctors, especially Marko Pasha, did not actually participate in the examination, feeling saddened by the condition of the former ruler’s body at the police station. In addition, Hüseyin Avni Pasha prevented the doctors from examining the body thoroughly. 

After this, the committee of doctors prepared a report with ambiguous expressions, contenting themselves with the fact that the scissors shown to them could have caused these wounds. After the report was prepared, the body of the former sultan was transported to Topkapı Palace, washed there and buried in the Tomb of Mahmud II. The news of his death was announced as suicide in the Ceride-i Havadis newspaper dated June 6, 1878. Other newspapers immediately wrote articles with the same meaning.

Abdulaziz was inclined to tyranny and extravagance by nature. In the first period of his reign, Ali and Fuad Pashas curbed his tendencies as much as possible. However, after the death of these two statesmen, the accession of Mahmud Nedim Pasha to the Grand Viziership caused major changes in Abdulaziz and caused his true tendencies to emerge. He later abandoned the austerity measures he had initiated in the first years of his reign and began to be extravagant. Abdulaziz had no Western side at all. He had not learned French and had not come into contact with European science and culture. He knew Turkish music very well and played the ney and lute perfectly. Not only was he a good performer, Abdulaziz also took his place among the Ottoman sultans as a composer. It is known that many songs and marches of his time were composed in these makams because he loved the Hicazkar and Şehnaz makams very much. One Hicaz Sirto and two songs from his works have survived to the present day. After he became sultan, he removed the palace orchestras and bands established by Abdülmecid and replaced them with Turkish music instruments, protected many Turkish composers and singers, and watched orta oyunu instead of opera and theater, thus strengthening hopes that he would revive the national culture. However, it is seen that this aspect of his changed after he went to Europe. Abdülaziz, who was attracted only by the external appearance of the wealth and prosperity he saw in Europe without looking at how they were obtained, tried to imitate them. While he had palaces and mansions built that were beyond comparison with those in Europe, he also had an orchestra and band set up again in the palace and increased the number of army bands. 

Abdülaziz, who was an intelligent man, knew that the country could not be governed by a complete dictatorship. Although he believed that the rule of law should be the basis and that government affairs should be left to government officials, he could not help but think that it was a requirement of the sultanate that the sultans should be free and independent in their thoughts and decisions. Abdulaziz, who did not want to worry about state affairs and believed that statesmen should find solutions to every difficulty, also painted in his spare time. It can be said that he was a good calligrapher in the celi sülüs style, based on his writings in the Topkapi Palace Museum, the Cairo Menyel Palace Museum and the Aksaray Valide Mosque. 

Abdulaziz, who considered westernization to be irreligious, was a well-intentioned, religious person who read the Quran every morning and was extremely dignified. From time to time, he would have the scholars of the period debate in his presence and he would also participate in these scientific discussions.

The Death of Abdulaziz. The suicide or murder of Abdulaziz is a subject that has continued to this day and has occasionally become current for various reasons and occasions. This issue began immediately after the incident and many things have been said and written about it. At a time when rumors were increasing, Mahmud Celaleddin, the head of the Council of State Tanzimat Department, and the Chamberlain Ragib Bey and the interrogation judge Fındıklılı Mehmed Efendi presented a complaint to Sultan Abdulhamid II about the murder of Abdulaziz. The sultan opened an investigation into this complaint, which was based on the revelation of Mahmud Celaleddin Pasha’s daughter-in-law, the palace servant Pervin Felek Hanım, that Abdulaziz had been killed. 

The people who were assigned to protect Sultan Abdulaziz during and after his death, as well as those assigned to his service, were identified and questioned one by one. As a result, when it was concluded that Abdulaziz’s death was not a suicide but a murder, Abdulhamid II was forced to file a lawsuit as the “victim of the murder.” The sultan referred the decision on what should be done against Sultan Murad, who had given the order to kill him, according to religious law and law, to a committee consisting of Sheikh-ul-Islam Uryanizade Ahmed Esad, Minister of the Interior Mahmud Nedim, Tunislu Hayreddin Pashas and Mahmud Celaleddin Pasa. On April 16, 1881, the committee decided that Sultan Murad should be arrested immediately and tried by an extraordinary court. 

Abdulhamid requested that Prime Minister Said Pasha, Sheikh-ul-Islam, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs Asim Pasha decide what should be done next. After examining the matter, they decided on April 30 that Abdulaziz had been assassinated and the perpetrators of the murder had been identified, and that he should be tried immediately, and that the place of the trial should be determined by the will of the sultan. Thereupon, Abdulhamid informed the government that in order for the members of the government to be sure, those accused of being involved in the murder and those who were under arrest at the time should be heard in the presence of the deputies, and that an extraordinary assembly should be convened to arrest and try Rüşdü and Midhat Pashas, ​​who were understood to be involved in this matter. 

The deputies gathered in the palace under the presidency of Prime Minister Said Pasha, brought some of the defendants and listened to them. Finally, it was decided that a large tent would be set up next to the Malta Police Station and that the trial would be held there open to the public, and the situation was reported to the sultan (June 14, 1881).

Midhat Pasha, who was the governor of Aydın at the time, had learned of the developments and taken refuge in the French consulate. After the Minister of Justice Cevdet Pasha announced that he would be questioned freely, Midhat Pasha was handed over to the government on May 19, 1881. Cevdet Pasha went to Izmir with a delegation and brought Midhat Pasha to Istanbul by steamer (May 22). Since Interpreter Rüşdü Pasha, who was living in Manisa, was ill, his questioning was conducted in Izmir and he was allowed to return to Manisa. 

The court, which went down in history as the Yıldız Court and started its work in a tent set up in Yıldız Palace on June 27, 1881, was presided by the President of the Court of Appeals, Ali Sürûrî, the second president of the same court, Hiristo Forides Efendi, as the vice president, Latif Bey as the prosecutor, and German converts Emin, Tevfik and Hüseyin Bey and Takavur Efendi as members. The trial continued for six sessions in three days and ended with the defendants’ right to appeal reserved. 

According to the court’s decision, Pehlivan Mustafa, Hacı Mehmed and Cezayirli Mustafa and Chamberlain Fahri Bey were sentenced to death for having participated in the deliberate killing; Midhat, Mahmud, Nuri Pashas and Major Necib and Major Namık Pashazade Ali Bey were also considered as accomplices and were sentenced to death, while the others were sentenced to various punishments. Midhat Pasha’s appeal to the Court of Appeals was also examined and rejected (July 8, 1881). 

Since Sultan Abdulhamid was extremely wary of shedding blood, he wanted to learn the opinions of military, civil and scholarly dignitaries before confirming the verdict or reducing the sentence despite the religious and legal rulings in his possession. For this purpose, he convened an extraordinary assembly of twenty-five people, consisting of retired and current statesmen and soldiers, at the Yıldız Palace on July 20, 1881. Fifteen people wanted the death sentence to be confirmed, and ten people wanted the sentence to be commuted. Among those who wanted the court decisions to be fully implemented were the Minister of the Police, Hafız Ahmed Pasha, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Müşir Edhem Pasha, the Minister of Education, Kamil Pasha, the Minister of Justice, Cevdet Pasha, the former Serasker Hüseyin Hüsnü Pasha, and the Serasker Gazi Osman Pasha, the hero of Plevne. The Sultan's aide-de-camp, Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, the former grand viziers Kadri Pasha, Arifi Pasha and Tunuslu Hayreddin Pasha, the Prime Minister Said Pasha, and again, former prime ministers, such as Safvet Pasha, who presided over the meeting, were among those who wanted the sentence to be commuted. Despite the majority of those who wanted the sentences to be applied as they were, Abdulhamid commuted the death sentences to life imprisonment. It was decided that the prisoners would serve their sentences in Taif.

He was born on 25 Rajab 1256 (22 September 1840). His real name was Mehmed, his father was Abdülmecid and his mother was Şevkiefser Kadınefendi. He received a good education during his princedom. He studied Turkish, Arabic, French, Ottoman history and science from various teachers; he took piano and Western music lessons from two Italian teachers. When his uncle Abdülaziz ascended to the throne, he was declared the heir apparent (1861). He participated in Abdülaziz’s trips to Egypt (1863) and Europe (1867) as the heir apparent. He spent most of his time at the farmhouse in Kadıköy Kurbağalıdere that Abdülaziz had assigned to him. During this period, he came into contact with the New Ottomans who defended the constitutional regime. He frequently met with Şinâsi, Namık Kemal and Ziyâ (Pasha) Beys and exchanged ideas on constitutionalism, democracy and freedom. Through Ziya Pasha and his private doctor Kapoleon Efendi, he also communicated with Midhat Pasha, the leader of the opposition group that was dissatisfied with Abdülaziz’s administration. During these years, the Ottoman Empire faced various difficulties. The Balkan crisis that started with the Herzegovina rebellion (1875), the Bulgarian uprising (May 2, 1876) and the Salonika incident that resulted in the murder of two consuls (May 6, 1876) brought external developments to a dangerous point. While the great powers were preparing to intervene in the Ottoman Empire, the opposition group began preparations to eliminate Abdülaziz and enthrone Murad. In the meeting held in Midhat Pasha’s mansion, it was decided that Abdülaziz remaining on the throne would be dangerous for both the country and themselves, and that the students of the madrasah should revolt. Murad Efendi sent Midhat Pasha the money he had obtained from his money changer Hristaki Efendi to be distributed to the students. The demonstrations called “Talebe-i ulûm” or “the rebellion of the zealots” began on May 10, 1876. When it was announced that Mütercim Rüşdü Pasha had been appointed as the Grand Vizier, İmam-ı Sultani Hasan Hayrullah Efendi as the Sheikh-ul-Islam, Hüseyin Avni Pasha as the Serasker and Midhat Pasha as the Council of Ministers officer (May 12), the rebels dispersed. This group, which was united in their hostility towards Abdülaziz and called the “erkân-ı erbaa”, after sitting in the seat of power, reached an agreement on Abdülaziz’s fate and informed the crown prince of the situation. Although it was decided that the fate of Abdülaziz would be held on May 31, it was postponed until the night of May 29-30 due to certain developments. Dolmabahçe Palace was surrounded by land and sea, entry and exit were prohibited and telephone lines were cut. Having armed the students and surrounded Dolmabahçe Palace by land with the base battalion he had prepared in Taşkışla, Minister of Military Schools Süleyman Pasha wanted to go to the crown prince’s apartment in the palace and take Murad Efendi. The crown prince, who was unaware that the operation had been brought forward, was excited for fear of being arrested and did not want to leave his apartment. While Süleyman Pasha was taking Murad Efendi, whom he had persuaded by force, to the police station, Hüseyin Avni Pasha came after him. Without getting out of the car, he took the crown prince with him and set off towards the dock. Murad Efendi, whose car was stopped several times by soldiers with bayonets, was put on a boat waiting at the dock under the heavy storm and pouring rain. After changing three vehicles at sea, they reached the Sirkeci Pier with difficulty. Hüseyin Avni Pasha took the crown prince in a rented car and brought him to the Serasker Gate in Beyazıt. The grand vizier, the sheikh al-Islam and some other state officials who were waiting here swore allegiance to Murad V. Then a fatwa was read regarding the state of Abdülaziz. The reason for the fatwa was that Abdülaziz had gone mad and did not understand state affairs. Although the official notification stated that Abdülaziz’s death was through a “general alliance,” this had actually happened through a coup organized by a few people. It was later understood that many statesmen and soldiers had been deceived by the news that Abdülaziz had died. When the former sultan was transferred to Topkapı Palace, Murad V was taken to Dolmabahçe Palace. The enthronement was announced with cannon fire and a second allegiance ceremony was held for the state officials gathered in the palace. According to tradition, the new sultan was supposed to sit on the golden throne in Topkapi Palace, but Murad V was seated on a gilded chair and an oath of allegiance was performed. Meanwhile, the belongings of Abdülaziz and his relatives in Dolmabahçe Palace were looted. While the mother of the new sultan took some of the money and jewelry, some of it was given to Hristaki, the money changer, to cover Murad V's debts of up to 1 million. Most of it was seized by statesmen.

Murad V appointed Ziya Pasha, who played an important role in his accession to the throne, as his chief secretary; he sent a message to the Grand Vizier asking for the recall of Namık Kemal and his friends, whom Abdulaziz had exiled, but this request was not fulfilled. A difference of opinion soon emerged among the “general staff” who had elevated him to the throne. Midhat Pasha was the only one who sincerely defended liberal democracy; the others were in favor of continuing the old regime. Indeed, in the imperial edict issued on the third day of his accession, the subject of constitutional monarchy was glossed over with a few bright words. On the other hand, Serasker Hüseyin Avni Pasha acted like a complete dictator and interfered in everything. The serasker, who took control of the entrances and exits to the palace, announced that anyone who would meet with the sultan had to get his permission. Ziya Pasha was dismissed from his position as chief secretary and Sadullah Pasha was appointed in his place. The former sultan was found dead in his apartment three days after being transferred to the Feriye Palace (June 4). Abdülaziz’s brother-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel Çerkez Hasan Bey, killed Hüseyin Avni Pasha, whom he held responsible for his brother-in-law’s death, by raiding the Council of Ministers meeting held in Midhat Pasha’s mansion (night of June 15-16).

Murad V, whose illness had been known for a long time, had become quite unnerved due to the successive events. He appeared to have collapsed and lost consciousness due to the incidents he experienced while being taken to the Serasker Gate on the day of his accession. The minister had to cut the homage ceremony short due to his abnormal behavior. The fact that he had a disorder in his consciousness was also seen during the first Friday greeting held in the Hagia Sophia Mosque. The sultan, who was in shock after the mysterious death of his uncle, was transferred to the Yıldız Palace. Here, he went mad and threw himself into the pool, and was brought back to the Dolmabahçe Palace. His behavior during the second Friday greeting revealed that his mental balance was completely impaired. The sultan, who was locked up in the palace, was not allowed to see anyone and was no longer allowed to attend Friday greetings. The sword-girding ceremony that was supposed to be held in Eyüpsultan could not be held, and foreign ambassadors could not present their credentials to the new sultan. The government, trying to hide Murad V’s illness, was spreading the rumor that the sultan had boils on his face and back, and that was why the ceremony could not be held. However, the sultan’s illness was known, and the fact that the grand vizier acted as a regent and ruled the country without the sultan was being strongly criticized. The ulema, on the other hand, claimed that Friday prayers could not be performed in a country where the sultan was mentally ill. In response to this situation, the government began to take the sultan out for the Friday greetings again. The sultan was taken to the nearest mosque by car, and two chamberlains sat opposite him, contrary to the procedure, while he himself huddled in a corner. The sultan, who went to bed without taking off his clothes after returning from a greeting, tried to kill himself by breaking the windows in the morning, and was examined by a committee of doctors. The committee’s report stated that the sultan’s chances of recovery were very low. The government, following the advice of the British ambassador, had the sultan examined by the Viennese doctor Leidesdorf. When he also gave a negative report, the issue of Murad V’s status came to the agenda. Midhat Pasha met with the crown prince Abdulhamid Efendi. The Council of Ministers decided on Murad V’s status and Abdulhamid’s enthronement in a meeting held on August 30, 1876. The next morning, a fatwa was read in the presence of the statesmen gathered in Kubbealtı. The fatwa explained that Sultan Murad was in a constant state of madness and could not fulfill his duties. Murad V was dethroned and his brother Abdulhamid ascended to the throne (August 31, 1876). Thus, the reign of Murad V, which lasted ninety-three days, ended. It is said that he had only seven days of his own power.

After he was deposed, he was allowed to live in Çırağan Palace; no result was achieved despite all the efforts made for his treatment. His supporters, especially the Masonic circles, were spreading propaganda that his health was good and that he had been deposed unjustly. Thereupon, Abdulhamid II had Murad examined by a committee of local and foreign doctors, who received a report stating that his illness was ongoing and that treatment was impossible. However, three months later, an attempt was made to kidnap the former sultan. A committee of four people, two Turks and two foreigners, were caught trying to enter the Çırağan Palace disguised as women in order to smuggle Murad to Europe and have him accept their rule (November 1876). After this, the Cleanti Scalieri-Aziz Bey Masonic Committee made a plan to kidnap him and enthrone him. The committee members, who planned to kidnap Murad, swear allegiance in a mosque and declare him sultan again, were caught before they could act upon a tip-off from one of them (April 15, 1877). The third kidnapping attempt was initiated by Ali Suâvi. The incident known as the Çırağan Incident resulted in the murder of Ali Suâvi (May 20, 1878). 

These kidnapping attempts disturbed Abdülhamid II. Murad V was placed under tighter protection after this. He lived a complete prison life for twenty-eight years. He died of diabetes on August 29, 1904 and was buried next to his mother in the Yenicami Mausoleum. Murad V, who had a gentle nature and went down in history as the Ottoman sultan who remained on the throne the shortest, is known to have been interested in painting and music and produced some works. It is also stated that he was interested in architecture. His excessive western behavior and joining the Masonic organization (October 23, 1872) were especially disliked by his brothers. It is recorded that his greatest weaknesses were his excessive drinking and extravagance.

He was born on November 2, 1844 in the Çırağan Palace. His father was Sultan Abdülmecid and his mother was Gülcemal Kadınefendi. He was raised according to palace traditions. He learned Arabic, Persian and some religious knowledge. He lived a free and comfortable life during the reigns of his father and uncle Abdülaziz. When his brother Abdülhamid ascended to the throne (1876), he became the heir apparent and had to live under surveillance in the palace. Abdülhamid II, who was worried because the two sultans before him had been dethroned, forbade his brother from seeing anyone other than his own close relatives in the palace. This closed and fearful life greatly affected him. He ascended to the throne as a result of a coup, similar to the two sons of Abdülmecid who had ascended to the throne before (Murad V, Abdülhamid II). Following the March 31st Incident, the National Assembly, in which the Committee of Union and Progress was in the majority, decided to dethrone Abdulhamid on the one hand and to enthrone the heir apparent, Reşad Efendi (April 27, 1909). In addition, the assembly decided to consider the entry of the Action Army, which suppressed the rebellion, into Istanbul as the second conquest of the city and to give the new sultan the title of Mehmed V. 

In the allegiance ceremony held at the Ministry of War on the same day, Mehmed V said that he was proud to be the first sultan of true freedom and that he was at the service of the constitutional monarchy and the sacred sultanate together with all the Ottomans. He swore to protect the sharia, the Basic Law, the constitutional method, the rights of the nation and the interests of the homeland. After the oath ceremony, he declared that all his ambitions and desires were the welfare and happiness of the state and the nation. He did not accept the request of Grand Vizier Ahmed Tevfik Pasha, who formally submitted his resignation. He said that he would work with him and requested that he be appointed as the chief chamberlain and chief secretary. Since not all members of the assembly were present at the oath ceremony, the oath ceremony was repeated in the National Assembly (May 20, 1909). Although he was enthroned with the title of Mehmed V, he was called Sultan Reşad by the people.

Sultan Reşad, who was sixty-five years old when he ascended to the throne, spent his nine-year reign in great crises. There were ten changes of government. Each government came to power during a crisis and left power as a result of another crisis. Mehmed V did not have the political knowledge and experience to prevent or direct these crises. In addition, according to the constitution, the head of the executive body was the grand vizier. The grand vizier and the government he formed were responsible to the legislative assembly and could remain in his position as long as he had the trust of the Meclis-i Meb‘ûsan. Although the sultan had the authority to appoint the grand vizier, he was not responsible for the executive. For this reason, the sultan’s political role weakened and the palace ceased to be the focus of political life. The focus of political life was virtually transferred to the headquarters of the Union and Progress Party and the grand vizier and his cabinet. In fact, this issue began to be seen from the day he ascended to the throne. Mahmud Şevket Pasha, the dictator commander of the Action Army that controlled Istanbul, had exiled the former sultan to Thessaloniki during the obedience ceremony. Neither the sultan nor the grand vizier knew about this. The next day, the grand vizier, who learned the news from the French ambassador (Türkgeldi, p. 35), went to the palace to inform the sultan about the situation and learned that the palace officials had also been taken away. Ahmed Tevfik Pasha, who the sultan almost begged to remain in office, resigned as a result of the pressure from the Unionists. Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha, who they wanted, was appointed in his place (May 5). 

Meanwhile, the unrest that had started all over the country with the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era was continuing. The real source of this was the disagreements between various Ottoman elements regarding the constitution and governance; this situation even led to uprisings in various parts of the country. The sultan, who wanted to talk to the people and get to know his country better, frequently traveled around Istanbul. He visited Bursa and Izmit with the Grand Vizier and some ministers. Here he met with various segments of the population regardless of religion or race. He made donations to schools and charitable institutions. He distributed gifts from specially printed coins for these trips. In his speech opening the second legislative year of the Chamber of Deputies (November 18, 1909), he recounted the impressions he gained from these trips. He expressed his satisfaction at seeing the strengthening of the idea of ​​Ottoman brotherhood among all the children of the country. According to him, this was a natural result of the constitution and the constitutional administration, which ensured equality in rights and duties. Stating that consultation and constitutionalism were a sound path dictated by sharia and reason, the sultan said that there was no cause for concern in the internal affairs of the country, and that the minor incidents seen in some places would disappear as the blessings of constitutionalism were seen.

The Union and Progress Party (Party), which ensured the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy and became the focus of political life, had no preparations regarding the administration of the country. Some people were trying to achieve their personal interests by hiding behind the curtain of freedom and constitutionalism. Since those in power had to cooperate with them, the desired stable and just order could not be established in the country. Since the Unionists, who acted with a sectarian mentality, forced those they did not want and those who were not their own to resign and placed their men in their places, the administration of the country fell into the hands of uninformed and inexperienced people. Sultan Reşad, who tried to reign within the framework of the constitution, made an effort to fulfill the proposals of the governments that were based on the constitution or seemed to be based on it, in line with their suggestions. Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha, who could not stand the Unionists' domination and resigned, was replaced by the Rome ambassador İbrahim Hakkı Bey, again at their request (January 12, 1910). Ibrahim Hakki Pasha, who was given the rank of vizier and appointed as the Prime Minister, was not known as a party member. The pasha, who said that he would follow a policy of “justice and charity” in order to calm public opinion, surrendered to the Unionists more than his predecessor. The Unionists’ practices, which were incompatible with the realities of the country and the world, caused uprisings to break out in many parts of the country from Albania to Yemen. The violent suppression of the Albanian uprising further increased the unrest. The issue of the affiliation of the churches and schools in Rumelia, which had been ongoing since the day the Balkan states established their national churches and separated from the Greek-Orthodox church, continued. The Unionists solved this issue, which Abdulhamid skillfully used to prevent the alliance of the Balkan states against Turkey, with a law (July 3, 1910). The Fener Greek Patriarch visited the sultan and asked him not to approve the law. However, the sultan approved the law, which he believed would eliminate the conflict among the Christian elements. Thus, the way was opened for the Balkan states to unite against the Ottoman Empire. This led to the Balkan War. When the unrest in the Balkans started again, the Unionists took the sultan on a tour of Rumelia (June 5-26, 1911) with the hope of calming the people of the region and bringing them back to the state. The tour, which was also attended by the Grand Vizier and some members of the government, included the cities of Çanakkale, Thessaloniki, Skopje, Pristina, Kosovo and Monastir. The sultan was greeted with enthusiastic cheers both here and in the places he passed along the way. He met with people from all walks of life, regardless of their religion or nationality, and made donations to charitable institutions. He distributed gifts from coins minted in memory of this trip. He performed Friday prayers with a large congregation in the Kosovo plain where the tomb of Murad Hudavendigar is located.

Sultan Reşad’s Rumelia trip had a positive effect on various elements, especially the Albanians. However, since the sultan was not very effective against the government and the Unionists could not benefit from it, chaos started again in Rumelia. The monopolistic and dominating practices of the Union and Progress accelerated the separations from this party in the parliament and an opposition group was formed in the parliament. News appeared in the press that they had established a new party and that one of the founders of the Union and Progress, Colonel Sâdık Bey, was appointed as its leader. When the Grand Vizier threatened to resign, the sultan exiled Sâdık Bey to Thessaloniki. 

One of the wrong practices of the İbrahim Hakkı Pasha government was the reduction of the number of soldiers in the Tripoli-Benghazi province. Hakkı Pasha, who came from the Rome embassy, ​​said that II. Abdülhamid left this province, which he had fortified against Italy, which had long had ambitions in the region, without soldiers, governors and commanders, which spurred Italy into action. Italy, which demanded the evacuation and surrender of Tripoli (September 28, 1911), declared war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29. Accepting responsibility for the incident, İbrahim Hakkı Pasha resigned the same day. Italy announced that it had annexed Tripoli-Benghazi, the last Ottoman territory in Africa (October 5). 

Said Pasha (Küçük), the President of the Senate, who had served as Grand Vizier seven times during the reign of Abdülhamid II, was appointed as Grand Vizier for the eighth time (September 30, 1911). The opposition and the press supporting the opposition wanted İbrahim Hakkı Pasha to be held accountable in the Divan-ı Âlî. When the proposal made by the Tripoli deputies was blocked by the Unionists, the opposition accelerated the formation of a party. The Freedom and Accord Party was founded (November 21, 1911) and Damad Ferid Pasha was appointed as the president and Sadık Bey as the vice president. The fact that seventy of the 105 opposition deputies in the parliament joined the new party and that this party won the by-election held in Istanbul (December 11) by a margin of one vote frightened the Unionists. They wanted to dissolve the parliament with the will of the sultan. However, they had previously changed the right to dissolve, which belonged to the sultan according to Article 35 of the constitution, because they found it dangerous for the constitutional monarchy. Said Pasha proposed to the parliament that Article 35 of the constitution be changed so that the right to dissolve would be given back to the sultan. When the opposition blocked the proposal, he resigned from his post (December 30, 1911).

Sultan Reşad wanted Said Pasha to remain as the Prime Minister despite everything. A delegation from the Freedom and Accord Party visited the Sultan and informed him that they were not against the amendment of Article 35 of the constitution and the right of dissolution being given back to the Sultan, but that they did not want Said Pasha to remain as the Prime Minister. The Sultan stated that he considered all the deputies in the parliament equal because they were the representatives of the nation and that he was an impartial constitutional monarch towards the deputies. The Sultan, who said that his only desire was the happiness, progress and protection of the country, reminded him that he had the right to appoint the Grand Vizier (Lütfi Simâvi, p. 274). He invited the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Ahmed Rıza Bey, to the palace and conveyed the opposition's thoughts on the constitutional amendment and stated that a compromise should be sought between the parties in the parliament by taking advantage of this. Stating that he had respect and trust in the Sultan and himself, he said that the opposition should also trust the Grand Vizier, who was his representative. He also asked that there be no concern about the amendment of Article 35 and that it be announced to the deputies that the assemblies would not be dissolved. Although the President of the Senate Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha met with the sultan and informed him that Said Pasha, whom he accused of dragging the country into disaster, should not be appointed as Prime Minister, the sultan appointed Said Pasha as Prime Minister for the ninth and final time (December 31, 1911). Said Pasha brought the proposal for amendment to Article 35 of the constitution back to the agenda. When he was again blocked by the opposition, the Assembly of Deputies was dissolved by the will of the sultan after the approval of the Senate was obtained in accordance with Article 7 of the constitution (January 18, 1912). Thus, on the one hand, the government of İbrahim Hakkı Pasha was saved from going to the Supreme Court, and on the other hand, the first real multi-party period of the Second Constitutional Era was ended. The Freedom and Accord Party was liquidated in the elections held under the pressure of the Union and Progress Party and called “stick elections”. All but fifteen of the deputies in the parliament that started the second legislative term (April 18, 1912) were members of the Union and Progress Party. 

While the capital was busy with the constitutional amendment, the dissolution of the parliament and the elections, the war in Tripoli was continuing. Italy began to threaten Istanbul after occupying the Aegean islands (April 24 - May 20, 1912). In the meantime, the Balkan states also began to prepare for war against the Ottoman Empire. The Albanian rebellion flared up again. A group of officers in the army tasked with suppressing the rebellion rebelled by taking to the mountains with their weapons, as the Unionists had done in the past. This group, which called itself “Halaskâran” or “Halaskâr Zâbitan”, submitted a memorandum to the government through its representatives in Istanbul. The memorandum demanded the dissolution of the assembly and the establishment of an impartial government under the presidency of Kamil Pasha, stating that otherwise the administration would be seized. Minister of War Mahmud Şevket Pasha resigned immediately (July 9, 1912). When the other ministers followed him, Said Pasha asked for a vote of confidence from the assembly and although the assembly gave a vote of confidence, he resigned the next day (July 16, 1912). With this resignation, power was taken from the hands of the Unionists.

Sultan Reşad first considered appointing Ahmed Tevfik Pasha as the Grand Vizier, but the pasha announced that he could not accept the position unless the current parliament was dissolved. In the meantime, some members of the military council visited the sultan and reported that there was no discipline in the army, the Albanian rebellion was growing and the Halaskâran issue had reached serious dimensions, and requested that urgent measures be taken. The sultan also issued a declaration to the army the next day (July 19, 1912). In it, he announced that a new government would be formed from experienced and impartial people. He stated that some officers who made demands contrary to the constitution and the sultanate law should give up their involvement in politics, and that such behaviors that were incompatible with military service would be considered treason. For the first time, the sultan began negotiations with the relevant people in order to resolve the government crisis in accordance with the parliamentary system. The names of Kamil Pasha and Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha emerged. While the focus was mostly on Kamil Pasha, he finally appointed Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha as the Prime Minister with the hope that he could bring order to the army due to his influence over the military (July 22, 1912). 

Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, the first Grand Vizier of the Constitutional Era, was a military veteran and because he included three former Grand Viziers in his cabinet formed from impartial people, this government was called the “grand cabinet” by the people. The Union and Progress Party’s loss of power despite its overwhelming majority in the parliament and its opposition to the impartial government disrupted the balance of political life that had been in place since 1908. The very painful consequences of this were seen during the Balkan War. Ahmed Muhtar Pasha first ended the martial law regime that had been in effect for a long time (July 23). Then, with the “interpretation” decision he received from the Senate, he had the sultan dissolve the Chamber of Deputies (August 4). 

Upon the start of the Balkan War (October 8), the government signed the Treaty of Ouchy with Italy (October 18) and accepted the loss of Tripoli-Benghazi. Partisanship within the army also caused heavy defeats in the Balkan War. The Aegean islands and all of Rumelia up to Edirne were lost. In the face of this situation, the sultan forced Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha to resign (October 29) and appointed Cypriot Kamil Pasha as the Prime Minister. Since the Chamber of Deputies was closed, Kamil Pasha convened a general assembly in the palace. Mahmud Şevket Pasha did not attend this assembly, which was of an advisory nature, making an excuse. The princes were present as listeners. While Kamil Pasha was trying to minimize the damages of the war, he was forced to resign two months and twenty-five days later as a result of a bloody military coup (January 23, 1913). This coup led by Enver Bey went down in history as the “Raid on Sublime Porte”. The Unionists, who seized power with the coup, put pressure on the sultan and appointed Mahmud Şevket Pasha as Prime Minister. Mahmud Şevket Pasha could not improve the situation during the four months and nineteen days he remained in this position. The Unionists, who accused Kamil Pasha of treason and seized power with the promise of saving Edirne, signed the London Treaty (May 30) and left all of Rumelia, including Edirne, to the Balkan states. Mahmud Şevket Pasha was also assassinated (June 11, 1913).

The Sultan wanted to appoint Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha as Prime Minister. However, the Unionists insisted on the Minister of Foreign Affairs Said Halim Pasha, who they hoped would be able to easily fulfill their wishes. The Sultan was forced to appoint Halim Pasha as Prime Minister (June 12). The first action of the government, which consisted entirely of Unionists, was to establish military courts and try the suspects of the assassination of Mahmud Şevket Pasha. The trials turned into a kind of liquidation of the opposition. 350 people from the opposition were arrested and exiled to Sinop. Twelve people were sentenced to death. Among them was Damad Salih Pasha, who said he was innocent. The Sultan wanted to save Salih Pasha, but was forced to approve the death sentence in the face of the Unionists' threats. 

The recapture of Edirne during the Second Balkan War (July 21, 1913) increased the influence of the military. Upon learning that a group of officers had taken action to make Enver Bey the Minister of War, the Minister of War Ahmed İzzet Pasha resigned. Enver Bey, who had the rank of lieutenant colonel, was appointed Minister of War (January 3, 1914). Cemal Bey was also promoted and became Minister of the Navy. Talat Bey was in the cabinet as Minister of the Interior. Thus, the trio of Talat-Cemal-Enver became the sole authority in the government. After the elections held under the Union and Progress rule (May 1914), the parliament began its work with a ceremony attended by the sultan. In the meantime, Said Halim Pasha had no power left. The sultan also addressed the trio of Talat-Enver-Cemal and conducted his business with them. Some of the appointments made by the sultan were rejected by this trio. The parliament went into a five-month recess on the day they made a secret alliance with Germany (August 2, 1914). During the recess, this trio, without the knowledge of the party and some members of the cabinet, brought the country into war (November 11, 1914).

Sultan Reşad, despite his reluctance, issued a declaration on the same day in the face of this fait accompli, declaring war against the Allied Powers (England, Russia and France). He also called for all Muslims to join the war alongside the army with his “great jihad” declaration. The sultan attributed the cause of the war to the provocative attitudes of these three states and declared that they had not given up their evil intentions against the caliphate to which millions of Muslims, who were suffering under their cruel administration, were spiritually attached. He expressed the hope that the attacks on both the sultanate and the caliphate of the Ottoman ruler would end with the great jihad. The sultan, who also explained the situation in the language of the Union and Progress Party at the opening of the assembly (January 14, 1915), said that despite the declaration of neutrality, he was forced to give the order for war in the face of the Russian navy attacking the Ottoman navy. In the response given on behalf of the assemblies to the sultan's speech, the government and the army were thanked and it was stated that the policy pursued was in line with the interests of the state and the nation. This attitude of the assemblies was accepted as an approval of the war decision and no discussion was encountered in the assembly regarding the issue of entering the war until the end of the war. 

When Istanbul was at one point faced with the danger of occupation, the government decided to move to Eskişehir. The sultan followed this decision and began preparations to go to Eskişehir. At that time, he wanted to take his elder brother Abdulhamid II, who was living in the Beylerbeyi Palace, with him. The former sultan did not accept the offer and advised Sultan Reşad not to go either, saying that if Istanbul was abandoned, it would never be possible to return there again. The sultan, who was given the title of veteran with the edict of the sheikhdom, remained in Istanbul. At the opening of the assembly in 1916, he expressed his satisfaction with the successes achieved on the Çanakkale and Iraq fronts. However, in his opening speech of 1917, he no longer mentioned victories. In the parliament’s response, the term “independence war” was used for the first time instead of “general war”. Said Halim Pasha, whose relations with the Unionists had fallen out, resigned (February 3, 1917). Minister of the Interior Talat Bey was given the rank of vizier and appointed as the Prime Minister. Enver and Cemal Pashas retained their positions in the cabinet. Talat Pasha’s government was the tenth and last government that Sultan Reşad worked with. After this, the sultan practically locked himself in his palace and only appeared in the protocols requested by the government. He received representatives of the allied states who visited Turkey due to the war; he hosted the German Emperor (September 1917) and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor (May 1918).

The sultan had been suffering from diabetes for a long time. He had previously undergone prostate surgery. His illness worsened as the intensive program organized for the Austrian emperor tired him out. He could barely make the customary Hirka-i Saâdet visit held on the fifteenth day of Ramadan (June 24). After this, he retired to his palace and did not leave until his death; he signed the documents brought by his chief clerk in his bed. Mehmed V, who spent most of his life under pressure and experienced great crises during his reign, died before seeing the signing of the Armistice of Mudros (July 3, 1918) and was buried in the tomb he had built in Eyüp while he was alive (see MEHMED REŞAD TOMB). Sultan Reşad was a gentle, compassionate, pious and kind ruler. Although he did not receive a regular education, it is said that he had good Eastern culture and knew Persian. Since he became a member of the Mevlevi order at a young age, he spent his princedom reading the Mesnevî. He also loved reading Ottoman history and the anecdotes of his ancestors. The sultan, who was also interested in Sufism and literature, also wrote poetry. His ghazal on the Çanakkale victory is famous. This ghazal, which was talked about by word of mouth when it was written, was composed and praised by various poets. He has a mosque named after him in Konya Karapınar. 

Mehmed Reşad V. understood the constitutional sultanate as not interfering in anything, so he almost never interfered with state affairs. He did not even want to use the powers granted to the sultan by the constitution. He would answer those who criticized him on this issue, “If I was going to interfere in everything during the constitutional administration, what was my brother’s crime?” (Danişmend, IV, 440). Although he did not like factionalism and especially the Unionists, his vague and timid personality prevented harsh conflicts. Most of his reign was spent completely under the control of the Unionists. He also said to those who criticized his submission to the Unionists that he had to act in this way for the survival of the sultanate, otherwise the Unionists would declare a republic (Detailed Ottoman History, VI, 3570). Since he lacked political education and experience, he could not play the role of the arbiter of a dynamic and anarchic political life. His period was the last attempt to ensure the continuity of the Ottoman State, and this attempt ended with the dissolution of the state. In addition, the idea of ​​national unity and democracy developed. Important reforms were made in education, law and social areas, and the foundations of the national Turkish state were laid.

He was born in Dolmabahçe Palace on January 4, 1861. His father was Sultan Abdülmecid and his mother was Gülistü Kadınefendi. Since his father died when he was six months old and his mother died when he was four, he was raised by his stepmother Şâyeste Hanım. He educated himself by taking lessons from private tutors and attending some lessons at the Fatih Madrasah. He settled in the mansion in Çengelköy given as a gift by his older brother Abdülhamid II and lived there until he became sultan. He was officially declared heir to the Ottoman throne upon the suicide of the heir apparent Yusuf İzzeddin Efendi (February 1, 1916). He represented the sultan at the funeral of the Austro-Hungarian emperor (1916) and at the invitation of the German emperor (1917). When Sultan Mehmed Reşad passed away (July 3, 1918), he was enthroned as Mehmed VI. However, he was more commonly known as Sultan Vahdeddin (Vahîdeddin). After taking the oath in the presence of the National Assembly, Mehmed VI, who left the Talat Pasha government in office, first established a special staff organization in the palace and followed the war from there. He announced that famine and high prices would be combated. In addition, his request for the abolition of martial law courts outside the war zones aroused satisfaction among the people. However, the war was not going well. Palestine and Syria were lost, and Anatolia was under threat. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was given the title of honorary aide-de-camp of the Sultan, sent a telegram to the Sultan stating that there was nothing left to do but make peace (October 7, 1918). The Sultan requested the resignation of the Unionist government and assigned Ahmed Tevfik Pasha to form the government. In his speech opening the new legislative year of the Assembly, he said that peace had been sought according to Wilson's principles, that he wanted a peace befitting the honor and dignity of the state, that the most valuable places of the homeland had not been occupied, and that he believed that the army would complete its heroic mission with honor. Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a telegram to the Sultan, requesting that Ahmed Izzet Pasha form the government and that he himself be made Minister of War. The Sultan gave the task of forming the government to his aide-de-camp Ahmed Izzet Pasha (14 October 1918). Ahmed Izzet Pasha, who took over the Minister of War, also included Rauf (Orbay) and Fethi (Okyar) Beys from Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s group in the cabinet. The Sultan wanted to appoint his brother-in-law Damad Ferid Pasha as the head of the armistice delegation. The Grand Vizier opposed this and the Turkish delegation, headed by the Minister of the Navy Rauf Bey, signed the Armistice of Mudros (30 October).

Mehmed VI, who had fallen into a difficult situation before even completing the fourth month of his reign, tried to gain time. Believing that the state could only be saved from its current situation by winning over England and France, he adopted a policy of friendship with the English and closeness to the French. The Allied Powers insistently demanded that the war criminals be punished. According to the Sultan, the more these crimes were put on the back of the Unionists, the more they would be exonerated in the eyes of the Allied Powers, and thus a lighter peace treaty could be made for the Ottoman State. He did not find it appropriate to welcome the representatives of the Allied Powers, who were preparing to come to Istanbul with a government that was alleged to have turned a blind eye to the secret escape of the Union and Progress Party leaders (on the night of 2-3 November) and was seen as the continuation of the Unionists, and he demanded that the Unionist ministers be changed. Considering this intervention of the Sultan unconstitutional, the Ahmed İzzet Pasha government resigned altogether (8 November). VI. Mehmed had his seventy-three-year-old in-law Tevfik Pasha form a new government consisting of neutrals. Two days later, the Allied fleet consisting of sixty ships arrived in Istanbul with a great show of force (November 13). After Tevfik Pasha’s government received a vote of confidence from the parliament, the sultan made a statement to the press, stating that the responsibility for what happened during the war belonged not to the people but to the Union and Progress administration, and that he would work with all his might to maintain friendship with England. He also requested the government to immediately establish an extraordinary court to try the Unionists. The government decided to establish “Martial Courts”. The Chamber of Deputies opposed, claiming that they had the authority to establish extraordinary courts according to the constitution. Thereupon, Mehmed VI did not believe that this extraordinary period could be overcome with a parliamentary system, and based on the authority granted to him by the constitution, he dissolved the Chamber of Deputies (December 21, 1918). According to the constitution, he postponed the elections that were to be renewed within four months until after the peace on the grounds that the country was under occupation. External developments also had a great impact on his tendency towards absolutism. The king of Bulgaria, one of his allies, had abdicated in favor of his son. The German emperor had abdicated and the Republic had been established. Since the emperor of Austria-Hungary had also abdicated, the Austrian and Hungarian republics had emerged. The Sultan's fear was that Istanbul would be lost and the caliphate and sultanate would be abolished. He wanted to secure the friendship and support of the British through unofficial contacts. According to the reports of the British representatives in Istanbul, he had even requested that Britain seize control of Turkey. He stated that he had also suffered a lot from the Unionists against the pressures of the British on the Unionists, that he would do everything he could against the Union and Progress, that he was ready to arrest and try whomever the British wanted, but that he was afraid of losing his throne, or even his life, as a result of a revolution, that he wanted to be friends with all the allies and that he expected help from England. The sultan, who said that he had two weapons in his hands, one of which was the caliphate and the other was the help of England, wanted to know whether England intended to support his ownership of the caliphate.

The Sultan had Tevfik Pasha resign to remove the members who sympathized with the Union and Progress Party from the government and assigned him to form a new government (January 13, 1919). The second Tevfik Pasha government consisted of people who were close to his line. Before starting the arrests, the Sultan sent Damad Ferid Pasha to the British High Commission and informed him that he intended to punish the Unionists, that he was thinking of forming a stronger government, but that he was afraid of the possible reaction and wanted to know what the British reaction would be in this case. The British avoided any contact. The escape of the former governor of Diyarbekir, Reşid Bey, from prison (January 25) led to increased pressure from the British. Thirty of the sixty-person list previously given to the British by the Minister of the Interior, İzzet Bey, were arrested. The British demanded that twenty-three people be handed over to them. Meanwhile, French General d’Esperey, who had come to Istanbul, complained about the delays of the sultan and his government and threatened to go to the palace with a battalion of soldiers and do whatever he wanted. He summoned the Grand Vizier to the embassy without visiting him. He said that if harsh measures were not taken against those who had brought Turkey into the war, the decision to be taken regarding the Ottoman Empire would be harsh. The government, however, announced that it could not hand over the twenty-three people the British wanted to hand over. The French gave the government a list of thirty-six people they wanted to arrest. The sultan, who wanted to establish a government that could reach an agreement with the Allied Powers, complained in a memorandum he sent to the Sublime Porte that the government had not been able to do anything for three and a half months. In the face of the sultan’s harsh tone, Tevfik Pasha resigned and Damad Ferid Pasha was appointed Prime Minister (March 4, 1919).

The new government, consisting of members of the Freedom and Accord Party, arrested the leading figures of the Union and Progress Party, including the former grand vizier Said Halim Pasha. The trial of Kemal Bey, the Boğazlıyan District Governor, was concluded immediately, and the death sentence was carried out in Beyazıt Square with the fatwa of the Sheikh al-Islam and the signing of the decision by the sultan. The fact that the body of Kemal Bey, whom the Turkish people had given the title of “national martyr”, was carried wrapped in the flag on the hands of university students caused the Allied Powers to harden. The alarmed Grand Vizier said that the only hope he and the sultan had after Allah was England. Despite this, the Sublime Porte’s request to send a representative to the Paris Conference was rejected, and the sultan’s request to discuss the issue with an official was also rejected. The Allied Powers were interfering in every business of the government. On the other hand, the sultan was trying to calm the people with advisory boards sent to Anatolia and Rumelia under the presidency of princes. The Allied powers allowed officers to be assigned to the units in Anatolia in order to ensure public order. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was also assigned to the Ninth Army inspectorate (April 30). His duty was to ensure the public order that the British were complaining about. However, according to the instructions given to him, he also had the authority to give orders to civil and administrative personnel. Furthermore, his authority was not limited to the Ninth Army region but covered all of Anatolia. The sultan had Damad Ferid, who had resigned after the occupation of İzmir, form his second government (May 19). In order to calm the national excitement, ten people who were not affiliated with the parties or the palace, who were known to be nationalists and honest, were included in the cabinet as ministers without seats. The government released twenty-three nationalists who were under arrest. The arrests of the Unionists had previously been stopped and their trials postponed. All of those who spoke at the Sultanate Council (May 26) convened by the Sultan in the palace defended complete independence and the urgent establishment of a national council and the transfer of the nation's fate to this extraordinary council. The Allied Powers, disturbed by this, deported the sixty-seven prisoners in the Bekir Ağa Company to Malta (May 27). When the Allies invited the government to the Paris Conference, the trial and arrest of the Unionists resumed. Since the Sultan did not trust Damad Ferid Pasha, who personally determined the people who would attend the conference, he included Tevfik Pasha in the delegation.
 

The armed resistance launched by the Defense of Rights societies against the Greek occupation was spreading. The British claimed that the Unionist ideology was behind the national movements and put pressure on the sultan and the government to bring Mustafa Kemal back. In the meantime, a great fire broke out in the Yıldız Palace where the sultan lived (June 8). The sultan, whose belongings were all burned and who barely escaped with his life, said, “My nation’s hearth is burning, I think of that; my own house is burning, what does it matter?” (Türkgeldi, p. 227). Crown Prince Abdülmecid Efendi also sent a letter to the sultan criticizing the pro-British policy being followed and the sending of Damad Ferid Pasha to the conference (June 12). The British, who obtained the article, spread the rumor that the nationalists were preparing a coup against the sultan and that the Yıldız Palace fire was the result of an assassination. The sultan, who was extremely cautious about showing his political tendencies, remained indifferent to the efforts to bring Mustafa Kemal Pasha back. Although the government announced Mustafa Kemal's dismissal with a circular (June 23), the sultan preferred to remain silent. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who sent a telegram to the sultan signed by the Third Army inspector, complained about the government's attitude and stated that if forced, he would resign from his post and continue the struggle by staying in the bosom of the nation. In his response, the sultan said that he did not find it right for him to resign and come to Istanbul because he was afraid that the British would put pressure on the government and treat him dishonorably. He did not find his dismissal appropriate either, and recommended that he take a two-month leave from the military school and rest in a place of his choice until the situation was clear. British intelligence was spreading that the sultan and his government were behind the national resistance developing in Anatolia. Following the tension between the British and Refet Bey in Samsun, the British sent a harsh note, demanding that Mustafa Kemal be arrested and brought to Istanbul, and that Refet Bey be dismissed as well. The sultan sent a telegram to Mustafa Kemal Pasha in Erzurum. In the telegram, he stated that the British wanted the pasha to come to Istanbul immediately and that they guaranteed that they would not treat him dishonorably. Without waiting for the response to this telegram, he sent a second telegram, stating that Mustafa Kemal Pasha had been dismissed from his duty as the Third Army inspector and that he should return to Istanbul (on the night of July 8-9). Mustafa Kemal Pasha also declared that he had resigned from his military service in order not to cause the sultan and the government any more trouble, and that he would continue to work for the nation and the sultan as a civilian.

Mehmed VI tried to prove to the British that he had no connection with the incident in Samsun. He sent a special message to Admiral Calthorp (July 8) and complained about the Greek atrocities that had turned Aydın into a slaughterhouse. He reported that if the Greeks’ excesses were not stopped, it would be difficult to hold the Anatolian people. He said that since his army had been demobilized, he had no soldiers to maintain order, that the situation was becoming terrifying and dangerous, and that he saw no hope other than the British government in preventing disasters. The Grand Vizier returned to Istanbul from Paris without receiving any positive results (July 15). The next day, the crown prince Abdülmecid Efendi, who gave a memorandum to the sultan, strongly criticized the vizier’s attitude at the conference, the policy followed, and the government’s attitude towards the national movement. However, the sultan had Damad Ferid Pasha, whom he could not give up, form his third government from neutral people (July 20). He also appointed Tevfik, Ahmed İzzet and Ali Rıza Pashas, ​​who were sympathetic to the national movement, as ministers without a seat. The Grand Vizier issued a circular and opposed the holding of a national congress in Anatolia. Two days later, the Erzurum Congress (July 23) opened under the presidency of Mustafa Kemal Pasha and began its work by sending a telegram of loyalty to the sultan. The congress sent a telegram criticizing the Grand Vizier's circular to the palace. The British gave a note to the government (July 24) asking for Mustafa Kemal Pasha to be treated as a rebel. After long struggles, the Grand Vizier was able to get the government to decide to arrest Mustafa Kemal Pasha and Rauf Bey and send them to Istanbul (July 29). Ahmed İzzed Pasha resigned in opposition to this. Crown Prince Abdülmecid Efendi immediately went to the palace and criticized the sultan for blindly supporting Damad Ferid Pasha. Meeting with the Undersecretary of the British High Commission Hohler, Damad Ferid Pasha asked what would happen to the personal security of the sultan and himself. Hohler said that his government would take close care of them. In addition, the Allied Powers announced that the Greek and Italian occupations would be limited. Damad Ferid Pasha also took action to dissolve the National Forces. With the decree he personally had the sultan sign, all of Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s decorations were withdrawn and his honorary rank of aide-de-camp to the sultan was also abolished (August 9). Criticizing this policy of the government, Tevfik Pasha resigned two days later. The government tried to dissolve the Sivas Congress that started on September 4, but they were unsuccessful. An impenetrable wall was built between Mustafa Kemal and the sultan. The National Forces announced that they were severing their relations with Istanbul until a “legitimate” government was formed (on the night of September 11-12). When relations between Anatolia and Istanbul reached the breaking point, the British wanted the government to make an agreement with the National Forces. Müşir Fuad Pasha personally presented the letter Mustafa Kemal sent from Sivas to the Sultan (September 29). The Pasha wanted a national government to be established. The Sultan immediately had the government resign and appointed Ali Rıza Pasha as the Prime Minister (October 2, 1919).
 

Those who were against the National Forces were not accepted into the new government. Cemal Pasha from Mersin was appointed as the Minister of War from the Representative Committee determined in the Erzurum and Sivas congresses. The telegraph connection between Istanbul and Anatolia, which had been closed for twenty days, was reopened. Mustafa Kemal Pasha regained the opportunity to communicate with the sultan. The government devoted all its time to reconciling Anatolia and Istanbul. In the meetings held in Amasya (October 20-22), agreements were reached on all issues, especially the elections, and a protocol was signed. The allies, who were not satisfied with the Ali Rıza Pasha government, began to discuss the future of Istanbul in order to provoke the sultan's fears. The British wanted the Turks to be removed from Istanbul. The sultan, alarmed by the rumors, wanted to meet with the representatives of the Allied Powers, but did not receive a positive response. When he lost hope in the British, he wanted to approach the Americans. In an interview he gave to an American agency, he said that he wanted peace as soon as possible because delay was worse than war. He stated that the desired peace in the East could only be achieved by continuing Turkey’s independence. In the meantime, the fact that the National Forces won the elections mostly caused intense reactions and reluctance towards the parliament. The Allies were discussing that the Unionists had won the elections, that they could be cancelled, and the possible consequences. The sultan, who was afraid of the Allied Powers, was delaying the opening of the parliament and was looking for a way out by meeting with various people. According to the news from the conference in the press, the capital city would be transferred to Bursa or Konya, and Istanbul would only be the center of the caliphate. The parliament was able to open as a result of the pressure put on the sultan by the deputies who had come to Istanbul (January 12, 1920). The sultan did not attend the opening, citing his illness as an excuse. In order not to be subject to criticism, he had reports about his health published in the newspapers. According to British intelligence, the sultan ordered the opening of the parliament after meeting with Mustafa Kemal Pasha's representative, Kara Vâsıf, and did not attend the opening because of the possibility that the British would close the parliament.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a get well soon telegram to the sultan. He responded by thanking him. The sultan, who received Ahmed Mazhar Müfit (Kansu), the deputy of Hakkari, stated that the Representative Council was the jewels of his crown. He asked about Mustafa Kemal and said that he longed to talk to him. When Mazhar Müfit Bey, whom he wanted to know his opinion on saving the homeland, told him that the issue would be solved if the sultan went to Anatolia, even as far as Bursa, he got angry and shouted, “Are you proposing me to escape from the capital of my ancestors?” The opposition press claimed that the national resistance in Anatolia was endangering the future of Istanbul. In fact, the sultan hoped to benefit from this movement on a political level. If Istanbul and Izmir were lost, British agents told the nationalists, “No matter what you do, if you can save the country, all the better!” They were reporting that they would be told. Alarmed by this news, the Allies decided to remove Ottoman soldiers from the Topkapi Palace and the surroundings of Hagia Sophia and to keep Yıldız Palace under surveillance in order to protect the sultan from a Unionist coup or to prevent him from fleeing to Anatolia. They demanded that Minister of War Cemal Pasha and Chief of the General Staff Cevad Pasha, who supported the National Forces, resign from their posts (January 20). They also sent a message to the sultan, informing him that if the pashas did not resign, they would be arrested. The government was forced to announce the following day that the sultan had accepted the pashas’ resignations. The National Forces responded by raiding the Akbaş arsenal, which was being guarded by the British (January 26-27). Mustafa Kemal’s medals were returned with the decree issued by the sultan (February 3, 1920). The deputies who supported the national movement formed a group called Felâh-ı Vatan (February 6). The Parliament accepted the National Pact (February 17).

The allies, who wanted the materials taken from the Akbaş arsenal back, repeated their demand that the Turkish troops withdraw 3 km. in the Aegean Sea with a note (February 16). On the same day, they mobilized Anzavur and made a great show of force in Istanbul (February 21). British intelligence reports written at this time reported that the view that the nationalists were actually revolutionary had begun to prevail in palace circles. There was also talk of Damad Ferid Pasha being brought back to the Grand Viziership. French intelligence said that in such a case, Anatolia would be in turmoil. The Assembly had decided that Damad Ferid Pasha would be tried by the Supreme Court. Allied representatives in Istanbul visited the Grand Vizier and informed him that they could not accept Damad Ferid Pasha being referred to the Supreme Court and that they would intervene in practice if he insisted (March 1). The next day, they mobilized the Greek army. The government resigned in the face of intense pressure from the allies (March 3, 1920). The sultan did not accept the idea of ​​Damad Ferid Pasha forming a government. At the end of the negotiations, he came to the conclusion that a government along Ali Riza Pasha’s lines was necessary and appointed Salih Pasha as the Prime Minister (March 8). He asked Salih Pasha not to include members from the deputies in the cabinet and to first inform the palace about the people he selected. The Pasha did not include members from the deputies and did not consult the palace about the people he selected. According to Rauf Bey, the new government was a palace arrangement to gain time for Damad Ferid Pasha. The threat of Damad Ferid Pasha still continued. British intelligence reports also stated that although the nationalists wanted a government consisting solely of themselves, the sultan had managed to establish an impartial government and that he would not assign Damad Ferid Pasha without the support of the allies. In order to pressure the sultan, the Allied Powers implemented the decision they had taken at the London Conference (March 5) to occupy Istanbul. First, news spread that the Greeks and Armenians in Istanbul would be massacred. Then, Istanbul was officially occupied and all official institutions were seized (March 16, 1920). The nationalist leaders were arrested and exiled to Malta. The undersecretary of the French High Commission presented the note and official notification regarding the occupation to the sultan. Although Istanbul was occupied, its administration was left to the Turks. It was stated that the aim of the occupation was not to break the influence of the sultanate, but to strengthen it. They said that they did not intend to throw the Turks out of Istanbul, that the occupation was temporary, but that this decision could be changed if there was any unrest in Anatolia. The official notification sent to Anatolia also advised everyone to mind their own business and not to be carried away by those who wanted to establish a new Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman State. It was requested from Istanbul, the center of the sultanate, to obey the orders given by the sultan. It was stated that those who did not comply would be punished severely. The sultan announced through his chief clerk that he had received the notification and the note with regret. He said that he had always desired cooperation with the Allied Powers, that he was relieved by the arrest of certain nationalist leaders in Istanbul, and that if the Allies had not made such a decision, he would have had to do it himself. He expressed his appreciation for the guarantees regarding his own authority in the declaration.

The occupiers were openly supporting the sultan while condemning the nationalists. It is understood that the sultan was very afraid of this plot to disrupt the closeness that had been building between Istanbul and Anatolia for six months. Indeed, the sultan, who accepted a delegation from the parliament because it had been decided beforehand, stated that the British could do anything and advised the deputies to be careful about their speech. When it was said that the nation was loyal to the sultan and that the British could not do anything to Anatolia, he stated that they could even go to Ankara tomorrow if they wanted. Rauf Bey, who was in the delegation, asked the sultan not to sign any international document without a parliamentary decision. The sultan, who got angry at this, said, “Rauf Bey, there is a nation, a flock of sheep! It needs a shepherd to govern it, and that person is me!” and tried to explain that an occupied parliament could not do anything. The government was forced to resign because it did not accept the Allied powers’ demands to “condemn” and “reject” the nationalists (April 2). The second president of the assembly, Kâzım Bey, announced that appointing Damad Ferid Pasha as Prime Minister without receiving a solid guarantee from the British would be a disaster for the country and the sultanate. The sultan got angry and said, “If I want, I can bring the Greek patriarch, the Armenian patriarch, and the chief rabbi,” and assigned Damad Ferid Pasha to form a government for the fourth time (April 5). In the letter appointing the government, he used expressions that the Allied powers had been unable to make the Ali Rıza Pasha and Salih Pasha governments accept and say for months, and completely severed ties with Anatolia. Under pressure from the British, fatwas were issued declaring that the nationalists were “infidels” and that they should be killed “mandatory,” and they were thrown out of British planes. The assembly was closed by the sultan’s order (April 11). The Kuvâ-yi İnzibatiyye was established against the Kuvâ-yi Milliye (National Forces) (April 18).

Under the leadership of the Representative Council, the Grand National Assembly convened in Ankara (April 23, 1920) and declared to the whole world that he was the sole representative of the nation. Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak), who escaped from Istanbul and came to Ankara, explained in his speech in the assembly that the invaders were being taken advantage of in Istanbul so that the caliphate and sultanate would not be completely endangered. He stated that the sultan was saddened to see that fifty years of evil had fallen upon him and his government, that he was crushed under the rubble, and that he said, “Please establish contact with Anatolia.” After the pasha’s speech, a telegram of loyalty was sent to the sultan. The assembly announced that the action in Anatolia was carried out to rescue the captive sultan. Istanbul’s response to this was to have Mustafa Kemal Pasha and five of his friends sentenced to death in the martial law court (May 24). The decision was also signed by the sultan. The Grand Vizier, who had succumbed to the invaders, returned to Istanbul after receiving the unacceptable peace terms from the Paris Conference (July 11). The sultan convened the Sultanate Council in the palace to discuss the peace terms, which he described as a “conglomerate of calamities” (July 22). The Grand Vizier announced that it was understood from a telegram that Istanbul would be invaded by Greek troops if the treaty was rejected. After the speeches, everyone except Topçu Feriki Rıza Pasha accepted the signing of the treaty. With the encouragement he received from the Sultanate Council, Damad Ferid Pasha, who changed the government and formed his fifth cabinet to suppress the Anatolian operation, published a declaration accusing the nationalists. The Treaty of Sevres was signed (August 10, 1920). Ankara’s reaction to this was very harsh. In the secret session of the assembly (September 25), it was claimed that the sultan could not be considered the legitimate caliph. Mustafa Kemal Pasha also accused the sultan of treason. However, he argued that it was not wise to neglect the caliphate, which was the sole support of the Islamic world, and that loyalty to the sultanate and the caliphate had to continue in order to achieve salvation. On the other hand, the signatories of Sevres and Damad Ferid Pasha were sentenced to death by the Ankara Independence Court (October 7). Despite all the pressure, the sultan did not ratify the treaty. He rejected the offer of the British, who wanted the treaty to be ratified immediately, saying that it would further ignite the spark in Anatolia. The sultan, who followed a policy of delaying the matter, appeared to believe in his grand vizier and prevented the Allied Powers from going further, while at the same time placing the responsibility of the treaty on the government. In fact, the entire opposition, especially the Freedom and Entente Party, criticized Damad Ferid Pasha.

The Allied Powers sent their high commissioners in Istanbul to the Sultan and requested that the government of Damad Ferid Pasha be changed and a government that could reach an agreement with Anatolia be established. The Sultan appointed Tevfik Pasha as Prime Minister (October 21). The government was formed by people who sympathized with the National Struggle. A delegation including former Grand Viziers, Minister of the Interior Ahmed İzzet and Minister of the Navy Salih Pasha were sent to Bilecik to hold talks with Ankara. Since Mustafa Kemal Pasha stated that he did not recognize the government in Istanbul, the talks continued without title or authority. The delegation was taken to Ankara and held there for one and a half months. During this time, the first victory against the Greeks was won in İnönü (January 10, 1921). The Allies, who invited the government in Istanbul to the London Conference to discuss the changes to be made in the treaty, stipulated that the delegates would include authorized persons determined by the government in Ankara. Ankara reacted to this and declared that it did not recognize the government in Istanbul. In the secret session of the assembly (February 8), the issue of dethroning the sultan came to the agenda. Mustafa Kemal Pasha also explained that the sultan had vacated the caliphate by accepting the treaty, but that they did not want to admit this, and that there were dangers in electing a new one unless the sultan resigned. In his response to Tevfik Pasha, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey requested the recognition of his government, but this proposal was not accepted. The sultan had always been led to believe that the Unionists were behind the Anatolian operation. The fear of losing Istanbul prevented the sultan from establishing close relations with the National Strugglers. Based on the fact that the sultan could not use his will under occupation, he considered Ankara's seizure of the country's administration as an act of rebellion against him. For this reason, he declared Mustafa Kemal Pasha a rebel. He believed that it was out of the question for a ruler to compromise and establish contact with the side he saw as rebels. While meeting with the British high commissioner Rumbold (March 23, 1921), he said that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was a “revolutionary”. He brought up the subject of the caliphate and said, “They can declare a caliph by force. Removing the caliphate from Istanbul to the east will bring disastrous results. The caliphate will become a tool in the hands of wolves who love foggy weather.” In his memoirs written years later, he would say that he had sent Mustafa Kemal, but that he had openly rebelled, that Damad Ferid Pasha had tried to remove him from his post and bring him to his senses, but he had failed, and that he had called Tevfik Pasha to duty to reach a compromise, but he had also failed. Refet Pasha, who came to Istanbul after the Armistice of Mudanya (October 19), wanted the Istanbul government not to attend the conference to be held soon and that the sultan should declare in a declaration that he recognized the government of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The government rejected the proposal without informing the sultan. Refet Pasha met with the sultan in person and said that the Ankara government was a reality, that it had saved the homeland against the enemy and proved that it was the only legitimate power of the country, that the government in Istanbul had no meaning, that it should be dissolved immediately and that the Ankara government should be recognized. The sultan, who insisted on the presence of the Istanbul government as the representative of the throne at the conference, rejected the offer, claiming that he was a constitutional monarch and could not dissolve the government.

When the sultan did not recognize the Ankara government and the Istanbul government decided to participate in the Lausanne Conference, the assembly abolished the sultanate (November 1, 1922). The Istanbul government was considered to have passed into history as of March 16, 1920, when Istanbul was officially occupied. It was declared that the caliphate was based on the Turkish State, that the caliphate belonged to the Ottoman dynasty, and that the caliph would be appointed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Mehmed VI, who married the nineteen-year-old Circassian Nevzad Hanım, one of the concubines, without informing anyone at the time the assembly made these decisions, reacted to the decision by claiming that there could be no caliphate without a sultanate. He told Refet Pasha, who notified him of the decision of the assembly, that even if the existence of such a caliphate without executive authority were accepted, he could not accept it. Although the Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the sultanate and tied the caliphate to new conditions, the government had not made any notification about the sultan's situation. It had not cut off the allocation of the office belonging to the caliph either. The assembly accepted the proposals and decided to try the sultan, but the method of the trial had not been determined. The newspapers published news about the sultan's treason. While the sultan was being executed in the squares, it was said that he had abdicated his throne and even fled. Tevfik Pasha announced that the sultan wanted to defend himself before the nation. When most of the cabinet members left, he also resigned despite the sultan's objection (November 4). However, he did not give the sultan his imperial seal, which he was supposed to return, and he never met with the sultan again. VI. In his memoirs, Mehmed accused Tevfik Pasha of being Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s man, of playing a double game and of leaving him alone during his most difficult day by resigning. Meanwhile, the lynching of Ali Kemal in Izmit while he was being taken from Istanbul to Ankara to be tried had a bomb effect in Istanbul. Those who sided with the palace against the Anatolian operation were in great panic. Those who could get visas were running away, those who could not were taking refuge with the British soldiers. The sultan, who was overwhelmed by those who came to the palace to provide the money to escape, did not leave his harem. The sultan, who went to the Friday greetings for the first time after the abolition of the sultanate (November 10), was not mentioned in the sermon. Mehmed VI accepted that his life was now in danger because he was left alone in this ceremony and because of the articles published against him in the press, and decided to leave the country. The British had already made the necessary preparations.

In the sultan’s official contacts with the British after the occupation of Istanbul, the only issue was ensuring his personal security. The British wanted the British navy to be prepared for the sultan’s abduction in the days approaching a greater victory (August 22). After the victory, the British High Commission in Istanbul reported to the center that the necessary preparations had been made. Even the place where the sultan would be taken had been determined. He would be kept in Malta for a while and then transferred to another place. Mehmed VI sent his former brother-in-law and honorary aide-de-camp, Major Zeki Bey, to the British occupation forces commander-in-chief, General Harington, and made the application the British were waiting for (November 15). He stated that he saw his freedom and life in danger due to recent events and that he expected the protection of his life from England, which had the most Muslim subjects, on condition that he preserved his legitimate and sacred rights over the Ottoman sultanate and the Islamic caliphate. Harington said that the wishes of the sultan-caliph would be fulfilled, but that the request should be made in writing. The British also wanted to learn the matter from the sultan’s doctor, Reşad Pasha. Reşad Pasha confirmed that Vahdeddin was very anxious and wanted to get away from Istanbul. Harington immediately sent a message to Zeki Bey and said that they could kidnap the sultan within an hour or two that same night. Zeki Bey also said that the caliph wanted to go as soon as possible, but preferred Friday morning. Mehmed VI sent the letter requested by the British the next day through Zeki Bey. In the letter he personally wrote, the sultan said the following: “To your excellency, General Harington, commander-in-chief of the occupying armies in Istanbul. Since I see my life in danger in Istanbul, I request asylum in the prodigious state of England and my immediate transfer from Istanbul to the other side of the world, sir (November 16, 1922).” He signed the letter as “Caliph of the Muslims Mehmed Vahdeddin” and did not use the title of Sultan. It was decided that the Sultan would be taken out of Istanbul on the morning of Friday, November 17, 1922, on a ship called Malaya. Mehmed VI spent that night at the Cihannümâ Pavilion. He was careful not to take any valuable items or jewelry other than his personal belongings. He had his men burn bundles of documents in the fireplace. He took with him some documents and the receipt for the very valuable jewelry drawer he had returned to the palace treasury the day before. He rejected Zeki Bey’s offer to take the sacred relics of the caliphate with him, saying that these were gifts from his ancestors to the Turkish nation. Harington himself received the last Ottoman ruler from Yıldız Palace. The sultan and ten of his entourage were ceremoniously bid farewell early in the morning by a British battalion. When Mehmed VI boarded the ship, the commander of England’s Mediterranean fleet welcomed him on behalf of the king and told him that he was now on British soil and safe. He wanted to know if there was anywhere he particularly wanted to go. When Mehmed VI said that he had no preference, he asked if Malta was suitable and was told that it was. However, the sultan requested that Malta not be mentioned in the statement to be made and that the declaration be published in the afternoon. The ship then departed for Malta.

The British High Commissioner Henderson reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the sultan had not abdicated and had no intention of abdicating, and that the reason he requested British protection was because Britain ruled over many Muslim subjects. In an official statement published in the afternoon, General Harington announced that Vahdeddin had requested British protection and transfer to another location as the caliph of all Muslims, since he saw his life in danger, and that his request had been granted in the morning. On the other hand, some sources report that Refet Pasha also had a partial role in the sultan’s escape. The British, who later gave the press full details of the sultan’s abduction, said the following: “The Kemalists will undoubtedly claim that we put pressure on the caliph, but there is no basis for this. Those we know were not even protecting him.” The British seemed to be trying to put the blame on Mustafa Kemal supporters. British newspapers wrote that the caliph behaved with dignity against the demonstrations against him at the last greeting ceremony and that he was present at the ceremony without fear, but that he fled because he was afraid of an attempt on his life at the greeting ceremony to be held on Friday, November 17. He also cited the decision of the Ankara government to put the sultan on trial as the reason for his escape. Mehmed VI, on the other hand, would later say in his memoirs that he did not flee, but emigrated. He will state that he was forced to reject or accept a caliphate without a sultanate, that he could not find the opportunity to oppose or submit to it, that he was overwhelmed by the blind and ungrateful people surrounding him, that he decided to leave the dangerous region temporarily until public opinion calmed down and the situation became clear, that he considered the choice of Malta, which was a station on the way to the holy lands, as the lesser evil, that although he emigrated from those who were acting against the religion and Islamic sultanate by following the path of the Prophet, he never gave up the right to the sultanate and the caliphate inherited from his ancestors.

In Malta, the British governor-general welcomed Vahdeddin on behalf of the king. Mehmed Vahdeddin thanked the king and reiterated that he had not renounced his throne or the caliphate. An eight-room apartment with all the comforts was prepared for the sultan and his entourage at the Pini Barracks. The Turkish Grand National Assembly dethroned Mehmed VI and elected Abdulmecid Efendi as caliph (November 19). Mehmed Vahdeddin’s first reaction upon hearing the news was, “Only my client can dethrone me.” When he read the news about the new caliph in the newspapers, he said, “Mecid Efendi finally got what he wanted. They sent an imam’s coat to the poor man. He is still pretending not to know and dragging his robe to sit on the throne.” The new caliph, on the other hand, called him a traitor in a statement he made (November 20). He also said that he had not only betrayed his country, but also tarnished the honor of the dynasty, and that he had now been expelled from the homeland and the dynasty. In the meantime, the British were looking for ways to get rid of the old sultan who was becoming expensive for them. Sherif Hussein, who rebelled against the Ottoman Empire with the support of the British and was declared the king of Arabia, invited him to Mecca. Mehmed Vahdeddin asked the British king to inform him that he had not accepted the invitation of Sherif Hussein to go to the Hejaz, but that he had accepted it because he believed it was an invitation from the prophet whose representative he was and an unparalleled spiritual good news. In a document he gave to the king, he explained the importance he had given to Ottoman-British relations and British friendship since he was a prince. He said that he had left Turkish lands in order to clear himself in the eyes of the world, as he had no chance of refuting the slander of his rivals by staying in Istanbul. He stated that the issue of the caliphate was a purely religious issue that concerned the entire Islamic world and that he would issue a statement on the subject when he arrived in Mecca. He wanted his personal fortune of 20,000 pounds sterling and a few thousand pounds sterling for his ten-year-old son to remain in banks and be made available to him whenever he wanted.

Mehmed Vahdeddin, who left Malta on a British warship (January 5, 1923), was welcomed by King Hussein’s son at Port Said. After this, he reached Suez on a second-class ship, and from there to Jeddah on a third-class ship (January 15, 1923). King Hussein welcomed his guest with a 101-gun salute. From there, they proceeded to Mecca. The sultan, who stayed in Mecca until the end of February, informed King Hussein that he wanted to go to Cyprus or Haifa. Hussein wrote to the British representative in Jeddah, saying that there might be other reasons behind this. An instruction came from London for Mehmed Vahdeddin to reside in Taif. Mehmed Vahdeddin went to Taif, where the climate was more moderate. The Islamic world criticized his visit to the Hijaz. It was said that two men of England had come together, referring to Sherif Hussein. It was claimed that the British were using them to strengthen their influence in the Islamic world. Mawlana Abu'l-Kelam, an Indian Muslim, wrote that Vahdeddin had Kemalist heroes sentenced to death, that while the Kemalists were saving the state and nation with their hostility towards the British, he was being used by the British to sow discord among the Muslims, that the sultan was harming Islam with discord and that if he united with the King of Hejaz, he would become an enemy of the Ummah and the nation. In the face of this criticism, Mehmed Vahdeddin published a declaration addressed to the entire Islamic world. A summary of the declaration, which could not be distributed due to the obstacle of Sharif Hussein, was published in al-Ehram (April 16, 1923). In this declaration, Mehmed Vahdeddin defended his actions, responded to the accusations against him, accused Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his friends, stated that he had sent him to Anatolia, that he had turned a blind eye to the cabinet that later deemed it necessary to send forces against him in order to punish him for not recognizing his government, that he had tried to prevent the Ankara-Istanbul duality, that he had been accused of treason because he opposed the separation of the caliphate from the sultanate, that he had even risked temporarily being separated from his throne, homeland, peace and comfort in order to protect the honor and dignity of the caliphate, and that he had absolutely rejected the decision made in Ankara regarding the caliphate (Bardakçı, pp. 307-312, 447-452). When he realized that he could not stay in the Hijaz any longer, he wanted to return from Taif to Mecca (March 15) and go to Palestine. However, the British did not allow this and said that they could take him to Switzerland, the cost of the journey being his own. Mehmed Vahdeddin, who wanted to go to Cyprus, came to Jeddah (April 17). The British categorically rejected this as well. Thereupon, he reached Suez by sea and from there he reached Alexandria by train provided by the Egyptian government. Since the British did not allow him to stay in Egypt for more than seventy-two hours, he set off for Switzerland. In the meantime, the Lausanne Conference was ongoing. The British, who found it inconvenient for the Sultan to be in Switzerland, directed him to Italy.

The Italian government welcomed Mehmed Vahdeddin with an unofficial ceremony at the Port of Genoa (May 2, 1923). Damad Ferid Pasha, who was among the greeters, met his former master for the last time. Mehmed Vahdeddin, who settled in Villa Nobel in San Remo, could not get any results from his applications to England and other states with the hope of going to a Muslim land. He lived alone for sixteen months. He could only reunite with his family on March 3, 1924, when the decision to send the Ottomans into exile was made. As the number of the family increased, he moved to Villa Mamolya. Since all the fugitives gathered in San Remo, a small Istanbul was formed here. The Sultan lost some of his insufficient money to them. Mehmed Vahdeddin asked for power of attorney from his family members to be used in the legal struggle to be initiated in order to recover the dynasty's properties outside of Turkey. Abdulmecid Efendi, who had settled in Nice, also said that he was the head of the family due to his removal; he also signed the power of attorney by writing the title “caliph”. Vahdeddin sent the power of attorney back to sign without a title, thinking that this would mean that Ankara accepted that it had taken the caliphate from him and given it to Abdulmecid. Abdulmecid resisted. In the end, the crisis was overcome by granting power of attorney to two members of the family, neither of whom had a title (May 10, 1926). Mehmed Vahdeddin, who received news that Egypt would convene a caliphate congress after the abolition of the caliphate, sent a letter to the head of the Egyptian Ulema Union, informing him that he was still the caliph and that he had left Istanbul to find a place where he could defend the sharia. The Egyptian Ulema retracted the allegiance they had given to Abdulmecid Efendi. The head of the Egyptian Ulema Union responded to his letter by announcing that the Muslims had decided to hold a congress to determine the fate of the caliphate and to reach an agreement with the Kemalists to correct the mistake. The Egyptian Ulema and press, who wanted to make King Fuad the caliph, also launched an intensive campaign against him. The deputy sheikh of the Azhar wrote that the former sultan had accused the nationalist fighters of acting against the sharia and then went and took refuge with the British. He declared Mustafa Kemal as the person whom 400 million Muslims would follow as an example. While the discussions continued, Mehmed Vahdeddin wrote another letter to the sheikh of the Azhar, stating that he was alive, that he had not renounced the caliphate, and that instead of wasting time with the election of the caliph, they should find a place for the existing caliph to stay in one of the Muslim countries. He sent a statement to the caliphate congress, protesting the preparations that were being made, and declaring that he had never renounced and would never renounce his rights to the sultanate and the caliphate. The congress convened on May 13, 1926. Mehmed Vahdeddin passed away before receiving the news of the congress (May 16, 1926).

Mehmed Vahdeddin left Istanbul with 20,000 English lira. He lost some of it to swindlers and spent some of it on his former brother-in-law and aide Zeki Bey in casinos. Since he was in dire financial straits, he sold everything he had that could be used to make money. Finally, he put his sultan's medal up for sale, and when he learned that the medal was fake, he was saddened by remembering those who had played this game on him since he had ascended to the throne. When the creditors heard that he had died, they came knocking on his door. He owed 60,000 lira to all the tradesmen of San Remo. The seizure officers locked the body of the former sultan in a room along with all the belongings they found in Villa Mamolya and sealed the door. The Italians did not allow the burial of the body until all the debts were paid. The money to be given to the creditors could only be obtained in a month. In the meantime, a Muslim land was sought for the body to be buried. It was decided that it would be buried in the Süleymaniye Mosque in Damascus. The necessary permission was obtained from France. After all debts were paid and the seizure was lifted, the body was taken to the station in a horse-drawn carriage (June 15) and from there to Trieste by train. The body, which was loaded onto a ship here, was taken to Beirut under the supervision of Prince Ömer Faruk Efendi, and from there to Damascus by train and buried (July 3, 1926). According to the statements of his relatives and those who worked with him, Mehmed Vahdeddin had an optimistic and patient personality; he was a gentle and affectionate family man in his palace; outside, and especially during official ceremonies, he would remain cold, frowning and serious, and would not pay any attention to anyone; he attached great importance to religious traditions; he did not know palace gossip and did not like it to be talked about in his presence. Even in informal conversations, he always attracted attention with his seriousness. Again, the sources in question state that he was intelligent and quick-witted, but that he was extremely anxious, indecisive and stubborn, and that he was influenced by his entourage and especially by those he trusted. Mehmed VI was engaged in literature, music and calligraphy at an advanced level. His compositions were performed in the palace during his years on the throne. The lyrics of the songs he composed one after another while in Taif mostly express his longing for his homeland and the pain of not being able to hear from those he left behind. Although sixty-three of his works have been identified, the notes of only forty-one of his works exist. The poems that can be an example of his poetry are only the lyrics of his songs, which are also his own. He was also a good calligrapher. He dictated his memoirs to his chief aide Avni Pasha in San Remo, but he did not complete them. The text is more of a commentary on events rather than a detailed memoir. There are also notes taken in French by Şerif Pasha during his meetings with the sultan in San Remo. Here, he summarizes in a simple style the developments from his accession to the throne until his departure from Istanbul (Bardakçı, pp. 417-446).