TNT History Archives: The Ongoing Mystery of Sultan Abdülaziz's Death (1876-1881)

//Ed. Note:  There has always been a controversy 
about whether Sultan Abdülaziz (1830-1876) 
committed suicide or was murdered. His body was
found on 4 June 1876 in the Feriye Palace, in the
harem of the Çırağan Palace on the shores of the 
Bosphorus in Istanbul. In 1881, former Prime 
Minister Midhat Paşa was tried and convicted of
the supposed murder and sent into exile in Yemen,
where he died in 1884. 

In his book "Kâmil Paşa's Answers to Said Paşa, 
President of the Chamber of Notables" (1911), 
Kâmil Paşa essentially argues that Said Paşa 
railroaded Midhat Paşa to conviction, at the behest
of Sultan Abdülhamid II.  So while the suicide-
murder mystery remains, Kâmil Paşa casts doubt 
on the involvement and guilt of Midhat Paşa in 
Abdülaziz's passing, providing first-hand details, 
owing to his presence at the trial and his position 
in the government at that time, 1881, when Said
Paşa was serving in his second tenure as Prime 
Minister, of seven stints as PM under Abdülhamid.

In his book "History of the Ottoman Empire and
Modern Turkey, Volume II", Stanford Shaw 
noted that, in 1876, "Sultan Abdülhamid had never
liked Midhat Paşa, seeing very clearly that the 
credit for the reforms was going to his Grand Vezir
(Midhat Paşa), who was being lionized by Ottomans
and foreigners alike.  The Sultan's palace intimates, 
led by Mahmut Celaleddin and his wife, Cemile 
Sultan (the Sultan's sister), used every incident to 
stir the Sultan against Midhat."

"Abdülhamid sent Midhat Paşa off to Europe on an
extended trip in 1877, essentially an exile.  Upon his
return, Midhat Paşa served as governor of Syria 
(1878-1880) and İzmir (1880-1881). Then, in 1881, 
Abdülhamid had Midhat Paşa tried and convicted of
the crime of murdering Sultan Abdülaziz on the basis
of rather flimsy evidence and testimony built up by a
committee headed by Cevdet Paşa (Justice Minister)." 

Herewith TNT presents Kâmil Paşa's commentary on
the affair, paraphrased from the original Ottoman
text of his book.//

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       Sultan Abdülaziz

"One understands that Said Paşa wrote about the trial of
the late Midhat Paşa on pages 55-72 of his memoir in such
a way as to confine his words to the negotiations and
decisions and assert, as always, his innocence and cast
blame on others, as well as to keep the details secret.

On page 58, he defended himself with regard to articles
published in Europe about Midhat Paşa’s trial that
attributed the information to him (Said Paşa), which is
certainly his right.  However,  without waiting for his
memoir to be published,  he has had articles published
in Tanin newspaper, purposely including photographs,
relating to votes and signatures of those involved in
Midhat Paşa’s trial, one of whom was me.  Consequently,
I felt the need to clarify this situation.

In the articles in the aforementioned Tanin newspaper,
Said Paşa played with the wording of the relevant
sentences in the court decree related the killers of the late
Sultan Abdülaziz, in such a way as to exempt himself
from the matter with very weak arguments, and to direct
malice toward the other members-signers.   


             Midhat Paşa

But let us look closely at the matter.  Was the death of
Sultan Abdülaziz a suicide or a murder?

If Said Paşa were to clarify here, then the matter could be
easily dealt with.  If Sultan Abdülaziz’s death was, in
fact, a suicide and the ‘killing’ was fabricated by the Palace
to get rid of certain individuals, and in the event that Said
Paşa was not capable of convincing Sultan Abdülhamid
of the faults of this case, shouldn’t he have at least removed
the fabricators from their positions?  A  just Prime Minister
would have averted the implementation of death sentences
for these innocent people who have since departed this
world.

At that time I had only recently come to Istanbul and
learned about everything from the newspapers.   At the
beginning of the trial, I heard that Mahmud Paşa
(Abdülhamid’s brother-in-law) had previously told the
Sultan (Abdülhamid) that a concubine had informed him
at his home, after coming from the palace, that Abdülaziz
had been murdered. When Mahmud Paşa presented this
information to Sultan Abdülhamid, he ordered the trial.

Let me add here that following the end of the trial, one
evening Said Paşa, Mahmud Nedim Paşa, Foreign Minister
Âsım Paşa and myself were invited to the Palace.  After
dinner we were herded to a corner of the Harem garden
where Sultan Abdülhamid was.  Given the command, we
sat down and Abdülhamid, speaking about the murder,
opened a sealed sack and pulled out a number of bloody
clothes which he said belonged to Sultan Abdülaziz and he
showed them to us.  He then put the garments back in the
sack and had me seal it with my own seal.  We all cursed
the murderers and spoke some more about the crime until
the Sultan gave us permission to leave.  Afterwards, as
can be understood, both Said Paşa and Mahmud Nedim
Paşa tried to convince Âsım Paşa and me that the Sultan
showed us the bloodly clothes to convince of the fact of
the murder.



                               Feriye Palace

Subsequently, within the bureaucracy the requisite
documents  were produced, in consideration of the
importance of the matter.  Public Works Minister
Hüseyin Fehmi Efendi  noted that some related articles
were appearing in the newspapers and he wondered
whether there had been a negative effect abroad in Europe.
Foreign Minister Âsım Paşa summoned the ambassadors,
who said that nothing was being mentioned

about this in their capitals, except for mention of it in the
English Parliament, as reported by Mevsurus Paşa.  In
response, Said Paşa dismissed the news in Mevsurus
Paşa’s telegraph  and it was not read out in the Assembly.
So the discussions were unanimously agreed upon and the
official report was prepared and presented.

About 9 or 10 days later, a meeting  was called, upon the
order of the Sultan, that included  the Prime Minister’s
office, the Council of Ministers, the Generals and other
notables.  However, for whatever reason but doubtless
with the approval of the Sultan, Said Paşa disregarded the
group’s feelings and fowarded his own paper to Saffet
Paşa, the former chairman of the presidency.  In his
memoirs, Said Paşa explained that  the court’s voters
either personally cast their votes or had them
written down and then they signed the document.
 

                         Kâmil Paşa

Further activities involving Justice Minister Cevdet Paşa
and the Şeyülislam were arranged.  In light of the
importance of the matter, a high committee of ministers
and soldiers postponed the final decision to the following
day.  Consequently, the document did not contain the
signatures of Cevdet Paşa and the other 11 individuals. 
So it is quite odd that such an incomplete document
would be promulgated as if it were a definitive decision.

Said Paşa declared that the verdict of the appeals review
concerning the killers of  a Sultan must be obeyed and the
sentences implemented, although, as always, he was
hesitant in giving his own vote.  With the influence of
Monsieur Gladstone (English Prime Minister) in Midhat
Paşa’s favor, the death sentence was lightened (to exile in
Yemen), which even the former Sultan (Abdülaziz)
would have preferred, in terms of mercy.



                     Said Paşa

Midhat Paşa’s death (in Yemen) coincidentally occurred
during Said Paşa’s tenure as Prime Minister, yet I find it
odd that in his memoir, on page 154, Said Paşa feels it
sufficient to mark Midhat Paşa’s passing with the following
sentence: “On the 14th of Receb in 1330 (1884) the
Secretariat received a confidential message  about Midhat
Paşa’s death and the need for an investigation about it. 
A telegram from  Hejaz Province to the Interior Ministry
on 15 April 1300 (1884) reported Midhat Paşa’s death and
this was forwarded to me.” 

In any  case, I repeat my observation that it would be
appropriate for Said Paşa to clear up the puzzle about the
death of Sultan Abdülaziz, based on his knowledge and
convictions of that time.

     Sultan Abdülhamid II