Abdul Hamid II

File:Sultan abdul-hamid II.jpg

Sultan Abdul Hamid II

Abd-ul-Hamid II also Abdulhamid, Abdülhamit, Abdul Hamid, Abd al-Hamid II, or Abdul-Hamid (Arabic: عبد الحميد الثاني) Wednesday, (September 21, 1842 – February 10, 1918) was the last real Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He ruled from August 31, 1876 till he was deposed on April 27, 1909.

Early years

He was the son of Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid, and succeeded to the throne on the deposition of his brother Murad V on August 31 1876. He himself was deposed in favor of his brother, Mehmed V in 1909.

Unlike many other Ottoman rulers, Abdul Hamid II, actually traveled. Nine years before he took the throne he accompanied his uncle Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz on his visit to England and France in 1867. At his accession some commentators were impressed by the fact that he rode practically unattended to the Eyup Sultan Mosque where he was given the sword of Osman. He was supposed to have liberal ideas, and some conservatives were inclined to regard him with suspicion as a dangerous reformer. In the event, like many other would-be reformers of the Ottoman Empire, change proved to be nearly impossible. Default in the public funds, an empty treasury, the 1875 insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the war with Serbia and Montenegro and the feeling aroused throughout Europe by the cruelty used in stamping out the Bulgarian rebellion all proved good reasons not to undertake any significant changes.

The international conference which met at Istanbul towards the end of 1876 was surprised by the promulgation of a constitution, but the demands of European powers at the conference were rejected. Midhat Pasha, the author of the constitution, was exiled and soon afterwards the constitution was suspended. Early in 1877 the Ottoman Empire went to war with the Russian Empire.

Main article: Russo-Turkish_War,_1877-78

The war was a disaster for the Ottomans and the government in Istanbul had to sign a hard treaty (see the Treaty of San Stefano). However, the terms of the treaty were changed - in favor of the Ottoman government - at Berlin, thanks in the main to British diplomacy.

Thirty years of failed reform

The Ottoman government of Sultan Hamid now viewed the united Germany as a possible friend of the empire. German officers (like Baron von der Goltz) were employed to oversee the reorganization of the Ottoman army. German government officials were brought in to reorganize the Ottoman government's finances. Sultan Hamid tried to take more of the reins of power into his own hands, for he distrusted his ministers.

There were many set-backs.

• Financial embarrassments forced him to consent to a foreign control over the national debt. In a decree issued in December 1881, many of the revenues of the empire were handed over to the Public Debt Administration for the benefit of (mostly foreign) bondholders.
• There was also trouble in Egypt, where a discredited khedive had to be deposed. Sultan Hamid mis-handled relations with Arabi Pasha - the end result of this was England gained near total control over Egypt.
• There were problems on the Greek frontier and in Montenegro, where the European powers were determined that the decisions of the Berlin Congress should be carried into effect.
• The union in 1885 of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia was another blow. The creation of an independent and powerful Bulgaria was viewed as a serious threat to the Ottoman Empire. For many years Sultan Hamid had deal with Bulgaria in a way that did not antagonize either Russian or German wishes.

Germany's friendship was not disinterested, and had to be fostered with railway and loan concessions. In 1899 a significant German desire, the Baghdad Railway, was given to them.

Over the years Sultan Hamid succeeded in reducing his ministers to the position of secretaries, and he concentrated much of the administration of the Empire into his own hands at Yildiz. But internal dissension was not reduced. Crete was constantly in turmoil. The Greeks living within the Ottoman Empire's borders were dissatisfied, as were the Armenians.

Starting around 1890 the Armenians began clamoring to obtain the reforms promised them at Berlin. Unrest occurred in 1892 and 1893 at Marsovan and Tokat. In 1894 a more serious rebellion in the mountainous region of Sassun was ruthlessly stamped out. The European powers demanded protection be given to the Christian Armenians, the eventual grant of which in the autumn of 1895 was the signal, not for actual reform, but for a series of massacres of Armenians.

Main article: Hamidian_massacres

These massacres extended over many months and throughout Asia Minor, as well as in Istanbul itself. The reforms were nothing more than ink on a page. In a real sense, these massacres were the forerunner to the Armenian Genocide.

Crete was granted extended privileges, but these did not satisfy the population, which sought unification with Greece. In early in 1897 a Greek expedition sailed to Crete to overthrown Ottoman rule of the island. War followed, in which the Ottoman Empire was successful (see the Greco-Turkish War (1897)). But then a few months later Crete was taken over en depot by England, France, and Russia. Prince George of Greece was appointed the ruler and so Crete was lost to the Ottoman Empire.

Abd-ul-Hamid always resisted the pressure of the European powers to the last moment, in order to seem to yield only to overwhelming force, while posing as the champion of Islam against aggressive Christendom. Panislamic propaganda was encouraged; the privileges of foreigners in the Ottoman Empire — often an obstacle to government — were curtailed. A new railway to the holy city of Medina was completed - making the Hajj somewhat easier - though there was still a 160 mile camel ride to get to Mecca. Emissaries were sent to distant countries preaching Islam and the caliph's supremacy. During his rule, Sultan Hamid refused Theodor Herzl's offers to pay down a substantial portion of the Ottoman debt in exchange for a charter allowing the Zionists to colonize Palestine.

Sultan Hamid's appeals to Muslim sentiment were powerless against widespread disaffection within his Empire due to perennial misgovernment. In Mesopotamia and Yemen disturbance was endemic; nearer home, a semblance of loyalty was maintained in the army and among the Muslim population only by a system of delation and espionage, and by wholesale arrests. After his rule began the Sultan became obsessed by a terror of assassination; he withdrew himself into fortified seclusion in the palace of Yildiz and never left.

Last year in power

The national humiliation of the situation in Macedonia, together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to a crisis. In the summer of 1908 the Young Turk revolution broke out and Abd-ul-Hamid, on learning of the threat of the Salonica troops to march on Istanbul (July 23), at once capitulated. On the 24th an irade announced the restoration of the suspended constitution of 1876; the next day, further irades abolished espionage and censorship, and ordered the release of political prisoners. On December 17, Sultan Hamid opened the Turkish parliament with a speech from the throne in which he said that the first parliament had been "temporarily dissolved until the education of the people had been brought to a sufficiently high level by the extension of instruction throughout the empire." No significant educational reforms had taken place over the previous 30 years.

The new attitude of the Sultan did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the powerful reactionary elements in the state, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude towards the counter-revolution of April 13, 1909 known as 31 Mart Vakası, when an insurrection of the soldiers backed by a conservative public upheaval in the capital overthrew the cabinet. The government, restored by soldiers from Salonica, decided on Abd-ul-Hamid's deposition, and on April 27 his brother Reshid Efendi was proclaimed as Sultan Mehmed V. The ex-sultan was conveyed into dignified captivity at Salonica. Back again in İstanbul by 1912, he spent his last days studying, carpentering and writing his memoirs in custody at the palace of Beylerbeyi, where he died on February 10 1918, just a few months before his brother.

Afterward

Sultan Hamid was the last real Sultan of the Ottoman Empire but he presided over thirty three years of decline. The Ottoman Empire became known as the sick man of Europe. It would have been defeated and broken up if the European powers had choosen to do so. While its European neighbors were making railroads, automobiles, electric lights and even airplanes, the Ottoman empire was unable to develop any industry at all. Every advanced technology they used had to be purchased from the foreigners to the north. The people of the Ottoman empire were mired in poverty and ignorance, their lives essentially unchanged during his years of rule.

Sultan Hamid commissioned thousands of photographs of his empire. Fearful of assassination he did not travel and so photographs provided visual evidence of what was taking place in his realm. The Sultan presented large gift albums of photographs to various governments and heads of state, including the United States (William Allen, "The Abdul Hamid II Collection," History of Photography eight (1984): 119-45.) and Great Britain (M. I. Waley and British Library, "Sultan Abdulhamid II Early Turkish Photographs in 51 Albums from the British Library on Microfiche" (Zug, Switzerland: IDC, 1987). The American collection is housed in the Library of Congress and has been digitized

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Abd-ul-Hamid II".

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• [1]

His full name is Abdul Hameed Khan The Second Bin Abdul Majeed Khan.
He was the son of Sultan Abdul Majeed (from his second wife.) His mother died when he was seven.
Abdul Hameed spoke Turkish, Arabic and Persian and he studied several books in literature and poetry.

When his father Abdul Majeed died, his uncle, Abdul Aziz became the Khalifa. Abdul Aziz did last long in power. He was forced out of power and then assasinated by the political enemies of the Ottomans. His successor was Sultan Murad, the son of Sultan Abdul Aziz, but he was also removed from power after a short period because he was not fit for office.

On 31 August 1876 (1293 H) Sultan Abdul Hameed was given the Khilafaship, the people pledged allegiance and loyalty to him. He was at that time aged 34. Abdul Hameed realised, as he explaines in his diary, that at the time of the assasination of his uncle, and the constant change in leadership was some sort of a conspiracy against the Islamic state.

Abdul Hameed had a character historians looked deeply into. He was given the leadership of a huge state that was in a tense and critical situation. He spent more than thirty years full of interior and exterior conspiracies, wars, revolutions, events and constant changes. Abdul Hameed himself expressed these feelings in his writings and poetry.

Here is a sample of his handwritten poetry, which was taken from the book "My Father Abdul Hameed," written by his daughter Aisha

The poetry translates,

My lord I know you are the Dear One (Al-Aziz) 
... And no one but you is the Dear One 
You are the One, and nothing else 
My God take my hand in these hard times
My God be my helper in this critical hour 

The first trouble Abdul Hameed ran into was Midhat Pasha. Midhat Pasha was secretely involved in the removal of Abdul Hameed's uncle. When Abdul Hameed came into power he assigned Midhat Pasha as The Head of The Ministers council because Midhat was very popular at that time and Abdul Hameed needed any kind of insurance to stay in power. Midhat Pasha was a good governor but he was opinionated. Midhat Pasha was supported by a strong stream in the Shora council (parliament). With the help of these people he was successful in passing the resolutions to go into war against Russia. Abdul Hameed could not stop that stream. Had he tried to he would have porbably been removed from office. Still the stream wanted to blame him for all the losses that resulted from these missclaculated wars. Abdul Hameed did not want any wars at that time. The Islamic state was too exhausted to engage in warfare. Abdul Hameed was able to use the differences between him and Midhat Pasha to decrease Midhat's popularity. He finally was able to break lose from his chains and he exiled him to Europe. The people and polticians welcomed that move greatly.

Afterwards, Abdul Hameed turned to the foreign enemies of the Islamic Ottoman State. He was able to somehow predict the Communist Revolution in Russia, and that it will make Russia stronger and therefore more and more dangerous. At that time, the Bulkan parts of the state faced two dangers, Russia and Austria. Abdul Hameed tried to awaken the Bulkans and make them realise the coming danger. He came close to an agreement with the Bulkans, but when the agreement was in the final stages, four Bulkan states made a separate agreement and excluded the Otoman state. Western and Russian influence was the reason for that change. Abdul Hameed realised that the consperacy to destroy the Ottoman state was bigger than anyone thought. It was both interior and exterior. He thought he got rid of Midhat Pasha and his likes for good, but he was faced with Awni Pasha, head Of the Ministers Council (Alsadr Alazam) and one of the leaders of the army. Later Abdul Hameed discovered that Awni Pasha took money and presents from the English, and his role in the removal of Abdul Aziz (Abdul Hameed's uncle) was exposed to Abdul Hameed. Awni Pasha pushed the Ottoman state into the wars of Bosnia against the will of Abdul Hameed. Abdul Hameed knew that if the war took place Russia, England, Austria- Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy and France will all attack the Ottoman state and make sure Bosnia is snatched. Awni misinformed Abdul Hameed about the size of the Ottoman army in Bosnia. He claimed to have 200,000 soldiers ready. However, Abdul Hameed checked with other generals of the army and discovered he had only 30,000 soldiers, faced by more than 300,000 soldiers. The people at that time loved Awni and Abdul Hameed couldn't remove him from office because that would endanger the interior stability of the state. The western powers, realising that they had outnumbered the Ottomans attacked under the cover of four Bulkan states (Romania, Montenegro, Serbia, Austria-Hungary). As a result, Bosnia and Greece were lost and seperated from the Otoman state. Abdul Hameed exposed Awni and his mistakes afterwards and got rid of him. The public accepted this move. The court found him guilty of the charges of conspiracy against the Ottoman state and aiding foreign powers, such as England.

The fall of the sick man of Europe appeared to be imminent. Everyone wanted a part of it and that doesn't exclude the Jews. In 1901 the Jewish banker Mizray Qrasow and two other Jewish influential leaders came to visit Abdul Hameed, they offered to give him :

1. Paying ALL the debts of the Ottoman state.
2. Building the Navy of the Ottoman state.
3. 35 Million Golden Leeras without interest to support the prosperity of the Ottoman state.

In Exchange for

1. Allowing Jews to visit Palestine anytime they please, and to stay as long as they want "to visit the holy sites."
2. Allowing the Jews to build settlements where they live, and they wanted them to be located near Jerusalem.

Abdul Hameed refused to even meet them, he sent his answer to them through Tahsin Pasha, and the answer was

"Tell those impolite Jews that the debts of the Ottoman state are not a shame,
France has debts and that doesn't effect it. Jerusalem became a part of the Islamic
Land when Omar Bin Alkhattab took the city and I am not going to carry the historical
Shame of selling the holy lands to the Jews and betraying the responsibility and trust
Of my people. May the Jews keep their money, the Ottoman's will not hide in castles
Built with the money of the enemies of Islam." 

He also told them to leave and never come back to meet him again. With the Jews and Zionists in the game the set was complete, and the play of the end of the Ottoman state was about to start. The Jewish money was an important asset to finance the destruction of the Ottoman state to build the Zionist state in Palestine, the state that Jews wanted so badly they were willing to risk anything for.

The Jews did not give up on Abdul Hameed, later in the same year, 1901, the founder of the Zionist movement, Theodor Hertzil, visited Istanbul and tried to meet Abdul Hameed. Abdul Hameed refused to meet him and he told his Head Of The Ministers Council

"Advise Dr. Herzil not to take any further steps in his project. I can not give away
A handful of the soil of this land for it is not my own, it is for all the Islamic Nation.
The Islamic Nation that fought Jihad for the sake of this land and they have watered it
With their blood. The Jews may keep their money and millions. If the Islamic Kalifah State
Is one day destroyed then they will be able to take Palestine without a price! But while
I am alive, I would rather push a sword into my body than see the land of Palestine cut
And given away from the Islamic State. This is something that will not be, I will not start
Cutting our bodies while we are alive." 

After this, the Jews turned to the British to turn their dreams into reality. The British and French were ready to finish the Ottoman State, still the word "Jihad" was powerful enough to make all Europe tremble. Europe still feared the Sick Man Of Europe. The British decided to use its most important foreign policy, divide and conquer. It supported new groups like Young Turkey and Young Arabia. When Young Turkey became strong in the Ottoman state, Britain did not need to do anything anymore, Young Turks did the rest, they started a national and prejidice stream withen the Turkish citiziens of the Islamic State. In resonse, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and other races developed their own national brand. People started feeling a part of their race not a part of the state, and that was the beggining of the end of the Islamic state. Later in WWI, Arabs collaborated with the Bristish and French and revolted against the Ottoman State. They were betrayed by the British and French and later invaded.

Abdul Hamid did not forget the development of his state, he built many institutions and services to the public like Hamedi market, Alazm palace in Damascus. He also built many mosques, public bathes, markets and hospitals in Cairo, Demscus, Sana, Baghdad and the rest of the Islamic cities. He also worked on the development of the educational system. The Ottomans tried to imitate the European educational system but they failed, except in two areas, Medicine and Military. The Ottoman army was not as weak as people today think it was. The Ottoman artillary was the strongest in the world. The Ottoman Navy was very well organized and was ranked the world's third most powerful fleet after the English and French. Many industries such as weapons manufacturing, weaving and Sugar appeared. The road system was updated,and seaports were expanded. Many new newsprints were established and before the first world war Egypt, Iraq and Great Syria had more than 1300 newspapers and magazines.

For a little time it appeared like the Sick Man of Europe will finally stand up, but the western allies were determined to destroy the Islamic Unity at any cost. The non-muslim minorities in the Ottoman state were used by the West to create trouble and instability, especially the Christian citiziens of the state. The western states always interfered in the Ottoman domestic policy under the excuse of "protecting the Christian minorities." The west also launched a campaign of Christian preaching in the Islamic world by building Christian schools and churches. The target was snatching muslims away from Islam and spreading un-islamic social habits and ideas. Many newsprints were also established for the same reason, to poison the minds of the muslims and spread destructive ideas and misconceptions between them. The west also wanted to make the Ottoman state busy and for that it used the minorities again. The west encouraged the Armenians and financed their revolution against the Ottoman state. England helped the Druz and France helped the Maronites in Lebanon and they both engaged in a big battle that was solved by the interference of the Ottoman army. More troubles between Muslims and Christians took place, and at some time the Muslim population of Damascus was about to wipe the Christian population of the city. The Ottoman army interfered in the last moments and prevented a massacre from taking place. That era was a constant battle between the conspiracies of the west and the defence of Abdul Hameed and the rest of the faithful Muslims.

It is important to mention that the debts of the Ottoman state, when Abdul Hameed came to power, were 2,528 Million Ottoman golden Leeras. When he was removed from power they were only 106 Million Leera. Which means he cut the debt to about 1/20 of its original value. The Young Turks, who came after Abdul Hameed, raised it back by 1300%. Such an achivement of Abdul Hameed would give the impression that he could not spend on development, but that is untrue. Abdul Hameed established fax lines between Yemen, Hijaz, Great Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Then he connected it to the fax lines of Iran and India. He managaed to earn back the cost of the project withen only two years because of the extensive use of these lines by the Hujjaj (the people who go to Mecca to do the pilgrimage).

The Signiture of Abdul Hameed

Abdul Hameed realised that the only hope for Muslims is a form of a strong Islamic Unity. Abdul Hameed was able to see that the West will try to seperate the Islamic state and then deal with each part seperately. The only way to prevent that is through Islamic Unity. Abdul Hameed decided to present the Ottoman Khilafaship as a leadership to the Islamic World. Abdul Hameed was able to touch and effect the Muslims of India and Pakistan and he caused many troubles to the British in these areas. Similar results were established with the Muslims of Russia and the southern USSR republics. Abdul Hameed also used these Muslims to pressure Russia. At this time, Abdul Hameed mentions in his diary that he feels the walls falling on him, and that he feels he is alone and he can not fight the enemies of the Islamic Nation alone. He later started an alliance with Germany, but that too seemed to be insufficient, because the Germans wanted a part of the Ottoman state as well. Sultan Abdul Hameed felt at that time that the big war is very close. And it was obvious that the remains of the Ottoman state is what the fighting factions will fight for.

AAbdul Hameed decided to establish the Hijaz rial road(1900). The rail road ran from Demscus to Madina, and from Aqaba to Maan, the line symbolized the Islamic Unity, all the muslims who used to do the pilgrimage felt that the Ottoman Khalifa was trying to bring them closer, with a new rail road system and one of the most sophisticaed fax systems. Muslim started getting the feeling of gratitude and appreciation to the Ottoman State. The rail road payed for its expences in a couple of years and it functioned as an important tool to connect the parts of the Islamic state, it also was to be used as a fast line to transport and deploy military units. Abdul Hameed also launched a campagin to spread the idea of islamic untiy and islamic support in southern Russi, India, Pakistan and Africa. He started inviting many muslim scholars from Indonesia, Africa and India to the Otoman state, and he established a program to build mosques and Islamic Institutions all arround the Islamic world.

The western teeth reacted quickly and encouraged the Bay of Tunisia to revolt against the Ottoman state in 1877 and so he did. In 1881 france occupied Tunessia, in 1882 Britain occupied Egypt. Later the netherlands invaded indonesia, Russia invaded central Asia, Britain expanded deeper into india and Sudan .. It appeared like the west is about to crush the Islamic World.

Finally, on Tuesday 27 April 1909, the 240 members of the Otoman senate agreed under the pressure of the National Young Turks to remove Abdul Hameed from power. Senator Sheikh Hamdi Afandi Mali wrote the Fatwa of the removal. The Otoman Senate approved it. Here is the translation of that Fatwa :

The Sheikh Of Islam Mohammad Dia' Aldin Afandi
"If the Imam of the Muslims took the important religous issues from the legislative
Books and collected those books, wasted the money of the state and engaed in agreements
That contradicted the Islamic Law, killed, arrested, exiled the people for no reason,
Then promised not to do it again and still did it to harm the conditions of muslims all
Around the Islamic world then this leader is to be removed from office. If his removal
Will bring better conditions than his staying, then he has the choice of resigning or
Being removed from office."

File:Abdul Hameed II Removal.gif

A rare picture showing Abdul Hameed and the four people when he was told he was removed from office

The Fatwa is very strange and any person can see that the conditions set in it do not fit Abdul Hameed's deeds and actions. Afterwards the Head Of The Ministers Council, Tawfiq Pasha was called to tell Abdul Hameed about the decision. He refused to do so. So they sent him a group of four people : Aref Hikmat, Aram Afandi (Armenian), As'ad Tobatani and Emanuel Qrasow (Jewish).

As they entered his office, they found him standing calmly, Aref Hikmat read the Fatwa to him, then As'ad Tobatani came forward and said

"The nation has removed you from your office."
Abdul Hameed became angry and said
"The nation has removed me from my office,
That is okay ... But why did you bring
The Jew to the Quarters of the Khilafa?" 

and he pointed to Qrasow. Obviously that was the point of payback, Abdul Hameed rejected selling Palestine to the Jews, and now they show him that they were a part of his removal. A chalenge in the face of Abdul Hameed and the face of the Islamic Nation.

After Abdul Hameed's removal from office many writers started attacking him and his person, one of these people was John Haslib, his book "The Red Sultan" became very famious, and was treanslated into many languages such as Arabic and Turkish. A Turkish book titled "iki me vrin perde arkasi - yazan : nafiz tansu" by Ararat Yayinevi was also a part of hateful propaganda that drawes the Ottoman state sinking deeper and deeper only to be saved by the Young Turks who removed Abdul Hameed. Another one is by the famous Arab Christian writter Georgy Zaydan in his book "Stories Of The Islamic History - The Ottoman revolution". These books are nothing but a bunch of lies written by people who hate Islam and muslims deeply. It presents Sultan Abdul Hameed as a man sunk into pleasures of life such as women and alcohol, and a vicious merciless tyrant towards his political enemies and his people. These lies did not stand because the truth always prevails.

Some of the books against Abdul Hameed

Finally, after Abdul Hameed came a bunch of weak leaders. They could not maintain the state and they lost their powers easily. As Sultan Abdul Hameed predicted, WWI took place and the Ottoman state was divided. Arabs revolted in Hijaz with the help of the British and French, who later on betrayed them and put them under occupation, and gave Islamic Palestine to the Jews. If only they had listened to Abdul Hameed. The National Young Turks got power and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk canceled the Islamic Khilafa in 1924.