# Sultan Abdulhamid II deposed (27 April 1909)

URL: https://allhistories.com/palestine/timeline/1909-sultan-abdulhamid-ii-deposed
Location: Istanbul
Themes: ruler-change

On 27 April 1909 the Ottoman parliament deposed Sultan Abdulhamid II after a failed countercoup against the Young Turk government. He had ruled since 1876 and suspended the constitution in 1878. His brother Mehmed V was installed as a figurehead sultan, and Abdulhamid was exiled to Salonica and later returned to Istanbul. His reign saw railways, schools and telegraphs, as well as censorship, spies and the protection of imperial lands. He opposed Zionist hopes for a charter and restricted Jewish immigration and land purchase in Palestine, while granting private estates to the crown. After his fall the real power lay with the Committee of Union and Progress. At the date of this event the paramount authority over the largest part of the land, by the convention of this dataset, lay with Mehmed V, Ottoman Sultan (1909-1917 (in Palestine)). His removal ended personal rule and brought the committee's policy of centralisation, which affected Palestine and Arab provinces. Land that had belonged to the sultan's personal estate passed to the state. The change led to a new politics in which Arab, Zionist and Ottoman actors competed for influence in the final decade of Ottoman rule.

## Why it matters
The end of Abdulhamid's rule shifted power to the Young Turk committee that governed Palestine until 1917.

Ruler at the Time: [Mehmed V](https://allhistories.com/palestine/rulers/mehmed-v)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Abdul Hamid II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Hamid_II)
- [Wikipedia — Young Turk Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turk_Revolution)
- [Wikipedia — History of Palestine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine)