The deposed Sultan’s daughters’ love for freedom and revenge
The first and only recorded case of treason in the palace of the Ottoman Sultan. That’s what restrictions and coercion can lead to.
Next is the sad story of two Sultans, Hatice and Fehime, the daughters of the deposed Sultan Murad V. At the very end of the story, there will be a retelling of the last historical find – a letter to Fehima Sultan, recently found in the archives of the Library. Ataturk.
For decades, Hatice and Fehime Sultan were locked up by their uncle Sultan Abdulhamid II in a golden cage – the Chiragan Palace. Later, they were passed off as candidates they did not like. Hatice Sultan took revenge on her uncle through his daughter Naima Sultan, having an affair with her husband, Kemaleddin Pasha. With the onset of the Meshrutiet (constitutional monarchy) period, both Sultans divorced their unloved husbands, whom they had to endure during the reign of Abdulhamid II. But this did not save them from evil fate, their misadventures continued in exile, and the fate of Fehime Sultan was especially sad.
A bit of historical canvas for the events taking place:
In 1876, Sultan Abdulaziz was deposed as a result of a military coup, and his nephew Murad V ascended the throne on May 30. In the very first weeks of his reign, the new Sultan lost his mind, and after three months of treatment, high-ranking officials decided to remove him from power due to temporary insanity. But at the insistence of the heir apparent, Shehzade Abdulhamid Efendi, based on a diagnosis of “incurable mental illness,” a fatwa was issued, according to which Murad V was overthrown on August 31, 1876 and settled in the Chiragan palace. There were attempts to overthrow Abdulhamid and restore Murad V to the throne, but they were unsuccessful.
After a while, it was reported that the mental health of the former Padishah had improved. Abdulhamid allowed the last shehzade Reshad, Shehzade Vahdettin, Abdulmejid and other shehzades to move freely under the supervision of trackers, but he prepared house arrest for his older brother in the best traditions of the Ottoman cage. Murad V and his family lived for 28 years in four walls, not seeing the light of day, and died in 1904. Abdulhamid was absolutely sure that he took great care of his brother and his children, provided them with a high-quality education, and they repaid him with black ingratitude.
Murad V had two daughters: Hatice, born in 1870, and Fehime, born in 1875. When Murad was deposed, the eldest was 6, and the youngest was only a year old. They spent their entire childhood and adolescence with their father in the “Prison of the Chiragan Palace”, never leaving it. The girls received a good education, they were personally taught by their father, court culfs and foreign teachers. Thanks to this, they spoke and wrote decently in French, played the piano, and their knowledge of Western music allowed them to compose melodies on their own.
Hatice Sultan, daughter of Sultan Murad V
The main problem for the sisters was marriage. In the conditions of that time, they, one might say, stayed too long in the girls. There is a version that Abdulhamid delayed the time of their marriage on purpose. But in reality, the thought of this came to Abdulhamid too early, Murad V’s mother Shevk-i Efsar was even forced to write a letter to the ruling Sultan on September 15, 1887, asking him to postpone marriage, because the girls were very fragile and too young: Hatice was 17, and Fehima was only 12. Shevk-i Efsar asked Abdulhamid II to return to the topic of marriage when the time comes. But the Sultan no longer showed any desire to marry the girls off, he seemed to have forgotten about his nieces. He returned to the topic after a long time and only at the repeated insistence of the girls themselves.
Conversations about marriage resumed only after 14 years. Asking for the hand of girls who, for the society of that time, were already far from the first youth, and they were also the daughters of the deposed Sultan, scared people. After 25 years of imprisonment, the sisters left the Chiragan Palace for good in 1901. In order to marry them off, they were transported to the Yildiz Palace. Hatice was 31, and Fehima was 26. It is rumored that during the move, Fehime was shocked to see a carriage and draft horses for the first time in her life. Having settled into the Yildiz Palace, they began to wait for the candidates. In the end, Abulhamid pleased his sisters with the news that future husbands had been chosen; they began to collect dowries.
Sultan Vasif Bey, who had wooed Hatice, was absolutely no match for the sultan’s daughter, he came from a lower class, had a low position, and was a rude and ill-mannered investigator of unpleasant appearance. Fehime’s future husband Sultan Galip Bey is a graduate of the Mulkye Lyceum (a lyceum that focused on economics and administration), the son of Tevfik Bey, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Turkish Post and Telegraph, who was close to Sultan Abdulhamid. The decision regarding the candidates was made by Abulhamid II himself according to his preferences. According to tradition, the sons-in-law of the dynasty were given the title of Vizier. The title was immediately awarded to Galip Bey, the fiance of Fehima Sultan, but Vasif Bey, the fiance of Hatice Sultan, was considered unworthy of this title, so they limited themselves to “emru’l-umera» (beylerbey). Modest palaces were built for Hatice and Fehime on the Bosphorus Embankment, where the palaces of the Sultans, including the daughters of Abulhamid, Naime and Zekie, stood from Ortakoy to Kurucheshme.
The sisters’ weddings (together with Abdulaziz’s daughter Emine Sultan) were held at the Yildiz Palace in September 1901. The weddings were held on the scale required for such events. When Hatice and Fehime saw their husbands for the first time, they were unpleasantly surprised. They even decided that my uncle had specially selected such candidates to humiliate them. For his daughters, Abdulhamid chose the sons of the most respected military man at that time, the hero of the battles of Plevna, the veteran Osman Pasha. The sisters considered it an insult that Abdulhamid chose uncouth men for them. For a long time, the newly-made husbands were forbidden to enter the harem (the female part of the dwelling), Hatice and Fehima Sultan refused to fulfill their marital duties, the husbands slept in the living room.
Hatice was extremely unhappy. Since her acquaintance with Kemaleddin Pasha, the husband of a cousin from the palace next door, the daughter of Abdulhamid II Naima Sultan, unprecedented events have spun in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Hatice Sultan fell in love with Kemaleddin Pasha. Or, as many claim, seduced him to take revenge on Abdulhamid II!
Naime Sultan, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II
It all started with innocent glances, continued in letters, but everything eventually went too far: Kemaleddin Pasha began to make his way to Hatice Sultan using secret passages or by putting a ladder against the wall. Judging by the published letters, it was a sincere love story. But she was overshadowed by suspicions and worries on both sides.
When they started talking about Hatice Sultan and Kemaleddin Pasha in Istanbul, their relationship had been going on for about three years. Some believe that it was Hatice herself who tried to get the rumors to the Sultan’s highest ears. Some believe that Abdulhamid was informed about the affair by informers. And to provoke them, they added that Kemaleddin Pasha was going to poison his wife Naima Sultan!
At that time, Naime Sultan was ill, and her doctor, Haki Shinasi Pasha, had to give her an injection of sodium cacodylate. According to the informers, Kemaleddin Pasha ordered Naima Sultan to inject poison. Abdulhamid II went berserk! He conducts a mini-investigation himself to find out if cacodilate is a poison. Naturally, the poison is present in any medicine, the dose is important. But after confirming the presence of the poison, Abdulhamid exiled the doctor first to Basra, and then to Konya, and banned the use of cacodilate in medicine.
After this scandal, in 1904, the Sultan annulled the marriage of his daughter Naima Sultan with Kemaleddin Pasha, took away all his titles, and exiled him to Bursa. No sanctions were applied to Hatice Sultan.
After the proclamation of the Second Meshrutiet, Kemaleddin Pasha returned from exile. His interest in Hatice Sultan did not fade at all – he proposed marriage to her! But Hatice Sultan refused. At that time, she requested a divorce from Vasif Bey through the mediation of Shehzade Vakhdettin. Although Abdulhamid had not yet been overthrown at that time, it was probably the general atmosphere of freedom that allowed Vakhdettin to speak critically about his older brother, for whom he was a fulcrum during the raging dictatorship. In a letter written by him on February 3, 1909, he first noted that Murad V had suffered unfairly, and then noted that Hatice Sultan had been forced to marry someone she did not love, therefore, from the point of view of the law, their marriage could be challenged, however, so that gossip would not begin, he asked to resolve the issue not through the court., and through the mediation of the Grand Vizier.
Two months after this letter, Hatice Sultan married the Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rauf Bey. They had two daughters, Khairi and Selma, and divorced in 1918. After the exile of the Dynasty, she settled in Beirut and died there in 1938. Her daughter Selma Khanimsultan married an Indian maharaj. The author of the novel “From the Palace to Exile” Kenizeh Murad is the granddaughter of Hatice Sultan.
Fehime Sultan, who constantly remained in the shadow of her strong-willed sister, had fits of hysteria. The court doctors examined her and submitted a detailed report to the Yildiz Palace. Most likely, the reason for her seizures was a prolonged stay in four walls, because doctors advised cycling, playing ball and swimming.
Fehime Sultan, daughter of Sultan Murad V, 1922
Fehime Sultan was fair-haired, blue-eyed and white-skinned. In 1901, as mentioned earlier, she married a graduate of Mulkye Galip Bey. In the first year of Meshrutiet, she divorced him and married a low-ranking officer, Mahmoud Tevfik Bey, who was younger than her. Sultan Reshad did not approve of this marriage and considered it unworthy of the Dynasty.
When the Dynasty was sent into exile, Fehime Sultan settled with her husband in Nice, where she suffered a bitter betrayal on his part. Her husband stripped her to the skin and pushed her into the arms of poverty. Fehime Sultan was forced to beg in order to earn some money for the cramped room in which she died in 1928. A neat notebook for learning Farsi, which she used in her youth at the Ciragan Palace, is now in the personal collection of Necdet Sakaoglu, author of the book “The Lords of the Ottoman Lands.”
In a letter recently found in the Library. Atatürk, Fehime Sultan addresses, though without naming, Mahmoud Shevket Pasha (Minister of Defense) and calls Abdulhamid’s regime a regime of “brutal dictatorship.”
letter
A letter to Fehima Sultan, recently found in the depths of the Library. Ataturk
You know that during the brutal dictatorship of Abdulhamid, I was separated from my father, and I spent 4 years in the hundred walls of the Yildiz Palace before I was married to Galip Pasha, whom I did not love. During the period of dictatorship and tyranny, it was impossible to defend my rights, or rather, I did not have the right to say a word in my own defense, so I silently resigned myself. The Nikah (religious marriage) that was conducted with Galip Pasha under Abdulhamid’s compulsion created a legal bond between us, but… you are like a father to me, so I will open up to you and admit with shame that I never became his wife. I was forced to spend 9 years with a man I didn’t want to be with and whom I had to call my husband. You can only imagine how painful it was and how unbearable the torture was. Finally, the bright sun of freedom has risen over Roumelia (referring to the transfer of the army of “Unity and Progress” from Thessaloniki to Istanbul). They swept away this regime and began the era of happiness. For us, trapped by bad weather, it meant good news.
The first years of Meshrutiet were hectic because of the unexpected freedom that had befallen us all. It was normal. Because the happy day has finally come when I was able to throw off the chains of tragedy that encircled me hand and foot. Civil and human rights have become available to everyone. Those sent into exile returned home, those arrested were released from prison. They were running to meet their parents, whom they had missed all this time. I see such good news in the newspapers every day. And that’s when I thought: since the Constitution has given everyone equal rights, and the Koran gives me the right to divorce, why shouldn’t I exercise my rights, as all the oppressed began to do during the brutal dictatorship? Why don’t I put an end to this 9-year ordeal?
I feel an indissoluble connection with your glorious army, which has never been seen before in world history and has amazed world civilizations; I dream of becoming the wife of one of your honest and brave heroes. Galip Pasha suffered morally and financially from the regime of Meshrutiet, now he is fully aware of the possibility of divorce, so he finds solace at the bottom of the bottle around the clock. Now I have no way left to endure it.
Fehime Sultan in Nice, 1928
I informed my younger uncle (probably Vakhdettin) that in such a situation I was decidedly no longer able to live with this man, so I asked him to request my salvation from this curse from my older uncle (Sultan Reshad). Galip Bey, who found out about this, slandered me profanely in order to prevent me from marrying one of those military men I mentioned. The slander was supported by his family, who wanted revenge. After these accusations, I filed for divorce in the Sharia court and 6 months ago I managed to get a divorce. Since I was a young Sultana, I was worried about the endless stream of people wanting to marry me. 15 days before my uncle’s (Sultan Reshad’s) trip to Kosovo, I asked his permission to marry an officer of my own choosing. He promised to inform me of his decision, but instead I received the news that my second marriage would not be recognized. At the same time, I learned that the officer I had chosen had arrived in Istanbul to pick up my mother and sister, so I told him to choose representatives and witnesses. Our nikyakh was held, the wedding was celebrated. I asked the Padishah for my husband to stay in Istanbul after his return from Kosovo. The palace told me that we didn’t care, but the Ministry of Defense would want to intervene. That is why I am addressing you, my dear father, I have described the situation to you. For the sake of my late and unjustly injured father, I beg you to take the necessary measures.