türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 18 November 2018)
Abdülhamid-Abdülaziz Death see this TNT report about
the Sultan's adventures.
Abdülhamid-Torturous Ties and this one, too.
"Abdülhamid in Caricatures", recently translated
by Abdullah Gürgün, a Turk living in Sweden.
A Swede named Güstaf Noring who became 'Ali Nuri' was once
described by Austrian Teodor Herzl, the founder of the Jewish-
Zionist movement, as "an Ottoman Viking in a swallow-tailed coat."
Ali Nuri was an accomplished Ottoman diplomat but eventually
became a thorn in the side of Sultan Abdülhamid II. He was born
in Malmö in 1861 and by the age of 17 he already had a library of
5,000 books, writing a book himself entitled "Some Thoughts on the
East Problem." Güstaf Noring/Ali Nuri became interested in the
Ottoman system, moved to Istanbul at the age of 18 and married
Hayriye Hanım, the daughter of Tunuslu Mahmut Benayad, the
Sultan's brother-in-law.
This connection smoothed the way for Ali Nuri's rise in the
Ottoman foreign affairs bureaucracy and included a tour as the Ottoman
consul-general in Rotterdam. However, because of his "obstinate
personality", Ali Nuri fell out with the Sultan and joined the 'Jön Türk'
(Young Turks) movement. He began publishing a magazine entitled
'Davul' (drum) in Europe, with articles and caricatures belittling
Abdülhamid.
Ali Nuri's activities were reported to the Sultan by his 'jurnalciler'
(informants), with one of them, Ottoman Ambassador in Paris Münir
Bey, writing a long note to Abdülhamid about Ali Nuri's Young Turk
connections. Ali Nuri was tried in absentia in Istanbul and sentenced
to life in prison for 'murder', since his anti-Abdülhamid farcical writings
and caricatures were considered 'murder' by the Sultan.
In one of his articles, Ali Nuri related an episode about Abdülhamid,
based on the memoir of the Sultan's Chief Secretary Tahsin Paşa:
"Abdülhamid had a character that bowed to pressure from foreign
forces. A Belgian anarchist named Edward Jorris was accused of
planning a bomb attack against Abdühamid at the behest of the
Armenians in July 1905 and was sentenced to death. But one night
a telegram came from Brussels to the 'Yıldız Saray' (Yıldız Palace,
Abdülhamid's residence), filled with threats and demanding that Jorris
be freed. In response, Abdülhamid had Jorris released from prison,
although Jorris had confessed to having lit the fuse of the bomb in
question (!), and had him brought to Yıldız Palace."
"After a face-to-face discussion with Jorris, Abdülhamid gave him
a salary and assigned him to work as an agent against the Armenians
'komitacılar' (members of secret Armenian revolutionary societies.)
Jorris, who was given 500 gold pieces for this assignment, boarded
the train at Sirkeci station in Istanbul, went to Europe and served
Abdülhamid's interests there."
In another article in Davul that explored Abdülhamid's mental
state and was accompanied by caricatures: "Abdülhamid talks in
is sleep all the time and when he's awake he is frightened by ghosts
he sees running after him. For example, he had a dream of himself
on the gallows, with the public gathered round applauding. He
thinks that the trees in the Yıldız Palace garden are gallows for him.
Because of his fear of being poisoned, he has his food given first to
cats and dogs. He is paranoid about an assassin lurking behind every
corner of the palace."
Davul printed a poem describing the Sultan's paranoia:
"Now is the time for painful days
I'm afraid to look in the eyes of my people
Because there are those seeking revenge everywhere around me
With poison, guns and knives in their hands."
Abdülhamid died on 10 February 1918 of heart and kidney ailments
in Beyelerbeyi Palace, on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
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