ABSTRACT
In the initial phase of Abdülhamid II’s (1876-1909) long reign the main aim of opposition groups was to restore the sultan’s predecessor Murad who was confined in Çırag˘an Palace on the Bosporus. Because the sultan had managed to extinguish all opposition from the higher ranks of his administration the representatives of this early opposition again were small groups relatively unconnected to power. Already in early December 1876 there had been an attempt to abduct Murad and remove him from Istanbul. Four men, a former Greek employee of the British embassy, a Pole and two Turks, were arrested. According to rumours it was either the British, the Russians or Sultan Abdülhamid himself who had backed this incident, which was never cleared up sufficiently.1
