It has been confirmed that the descendants of one of the last Ottoman sultans are to be given Turkish citizenship, ending almost a century of ostracism
Abdul Hamid II was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state.
He ruled from 1876 to 1909, and was much hated in Kemal Ataturk’s modern Turkish republic for his authoritarianism, anti-Westernism and clampdowns on the media.
President Erdogan said of the Sultan:
“We see Sultan Abdulhamid II as one of the most important, most visionary, most strategic-minded personalities who have put their stamps on the last 150 years of our state. We should stop seeing the Ottomans and the Republic as two eras that conflict with one another.”
In 1908, the military cabal, also known as the Young Turks – which included Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) in its lower ranks – forced Abdulhamid to bring back the parliament and introduce Westernising reforms.
