Abstract:

Abdulhamid II, one of the longest reigning sultans of the Ottoman Empire, was dethroned in 1909 after his reign that lasted for about thirty-three years. During his reign, he was exposed to negative accusations and ascriptions in the western public opinion because of the measures taken by him firstly in the Balkan Crisis in the mid-1870's, and then, especially in the Armenian Rebellions of 1890's. For Abdulhamid II, being constantly alienated as the Ottoman Sultan, it was used improper expressions like "Red Sultan", "Great Assassin" and "Abdul the Damned". Newspapers became the main element highlighting this negative image in the western public opinion. The similarity can be observed in the newspapers published by the members of the Young Turk movement. As the opponents of the Sultan, negative publications were made against the Ottoman Sultan in newspapers and magazines firstly published in the Ottoman geography and then in many places abroad, causing the image of Abdulhamid II to develop in a negative way. Abdulhamid II, who was called as "ex-sultan" after his dethronement both in the Ottoman and western newspapers, lived for nine years in exile at first in Thessaloniki and then at Beylerbeyi Palace. After his death in February 1918, he was reported in the Ottoman newspapers as "hakan-i mağfur/forgiven Sultan" and in the foreign newspapers as "death sultan". In this paper, it is aimed to examine the reflections of the death of Abdulhamid II in the national and foreign newspapers. Ottoman newspapers such as Ati, İkdam, Sabah, Tanin, Tasvir-i Efkar, Tercüman-ı Hakikat, Servet-i Fünun and Vakit and the leading newspapers of British, French and American presses constitute the sources of study. In this frame, it is aimed to describe firstly how Abdulhamid's death and funeral ceremony were portrayed, and secondly to determine whether there is any negative/positive change in their perception of the Sultan image in Turkish and foreign newspapers. Thus, it could be possible to compare Turkish and foreign newspapers' approach towards Abdulhamid after nine years of his dethronement.