Sultan Abdulaziz's Demise: A Puzzle - Was It a Suicide or an Assassination?
In the heart of Istanbul, the fifth-largest city in the world and the capital of the Ottoman Empire, a historical mystery unfolded in 1876. Sultan Abdulaziz, the former sovereign of this formidable power, was found dead in the Feriye Palace on the Bosphorus, with his wrists slashed.
Sultan Abdulaziz's reign was marked by political turmoil, culminating in his deposition in a coup led by Midhat Pasha and Huseyin Avni Pasha only days before his death. After the coup, the deposed sultan was confined under guard at the Feriye Palace.
The official verdict of suicide for Sultan Abdulaziz was improbable, according to experts. On the morning of his death, Sultan Abdulaziz had requested a pair of scissors to trim his beard, which was later found to be torn. This, along with other circumstantial evidence, raised suspicions about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Sultan Abdulaziz's daughter, Princess Nazime, claimed to have witnessed his murder. However, no individual has been definitively identified or proven in public records as the planner or enabler of his murder. Suspicions have fallen on elements of the military and political opposition during the turbulent period of World War I in Istanbul.
One such figure was Midhat Pasha, who was arrested for his role in Sultan Abdulaziz's death in 1881. However, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was exiled to Ta'if, Hejaz. Tragically, Midhat Pasha was strangled in 1883 while in exile.
Huseyin Avni Pasha, another key figure in the coup, delayed medical help for Sultan Abdulaziz, leading to his death. The exact role each of these men played in the sultan's demise remains a subject of historical debate.
The Ottoman Empire, at the time of Sultan Abdulaziz's reign, was a dominion spanning 12 million square kilometres across 35 countries. With a population of 64 million, it commanded the world's fourth-largest army and the third-largest navy.
The empire's history is rich and complex, and the mystery of Sultan Abdulaziz's death is but one of its many intriguing tales. Ayşe Osmanoğlu, a descendant of Sultan Murad V and Sultan Mehmed V Resad with a background in History and Politics, has dedicated her work to exploring this history. Her books, "The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus" and "A Farewell to Imperial Istanbul," offer compelling insights into the lives and times of the Ottoman sultans.
In 2007, a discovery in the Topkapi Palace archives suggested that Sultan Abdulaziz had been murdered. Bloodied nightshirt and undergarments believed to belong to the sultan were found, adding fuel to the fire of conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
The assassination of Sultan Abdulaziz of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 remains a historically controversial event. As the dust of time settles, the truth about his death may never be fully known, but the mystery continues to captivate historians and the general public alike.
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