• Söğüt (1299–1309)
• Yarhisar (1309-1314)
• İnegöl (1314-1326)
• Bursa (1326–1365)
• Adrianople (1365–1453)
• Kostantiniyye [Istanbul] (1453–1922).

• Absolute monarchy: 1299-1876, 1878-1908 and 1918-1922.
• Constitutional monarchy: 1876-1878 and 1908-1918.

• Prince of the Ottoman Turks
• Osman I Ghazi (Othman) S/o Ertuğrul..........................1299 - 1324
• He was born in 1256. He got the title bey (chief) from his father, Ertoğrül, as the ruler of the village of Söğüt in 1281. He was a prince of a tribe of Turkish nomads, who founded a Principality in north-west Turkey. Osman announced the independence of his own small kingdom from the Seljuk Turks in 1299. The westward drive of the Mongol invasions had pushed scores of Muslims toward Osman's Anatolian principality, a power base that Osman was quick to consolidate. The birth of the empire originated with the conquest of the Turkish tribe of Eskenderum and the city of Eskişehir (Turkish for 'Old Town') in 1301-1303. With the fall of the Byzantine fort at Yenişehir ('New Town') the Turks where ready to launch a siege at the large Byzantine towns of Bursa and Nicaea (now İznik). Osman I died in 1324, but in some places, it is mentioned that Othman I died and ruled till 1326. Anyhow in 1326 the two cities fell. He was after his death given the title of ghazi (holy islamic warrior) by his successors. As the Byzantine Empire declined, the Ottoman Empire rose to take its place.
• Beys of the Ottoman Turks
• Orhan (Orkhan) S/o Osman I..................................1324 - Mar 1362
• When Orhan succeeded his father, he proposed to his brother, Alaeddin, that they should share the emerging empire. Alaeddin refused on the grounds that their father had designated Orhan as sole successor, and that the empire should not be divided. He only accepted as his share the revenues of a single village near Bursa. Orhan took Bursa (which became the Ottoman capital) and the title Bey. He entered Europe with the permission of the Byzantine Emperor John VI , to sack Thrace. Orhan, with the help of Jihad commanders at the head of his forces of light cavalry, started a series of conquests of Byzantine territories in northwest Anatolia. First, in 1321, Mudanya was captured on the Sea of Marmara, which was the port of Bursa. He then sent a column under Konur Alp towards West Black Sea coast; another column under Aqueda to capture Kocaeli, and finally a column to capture the southeast coast of the Sea of Marmara. Then, he captured the city of Bursa just with diplomatic negotiations. The Byzantine commander of the Bursa fort, called Evronos Bey, became a commander of a light cavalry force and even his sons and grandsons served Ottoman Empire in this capacity to conquer and hold many areas in Balkans. Once the city of Bursa was captured, Orhan sent cavalry troops towards Bosphorus, capturing Byzantine coastal towns of Marmara. There were even sightings of Ottoman light cavalry along the Bosphoros coast. The Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III gathered together a mercenary army and set of towards Anatolia on the peninsular lands of Kocaeli. But at the present towns of Darica, at a site then called Pelekanon, not too far from Uskudar, he met with Orhan's troops. The Byzantine forces were routed by Orhan's disciplined troops. Thus, in 1329 after this Battle of Pelekanon the Byzantines gave up the idea of getting the Kocaeli lands back and never tried conducting a field battle against the Ottoman forces. The city of Nicaea (second only to Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire) surrendered to him after a three-year siege in 1331. The city of İzmit or Nicomedia was also captured in 1337. Orhan gave the command of it to his eldest son, Suleyman Pasha, who had directed the operations of the siege. In 1338 by capturing Uskudar most of Northwest Anatolia was in Ottoman hands. The Byzantines still controlled the coastal strip from Sile on the Black Sea to Uskudar and the city of Amasra (Amastris) in Paphlagonia, but these were so scattered and isolated as to be no threat to the Ottomans.
  Then, there was a change of strategy in 1345. Instead of aiming to gain land from non-Muslims, Orhan took over a Turkish principality, Karesi (present Balikesir and surrounds). According to Islamic philosophy of war, the areas under Islamic rule were to be abodes of peace and the other areas abodes of war. In abodes of war conducting a war was considered a good deed. Karesi principality was a state governed by a Turkish Emir and its main inhabitants were Turkish; so it was an abode of peace. Ottomans had to have special justification for conquering fellow Muslim Turkish principalities. In the case of Karesi, the ruler had died and had left two sons whose claims to the post of Emir were equally valid. So there was a fight between the armed supporters of the two claimant princes. Orhan's pretext for invasion was that he was acting as a bringer of peace. In the end of the invasion by Ottoman troops the two brothers were pushed to the castle of their capital city of Bergama (Pergamum). One was killed and the other was captured. The territories around Bergama and Balikesir (Palaeocastro) were annexed to Orhan's domains. This conquest was particularly important since it brought Orhan's territories to Canakkale, the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles Straits. With the conquest of Karesi, nearly the whole of northwestern Anatolia was included in the Ottoman Empire, and the four cities of Bursa, Izmit (Nicomedia), Iznik (Nicea), and Bergama (Pergamum) had become strongholds of its power. At this stage of his conquests Orhan's Ottoman Principality had four provinces. Original land grant area of Sogut and Eskisehir; Hudavendigar (Domain of the Sultan) area of Bursa and Iznik; Koca Eli peninsular area around Izmit; and fourth former principality of Karesi around Balikesir and Bergama. Orhan conquered most of eastern Anatolia and took part of the political upheaval of the decaying Byzantine Empire by marrying Helen (Nilofer), the daughter of John VI Cantacuzenus the alienated guardian of Emperor John V Palaeologus. As the price of this still prestigious marriage, Orhan helped Cantacuzenus to overthrow John V and his regents. In 1354 Orhan's son, Suleiman Pasha (Süleyman Paşa), occupied Gallipoli (evacuated by its Greek population in the wake of an earthquake) and gave the Ottoman state a bridgehead into mainland Europe.
• Sultan (from 1383).
• Murad I Hüdavendiğar S/o Orhan (Orkhan).................Mar 1362 - 14 Jun 1389
• He established the Empire by building up a society and government in the newly conquered city of Adrianople (Edirne in Turkish) in 1362 and by expanding the realm in Europe, bringing most of the Balkan under Ottoman rule and forcing the Byzantine emperor to pay him tribute. A great palace was immediately built and in 1363 the Ottoman capital moved from Bursa to Edirne. It was Murad who established the former Osmanli tribe into an empire. He established the title of sultan in 1383 and the corps of the Janissaries and the devşirm recruiting system. He also organised the government of the Divan, the system of timars and timar-holders (timariots) and the military judge, the kaziasker. He also established the two provinces of Anadolu (Anatolia) and Rumili (Europe). Murad fought against the powerful emirate of Karamanid in Anatolia and against the Serbs, Bulgarians and Hungarians in Europe. His moves in the Balkans brought together a Christian coalition under the king of Hungary, but they were defeated at the Battle of Maritsa in 1363 (?) by Murad's capable second lieutenant Lalaşahin, the first governor (Beylerbey) of Rumili. In 1366 the Serbian king was forced to pay tribute to the Sultan and in 1385 Sofia fell to the Ottomans. Murad was assassinated by Miloš Obilić, a Serbian noble, during the Battle of Kosovo.
• Bayezid I, Yildirim (The Thunderbolt) S/o Murad I....16 Jun 1389 - 20 Jul 1402
• In revenge for the assassination of Murad in the Battle of Kosovo, Beyazid massacred his Serb prisoners. Nevertheless, he was able to conclude a treaty with the Serb leader, Stephen Bulcovic, and granted Serbia considerable autonomy. In 1391 he laid siege to Constantinople. On the demand of the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus a new Crusade was organized to defeat Beyazid. In 1396, the Christian allies, under the leadership of the Hungarian King and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, was defeated in the Battle of Nicopolis (in modern Bulgaria). The siege of Constantinople lasted until 1398 when the Byzantines paid a considerable tribute to break the siege. In 1400, the Mongol warlord Timur Lenk had succeeded in rousing the local kingdoms that had been conquered by the Turks to join him in his attack on Beyazid. In the fateful Battle of Ankara, on July 20, 1402, Beyazid was captured by Timur and kept chained in a cage as a trophy.
• Interregnum..........................................20 Jul 1402 - 05 Jul 1413
• Following the defeat of sultan Beyazid I in 1402 by the Mongol warlord Timur Lenk. Around 1410 the three sons of Beyazid left alive after the Battle of Ankara ruled each half of the remaindants of the empire. The eldest son, Suleiman Çelebi, ruled (1402 - 1410, capital at  Rumelia) nothern Greece, Bulgaria and Thrace. His brother, İsa Çelebi ruled (1402 - 1406 with Bursa as his capital) Greece and the westernmost of Anatolia, however he was overthrown by the younger half-brother Mehmed Çelebi from his capitol in Bursa in 1404. Suleiman then accuired southern Greece as well and Mehmet ruled over Anatolia. Mehmet then sent his younger brother Mûsa across the Black Sea with a large army to conquer Suleiman. Mûsa won in Bulgaria in 1410 and Suleiman was forced to retreat south to Greece. Mûsa then proclaimed himself as sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1410-1413). Mehmed became furious and sent a small army over to Gallipoli where it was defeated. Mehmed later came to his senses and forced an allians with the Byzantine Empire. Three years later Mehmed sent over a new army. This time it was much stronger and defeated Mûsa in Kamerlu, Serbia. It was then easy for Mehmed I to overthrow his last brother in Greece and become the Ottoman sultan.
• Mehmed I Çelebi S/o Bayezid I........................05 Jul 1413 - 26 May 1421
• He was also know as Kirisci "the Executioner".
• Murad II S/o Mehmed I (1st time).....................26 May 1421 - Aug 1444
• Murad II rebuilt the Empire, and fought wars against Hungary, Serbia and Venice. He founded the Janissaries (a force of mercenaries formed from captured Christian boys). He abdicated in favor of his son. Murad's reign was marked by the long war he fought against the Christians of the Balkans and the Turkish emirates in Anatolia. The open hostilities lasted for 25 years, from 1423 to 1448, first against Venice, the emirate of Karamanid, Serbia and Hungary. Karamanid was defeated in 1428 and Venice withdrew in 1432 following the defeat at the second Siege of Salonika in 1430. In the 1430s Murad captured huge territories in the Balkans and could annex Serbia in 1439. In 1441 the Holy Roman Empire, Poland and Albania joined the Serbian-Hungarian coalition. Murad won the Battle of Varna in 1444 against Janos Hunyadi but lost the Battle of Jalowaz and was forced to abdicate.
• Mehmed II Fatih S/o Murad II (1st time).................Aug 1444 - Sep 1446
• He was known as "The Conqueror".
• Murad II S/o Mehmed I (2nd time)........................Sep 1446 - 03 Feb 1451
• In 1446 he regained command at the interference of the Janissaries and could crush the Christian coalition at the second Battle of Kosovo (the first one took place in 1389). When the Balkan front was secured Murad turned east to defeat Timur Lenk's son, Shahrukh, and the emirates of Karamanid and Çorum-Amasya.
• King (from 1453).
• Mehmed II Fatih S/o Murad II (2nd time)..............03 Feb 1451 - 03 May 1481
• Mehmed captured Constantinople in May 1453, ending the Roman Empire forever (during the well-known Siege of Constantinople) and other Byzantine cities left in Anatolia and the Balkans. He made Constantinople his new capital. He also took Trebizond, the Karaman state, Morea, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Wallachia. The invasion of Constantinople and successful campaigns against small kingdoms in the Balkans and Turkic territories in Anatolia bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country and the Ottoman State started to be recognized as an empire for the first time. As can be guessed from his successful campaign against Otranto in southern Italy and his adopting the title Roman Caesar (Kayser-i-Rüm), he was presumably trying to vitalize the Eastern Roman Empire. For a probably similar reason, he gathered Italian humanists and Greek scholars at his court, kept the Byzantine Church functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate the Christian faith into Turkish and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait. He is also recognized as the first sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before Suleyman the Magnificent (also "the Lawmaker") and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan (padishah). After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many universities and colleges in the city, some of which are still active.
• Bayezid II Wali (The Just) S/o Mehmed II.............22 May 1481 - 24 Apr 1512
• Bayezid was born in Demotika in Thrace. The son of Mehmed II the Conqueror. Throughout his reign, Bayezid engaged in numerous campaigns to conquer the Venetian-held despotate of Morea, accurately defining this region as the key to future Ottoman naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean. The last of these wars ended in 1501 with Bayezid in control of the main citadels of Mistra and Monemvasia. Bayezid's overriding concern was the quarrel with his brother Cem, who claimed the throne and sought military backing from the Knights of St John in Rhodes. Eventually the Knights handed Cem over to Pope Clement VIII. The Pope thought of using Cem as a tool to drive the Turks out of Europe, but as the Papal Crusade failed to come to fruition, Cem was left to fester and die in a Neopolitan prison. Rebellions in the east, such as that of the Kizil Bash, plagued much of Bayezid's reign and were often backed by the Shah of Persia, Ismail, who was eager to promote Shi'ism to undermine the authority of the Ottoman state. Ottoman authority in Anatolia was indeed seriously threatened during this period, and at one point Bayezid's grand vizier, Ali Pasha, was killed in battle against rebels.
  On September 14, 1509, Constantinople was devastated by an earthquake. Bayezid's final years saw a succession battle between his sons Selim and Ahmed. Ahmed, the older of the two claiments had won a battle against the Karaman Turks and their Safavid allies in Asia Minor and now marched on Constantinople to exploit his triumph. Fearing for his safety, Selim staged a revolt in Thrace but was defeated by Bayezid and forced to flee to the Crimea (1511). At this point, Bayezid developed fears that Ahmed might in turn kill him to gain the throne and refused to allow his son to enter Constantinople. Selim returned from the Crimea and, with support from the Janissaries, defeated and killed Ahmed. Bayezid then abdicated the throne on April 24, 1512. He departed for retirement in his native Demotika, but he died along the way on 26 May 1512 at Büyükçekmece before reaching his destination and only a month after his abdication. He was buried next to the Bayezid Mosque in Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul).
• Caliph (from 1517).
• Selim I Yavuz (The Grim) S/o Bayezid II..............24 Apr 1512 - 22 Sep 1520
• He succeeded in 1512 his father Beyazid II, whom he dethroned, and whose death, following immediately afterwards, gave rise to suspicions of Selim's character, which were certainly justified. He signalized his accession by putting his brothers and nephews to death; and gave early proof of resolution by boldly cutting down before their troops two officers who showed signs of insubordination. Selim first defeated all opposition to his position, he killed many of his advisories and even all but one of his sons! He established control over the army.
  He extended Ottoman territory by placing Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina under his control. After the invasion of the latter two cities, he announced himself to be the Caliph (in Arabic meaning "successor" of Mohammed); the "guardian of Islam", considered to be the chief civil and religious ruler of all Islam. After his return from his Egyptian campaign he was preparing an expedition against Rhodes when he was overtaken by sickness and died in the ninth year of his reign, near the very spot where he had attacked his father's troops, not far from Adrianople. He was about fifty-five years of age.
  He was bigoted, bloodthirsty and relentless, earning him the sobriquet "Selim the Cruel". (Though one Turkish historian praises his humanity for forbidding condemned persons to be cut up while still alive or roasted slowly before a fire.) At one time he was, with difficulty, dissuaded from ordering the complete extirpation of all the Christians in Turkey. His ambition was insatiable; he is said to have exclaimed when looking at a map that the whole world did not form a sovereignty vast enough for one monarch. His four months' victorious campaign against Persia was undertaken and successfully carried through contrary to the advice of his ministers, several of whom he executed for their opposition to his plans; and he achieved an enterprise which neither Genghis Khan nor Timur was able to carry out. It is said that he contemplated the conquest of India and that he was the first to conceive the idea of the Suez Canal.
• Suleyman I S/o Selim I...............................30 Sep 1520 - 06 Sep 1566
• He was known as 'The Magnificent' and 'The Lawgiver'. The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in his period. Hungary and Vienna were besieged. He was born at Trabzon, Turkey. The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith and became a world power during his reign. Although the empire continued to expand one century after his death, this period was followed by a very long decline.
  At the age of seven he was sent to study science, history, literature, theology, and military techniques in Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul). His early experience of government was to be as governor of several provinces.Suleyman began a series of military conquests, starting with the captured of Belgrade in 1521. In 1522 he captured Rhodes after a siege, allowing the Knights of St. John to evacuate to Malta.
  On August 29, 1526 Suleyman defeated Louis II of Hungary at the battle of Mohacs, occupying most of Hungary before giving it to John Z polya, prince of Transylvania to govern. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and his brother Ferdinand Archduke of Austria retook Hungary, in response to which Suleyman twice tried to re-invade, twice being beaten by the weather after reaching Vienna in 1529 and 1532. In 1533 a treaty was signed with Ferdinand, splitting Hungary between the Hapsburgs and Zapolya. On Zapolya's death, Ferdinand was left the Hungarian territories, prompting Suleyman to annex Hungary, resulting in several struggles and peace treaties restoring the status-quo.
  In the following two decades, huge territories of North Africa west to Morocco and all Middle East north to Persia were annexed. This quick expansion was associated with naval dominance for a short period in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf. In 1562 he conquered Transylvania.
  While he may have been seen as dangerous to the outside world, he was known as a fair ruler within the empire, fought corruption, and was a great patron of artists and philosophers. He was also noted as one of the greatest Islamic poets, and an accomplished goldsmith. He earned his nickname the Lawmaker from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman law system. The laws that he gathered covered almost every aspect of life at the time.
  At the time of his death, the major Muslim cities (Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Baghdad), many Balkan provinces up to today’s Austria, and most of North Africa were under the control of the empire. Suleyman broke with convention by raising two slaves to positions of power. One, Ibrahim Pasha (İbrahim Paşa) was to rise to become Grand Vizier for 13 years. The other, a captured Ukrainian and daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest, Aleksandra Lisowska (also known by several other names including Khourrem [Hurrem]), was to rise through the ranks of the Harem to become his favorite wife, to the surprise of the empire and the international community. By her he had one daughter, Mihrimar, and the sons Mehmed (who died young), Selim, Bayezid and Cihangir (born physically disabled).
  In power struggles apparently instigated by Khourrem, Suleyman had İbrahim (a supporter of Suleyman's firstborn son Mustafa) murdered and replaced with her son-in-law Rustem Pasha (Rustem Paşa). Later, apparently believing that his popularity with the army threatened his own position, he had Mustafa strangled too, leaving the way clear for one of Khourrem's sons.
  In anticipation of Suleyman's death which, under the ruling practice of fratricide would also bring death to either Selim or Bayezid, in 1559 the brothers engaged in a series of succession battles, resulting in Suleyman ordering the death of Bayezid, who was killed on September 25 1561, after he was returned to the empire by the Shah after fleeing to Iran. Therefore it was Selim who eventually succeeded Suleyman, though he was to take little interest in government. Suleyman died in 1566, the night before victory at the battle of Szigetvar, in Hungary. He is buried in a mausoleum with his wife Khourrem at the Suleymaniye Mosque.
• Selim II Sarhoş Mest (The Sot] S/o Suleyman I........07 Sep 1566 - 15 Dec 1574
• He was the first sultan entirely devoid of military virtues and willing to abandon all power to his ministers, provided he were left free to pursue his orgies and debauches. Fortunately for the country, an able grand vizier, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, was at the head of affairs, and two years after Selim's accession succeeded in concluding at Constantinople an honourable treaty with the emperor Maximilian II, whereby the emperor agreed to pay to Turkey an annual "present" of 30,000 ducats (February 17, 1568).
  Against Russia he was less fortunate, and the first encounter between Turkey and her future northern rival gave presage of disaster to come. A plan had been elaborated at Constantinople for uniting the Volga and Don by a canal, and in the summer of 1569 a large force of Janissaries and cavalry were sent to lay siege to Astrakhan and begin the canal works, while an Ottoman fleet besieged Azov. But a sortie of the garrison of Astrakhan drove back the besiegers; 15,000 Russians, under Knes Serebianov, attacked and scattered the workmen and the Tatar force sent for their protection; and, finally, the Ottoman fleet was destroyed by a storm.
  Early in 1570 the ambassadors of Ivan the Terrible concluded at Constantinople a treaty which restored friendly relations between the sultan and the tsar. Expeditions in the Hejaz and Yemen were more successful, and the conquest of Cyprus in 1571, which provided Selim with his favourite vintage, led to the calamitous naval defeat of Lepanto in the same year, the moral importance of which has often been under-estimated, and which at least freed the Mediterranean from the corsairs by whom it was infested.
  Turkey's shattered fleets were soon restored, and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was preparing for a fresh attack on Venice, when the sultan's death cut short his plans. Little can be said of this degenerate son of Suleiman, who during the eight years of his reign never girded on the sword of Osman, and preferred the clashing of wine-goblets to the shock of arms, save that with the dissolute tastes of his mother, Hurrem (Aleksandra Lisowska), he had not inherited her ferocity. He is also known as "Selim the drunkard".
• Murad III S/o Selim II...............................15 Dec 1574 - 16 Jan 1595
• He was born on July 04, 1546. He was the eldest son of Selim II, and succeeded his father. His accession marks the definite beginning of the decline of the Ottoman power, which had only been maintained under Selim II by the genius of the all-powerful grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Of these the most powerful was that of the sultan's chief wife, named Safie (the pure), a beautiful Venetian of the noble family of Baffo, whose father had been governor of Corfu, and who had been captured as a child by Turkish corsairs and sold into the harem. This lady, in spite of the sultan's sensuality and of the efforts, temporarily successful, to supplant her in his favour, retained her ascendancy over him to the last.
• Sokollu Mehmed Pasha rose through the ranks of the Ottoman imperial system, eventually holding positions as commander of the imperial guard (1543–1546), High Admiral of the Fleet (1546–1551), Governor-General of Rumelia (1551–1555), Third Vizier (1555–1561), Second Vizier (1561–1565), and as Grand Vizier (28 June 1565 – 11 October 1579, for a total of 14 years, three months, 17 days) under three sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was assassinated in 1579, ending his near 15-year rule as de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire. After his death Sultan Murad III changed grand vezirs ten times in sixteen years. These frequent changes in government were part of the general instability in the Ottoman government that followed the death of Sokollu Mehmet Pasha, evidence of a decline in the empire that he had at its pinnacle while he was in office.

• Mehmed III S/o Murad III.............................16 Jan 1595 - 22 Dec 1603
• He was born on May 26, 1566. He remains notorious even in Ottoman history for having his sixteen brothers strangled upon his succession. Mehmed was an idle ruler, leaving government to his mother the Sultana Valide. The major event of this reign was the Austro-Ottoman War in Hungary (1596-1605). Mehmed's armies conquered Erlau (1596) and defeated the Habsburg and Transylvanian forces at Mezokeresztes during which the Sultan had to be dissuaded from fleeing the field halfway through the battle. Mehmed's reign saw no major setbacks for the supposedly declining Ottoman Empire, but none of this can be attributed to the ruler himself. Mehmed died on 22 December 1603 at the age of 37. According to one source, the cause of his death was his decision to kill his own son, Şehzade Mahmud on 07 June 1603. According to another source he died either of plague or of stroke. He was buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque. He was succeeded by his son Ahmed I as the new sultan.
• Ahmed I S/o Mehmed III...............................22 Dec 1603 - 22 Nov 1617
• He was born on Apr 18, 1590. He succeeded his father Mehmed III in 1603 and became the first Ottoman sultan who reached the throne before attaining his majority. He was of kindly and humane disposition, as he showed by refusing to put to death his brother Mustafa, who eventually succeeded him. He was known for his skills in fencing, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages. In the earlier part of his reign he showed decision and vigour, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavourably for Turkey, and her prestige received its first check in the peace of Sitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished.
  Ahmed gave himself up to pleasure during the remainder of his reign, which ended in 1617, and demoralization and corruption became as general throughout the public service as indiscipline in the ranks of the army. The use of tobacco is said to have been introduced into Turkey during Ahmed I.'s reign.
  Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly because it was during his reign that the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture, was constructed. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmed. He died of typhus in 1617.
• Mustafa I S/o Mehmed III (1st time)..................22 Nov 1617 - 26 Feb 1618
• The brother of Ahmed I, Mustafa was reported to be mentally retarded or at least neurotic and was never more than a tool of court cliques at the Topkapi Palace. During the reign of his brother, he was confined to his room in virtual imprisonment for fourteen years. In 1618, after a short rule, another palace faction deposed him in favour of his young nephew Osman II (1618–22), and Mustafa was sent back to the Old Palace. The conflict between the Janissaries and Osman II presented him with a second chance. After a Janissary rebellion led to the deposition and assassination of Osman II in 1622, Mustafa was restored to the throne and held it for another year.
• Osman II S/o Ahmed I.................................26 Feb 1618 - 20 May 1622
• He was born on 03 Nov 1603 and was the son of Ahmed I. He ascended the throne at the age of early age of 14 as the result of a coup d'etat against his uncle Mustafa I. Despite his youth, Osman soon sought to assert himself as a ruler and personally led the Ottoman invasion of Poland. Heavily defeated at Chotin by the Polish hetman Jan Chodikiewicz (1619), Osman returned to Constantinople in shame, blaming the cowardice of the Janissaries for his humiliation. Probably the first Sultan to identify and attempt to tackle the Janissaries as a praetorian institution doing more harm than good to the modern empire. Osman closed their coffee shops (the gathering points for conspiracies against the throne) and drafted loyal troops into the capital. He started planning to create a new and more loyal army consisting of Anatolian sekbans. The result was a palace uprising by the Janissaries under the leadership of Mustafa I's mother. He was deposed in 1622. Osman was taken prisoner in Yedikule Fortress in Istanbul and strangled to death with a bowstring on 20th May 1622. Osman was certainly hotheaded, known to be vindictive and at times sadistic. However, as a ruler he was perceptive and energetic. In contrast to most of his successors he compares favourably. His worst fault as a politician was probably that he tried too much too soon.
• Mustafa I S/o Mehmed III (2nd time)..................20 May 1622 - 10 Sep 1623
• He commenced his reign by executing all those who had taken any share in the murder of Sultan Osman. Hoca Ömer Efendi, the chief of the rebels, the kızlar Agha Suleiman Agha, the vizier Dilaver Pasha, the Kaim-makam Ahmed Pasha, the defterdar Baki Pasha, the segban-bashi Nasuh Agha, and the general of the janissaries Ali Agha, were cut into pieces. The epithet "Veli" (meaning "saint") was used in reference to him during his reign. His mental condition unimproved, Mustafa was a puppet controlled by his mother and brother-in-law, the grand vizier Kara Davud Pasha. He believed that Osman II was still alive and was seen searching for him throughout the palace, knocking on doors and crying out to his nephew to relieve him from the burden of sovereignty. "The present emperor being a fool" (according to English Ambassador Sir Thomas Roe), he was compared unfavorably with his predecessor. In fact, it was his mother Halime Sultan the de facto-co-ruler as Valide Sultan of the Ottoman empire. Mustafa was deposed again in 1623. The 11-year-old Murad IV, son of Ahmed I and Kösem, was enthroned on September 10, 1623. In return for her consent to his deposition, the request of Mustafa's mother that he be spared execution was granted. Mustafa was sent along with his mother to the Eski (old) Palace. He died 16 years later at the Eski (old) Palace, Constantinople on 20 January 1639, and was buried in the courtyard of Haghia Sophia Mosque.
• Murad IV S/o Ahmed I.................................10 Sep 1623 - 08 Feb 1640
• He was born on 16th June 1612. Brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623. Murad was for a long time under the control of his relatives. During his early years as sultan, his mother, Kosem Sultana essentially ruled through him. Murat would however shake off the influences of his family in 1630. Murat asserted his own control by beheading the Grand Vizier and taking government into his own hands. He tried to quell the corruption that had grown during the previous sultans and that had not been checked while his mother was ruling through proxy. This was achieved through numerous ways, such as limiting wasteful spending. Ironically he also banned alcohol and tobacco. Militarily Murad's reign is most notable for a war against Persia in which Ottoman forces conquered Azerbaijan, occupied Tabriz and - in the last great feat of Imperial Turkish arms - captured Baghdad in 1638. Murad himself commanded the invasion of Mesopotamia and proved to be an outstanding field commander. Unfortunately for the empire he was also an alcoholic, and it was from his passion for liquor that he died prematurely in 1640. Not until 1808 would there be another Sultan of his calibre.
• Ibrahim S/o Ahmed I..................................09 Feb 1640 - 08 Aug 1648
• He was born on 05th Nov 1615. One of the most famous Ottoman Sultans as "Ibrahim the Mad". He succeeded his brother Murad IV in 1640. Inheriting all the cruelty and none of the ability of his brothers. Ibrahim brought the Empire almost to collapse in a very short space of time - paralleled only perhaps, by the rule of Phocas in the Byzantine Empire. He is claimed to have suffered from neurasthenia and was also depressed after the death of his brother. His reign was essentially that of his mother, Kosem Sultana, who was no longer hindered in controlling the Empire as she willed. He is known to have had an obsession with obsese women, urging his agents to find the fattest woman possible. A candidate was tracked down in Georgia or Armenia and Ibrahim was so pleased with her that he gave her a government pension and (allegedly) a governership. Ibrahim at first stayed away from politics, but eventually he took to raising and executing a number of viziers. A war with Venice was fought, and in spite of the decline of the Serenissima, Venetian ships won victories throughout the Aegean, capturing Tenedos (1646), the gateway to the Dardanelles. As Ibrahim's rule grew ever more unpredictable, he was deposed and murdered in 1648.
• Mehmed IV, The Hunter S/o Ibrahim....................08 Aug 1648 - 08 Nov 1687
• He was born on 02nd Jan 1642. He was the son of Ibrahim I. Known as Mehmed Avci (the hunter), outdoor exercise took up much of the time of this Sultan. His reign is notable for a brief revival of Ottoman fortunes led by the ruthless Grand Vizier, Mehmed Koprulu. Koprulu regained the Aegean islands from Venice and fought successful campagns against Transylvania (1664) and Poland (1670-1674) - at one point Ottoman rule was close to extending into Podolia and the Ukraine. A later vizier, Kara Mustafa was less able. Supporting the 1683 Hungarian uprising of Imre Thuly against Austrian rule, Kara Mustafa marched a vast army through Hungary and besieged Vienna. On the Khalenburg Heights, the Ottomans were utterly routed by the Imperial army (under Charles V of Lorraine) and the vengeful Poles led by their King, John III Sobieski. Kara Mustafa was strangled in Belgrade on Mehmed's orders, but it was not enough to save the throne for the Sultan who was deposed and imprisoned at Edirne near his favourite hunting grounds. He was deposed in 1687. The tide turned against Turkey in Europe with the relief of the siege of Vienna.
• Suleyman II S/o Ibrahim..............................08 Nov 1687 - 22 Jun 1691
• He was born on 15th Apr 1642. The younger brother of Mehmed IV, Suleiman had spent most of his life in the kafe (cage), a kind of luxurious prison for princes of the blood within the Topkapi Palace. When he was approached to accept the throne in after his brother's death by assassination in 1687, Suleiman assumed that the delegation had come to kill him and it was only with the greatest persuasion that he could be tempted out of the palace to be ceremonially girded with the sword of the Caliphs. Hardly able to take control of events himself, Suleiman nevertheless made a shrewd choice by appointing Ahmed Faizil Koprulu as his Grand Vizier. Under Koprulu's leadership the Turks halted an Austrian advance into Serbia and crushed an uprising in Bulgaria. During a campaign to retake eastern Hungary, Koprulu was defeated and killed by Imperial troops led by Louis William of Baden at Szlankamen in 1690. The Sultan died a year later.
• Ahmed II S/o Ibrahim.................................22 Jun 1691 - 06 Feb 1695
• He was born on 25th Feb 1643. Ahmed was the son of Sultan Ibrahim I and succeeded his brother Suleiman II in 1691. His best known act was to confirm Mustafa Kuprili as grand vizier. Only a few weeks after his accession the Ottoman Empire sustained a crushing defeat at Slankamen from the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden and was driven from Hungary. During the four years of his reign disaster followed on disaster, and in 1695 Ahmed died, worn out by disease and sorrow.
• Mustafa II Ghazi S/o Mehmed IV.......................06 Feb 1695 - 22 Aug 1703
• He was born on 06th Feb 1664. He was a son of sultan Mehmed IV and abdicated in favor of his brother Ahmed III in 1703. Mustafa sought to turn back the Austrian advance into his Empire and in 1697 took the field in person to reconquer Hungary. He was totally defeated at Zenta by Eugene of Savoy and this event led the Ottomans to seek peace terms. By the 1699 Peace of Carlowitz, Mustafa ceded Hungary and Transylvania to Austria, Morea to the Venetian Republic and withdrew Turkish forces from Polish Podolia. Also during this reign, Peter the Great captured the Black Sea fortress of Azov from the Turks (1697).
• Ahmed III S/o Mehmed IV..............................22 Aug 1703 - 01 Oct 1730
• He was born on 30th Dec 1637. He was the son of sultan Mehmed IV. He succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II. Ahmed cultivated good relations with England, in view doubtless of Russia's menacing attitude. He afforded a refuge in Turkey to Charles XII of Sweden after the Swedish defeat at the hands of Peter I of Russia in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Forced against his will into war with Russia, he came nearer than any Turkish sovereign before or since to breaking the power of his northern rival, whom his Grand vizier Baltaji Mahommed Pasha succeeded in completely surrounding near the Pruth in 1711. In the treaty which Russia was compelled to sign, the Ottoman Empire obtained the restitution of Azov, the destruction of the forts built by Russia and the undertaking that the tsar should abstain from future interference in the affairs of the Poles or the Cossacks. Discontent at the leniency of these terms was so strong at Constantinople that it nearly brought on a renewal of the war. In 1715 the Morea was taken from the Venetians. This led to hostilities with Austria, in which the Ottoman Empire was unsuccessful, and Belgrade fell into the hands of Austria in 1717. Through the mediation of England and the Netherlands the peace of Passarowitz was concluded in 1718, by which Turkey retained her conquests from the Venetians, but lost Hungary. A war with Persia terminated in disaster, leading to a revolt of the janissaries, who deposed Ahmed in September 1730. On 28 September 1730, Patrona Halil with a small group of fellow Janissaries aroused some of the citizens of Constantinople who opposed the reforms of Ahmet III. Sweeping up more soldiers, Halil led the riot to the Topkapı Palace and demanded the death of the grand vizer, Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and the abdication of Ahmet III. Ahmet III acceded to the demands, had İbrahim Pasha strangled, and agreed to his nephew, Mahmud, becoming sultan. Ahmed III died on 01 July 1736  at the age of 62 after captivity of six years.
• Mahmud I Ghazi Kambur S/o Mustafa II.................01 Oct 1730 - 13 Dec 1754
• He was born on 02nd Aug 1696. He was brought to the throne by the revolt of Halil Pasha. Mahmud swiftly asserted himself by winning over the Janissaries and having Halil Pasha murdered. The rest of Mahmud's reign was dominated by wars with Persia and Russia. The Persian wars saw Ottoman forces ranged against the military genius of Nadir Shah. The Turks managed to retain control of Baghdad, but Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia fell back within the Persian sphere of influence.
  The Russian war was fought primarily in the Crimea and the Danubian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia). In this war, the Russian commander Von Munnich routed Mahmud's Crimean Tartar vassals and then led his forces across the Dniestr, bringing much of Bessarabia under Russian control. The Austrians, however, did not fare as well, as Ottoman forces brought Belgrade and northern Serbia back under their control. Although no weakling, Mahmud entrusted government to his viziers and spent a large part of his time composing poetry.
• Osman III S/o Mustafa II.............................13 Dec 1754 - 30 Oct 1757
• The younger brother of Mahmud I and son of Mustafa II, Osman was a generally insignificant prince. His brief reign is notable for a rising intolerance of non-Muslims (Christians and Jews being required to wear distinctive clothes or badges) and for a fire in Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul). Osman lived most of his life as a prisoner in the Palace, and so upon becoming Sultan he had some behavioral peculiarities. Unlike previous sultans, he hated music, and sent all musicians out of the palace. He also would wear iron shoes in order to not cross paths with any women, by wearing such shoes they could hear him approach and disperse.
• Mustafa III S/o Ahmed III............................30 Oct 1757 - 24 Dec 1773
• He was born on 28th Jan 1717. He was a son of sultan Ahmed III and was succeeded by his brother Abdul-Hamid I in December 1773. An energetic and perceptive ruler, Mustafa sought to modernise the army and the internal state machinery to bring his empire in line with the Powers of Western Europe. Unfortunately the Ottoman state had declined so far that any general attempts at modernisation were but a drop in the ocean, whilst any major plans to change the administrative status quo immediately roused the conservative Janissaries and imams to the point of rebellion. Mustafa did secure the services of foreign generals to initiate a reform of the infantry and artillery. The Sultan also ordered the founding of Academies for Mathematics, navigation and the Sciences.
  Well aware of his own military weakness, Mustafa assiduously avoided war and was powerless to prevent Catherine the Great's annexation of the Crimea. However this action, combined with further Russian aggression in Poland compelled Mustafa to declare war on St. Petersburg shortly before his death.
• Abdulhamid I S/o Ahmed III...........................24 Dec 1773 - 07 Apr 1789
• Abdülhamid I, Abdul Hamid I or Abd Al-Hamid I (Ottoman Turkish: Abdü'l-?amid-i evvel), called the Servant of God (March 20, 1725 – April 7, 1789), was the 27th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) and succeeded his brother Mustafa III (1757–74) on January 21, 1774. He was born in Constantinople. His mother was Valide Sultan Rabia Sharmi. Abdülhamid was imprisoned for most of the first forty-three years of his life by his cousins Mahmud I and Osman III and his older brother Mustafa III, as was custom. He received his early education from his mother Rabia Semi Sultana, from whom he studied history and learned calligraphy.
  His imprisonment made him aloof in regard to state affairs and malleable to the designs of his advisors. Yet he was also very religious and a pacifist by nature. At his accession the financial straits of the treasury were such that the usual donative could not be given to the janissaries. War was, however, forced on him and less than a year after his accession the complete defeat of the Turks at Battle of Kozluja led to the humiliating treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji on July 21, 1774.
  In spite of his failures, Abdülhamid was regarded as the most gracious Sultan of the Ottomans. He administrated the fire brigade during the fire in 1782. In Istanbul, he won the admiration of his people as he was so religious that he was called a "Veli" (saint). He also traced a reform policy, followed the governmental administrations closely and worked with statesmen. When Abdülhamid came to the throne the army asked for gratuities and the sultan claimed that: "There are, no longer, gratuities in our treasury, all of our soldier sons should learn". He also began the restoration of the military system. He is credited with better education standards. He tried to renovate the Janissary corps and the naval forces. He established a new artillery troop. He made a census in the Janissary corps. Slight successes against rebellious outbreaks in Syria and the Morea could not compensate for the loss of the Crimea which Russia greatly coveted. War was once more declared against Russia in 1787 and in the following year Russians were joined by Austria. The Swedes and Prussians joined the conflict on the side of the Ottomans, but provided no assistance. While the Ottomans held their own in the conflict -- and even "won" the Battle of Karánsebes without firing a single shot -- they ultimately lost with Ochakov falling in 1788 to the Russians (all of its inhabitants being massacred).
  Abdülhamid died four months later at the age of sixty-four in Istanbul. He was buried in Bahcekapi, a tomb he had built for himself.
  His wives were: Valide Sultan Ayse Seniyeperver,, Valide Sultan Naksh-i-Dil Haseki Sultan (there have been speculations that she was a cousin of Napoleon's wife Josephine; see Aimée du Buc de Rivéry), Hatice Ruh-shah, Huma Shah, Ayse, Binnaz, Dilpezir, Mehtabe, Misl-i Na-yab, Mu'teber, Fatma Sheb-SafaNevres and Mihriban. His concubines were: Nukhet-seza Hanimefendi: First Konkubine; Ayse Hanimefendi: Second concubine. His sons were: Mustafa IV (1807–1808) (his son by Ayse Seniyeperver), Mahmud II (1808–1839) (his son by Naksh-i-dil), Murad, Nusret, Mehmed, Ahmed, and Suleyman.
  His daughters were: Esma, Emine, Rabia, Saliha, Alimsah, Durusehvar, Fatma, Meliksah, Hibetullah and Zekiye Sultans.
• Selim III Cilhandar Ilhami S/o Mustafa III...........07 Apr 1789 - 29 May 1807
• Born on 24th Dec 1761. He was a son of Mustafa III and succeeded his uncle Abd-ul-Hamid I.
  The talents and energy with which he was endowed had endeared him to the people, and great hopes were founded on his accession. He had associated much with foreigners, and was thoroughly persuaded of the necessity of reforming his state. But Austria and Russia gave him no time for anything but defence, and it was not until the peace of Jassy (1792) that a breathing space was allowed him in Europe, while Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt and Syria soon called for Turkey's strongest efforts and for the time shattered the old-standing French alliance.
  Selim profited by the respite to abolish the military tenure of fiefs; he introduced salutary reforms into the administration, especially in the fiscal department, sought by well-considered plans to extend the spread of education, and engaged foreign officers as instructors, by whom a small corps of new troops called nizam-i-jedid were collected and drilled. So well were these troops organized that they were able to hold their own against rebellious Janissaries in the European provinces, where disaffected governors made no scruple of attempting to make use of them against the reforming sultan.
  Emboldened by this success, Selim issued an order that in future picked men should be taken annually from the Janissaries to serve in their ranks. Hereupon the Janissaries and other enemies of progress rose at Adrianople, and in view of their number, exceeding 10,000, and the violence of their opposition, it was decided that the reforms must be given up for the present. Serbia, Egypt and the principalities were successively the scene of hostilities in which Turkey gained no successes, and in 1807 a British fleet appeared at Constantinople, strange to say to insist on Turkey's yielding to Russia's demands besides dismissing the ambassador of Napoleon I.
  Selim was, however, thoroughly under the influence of this ambassador, Sebastiani, and the fleet was compelled to retire without effecting its purpose. But the anarchy, manifest or latent, existing throughout the provinces proved too great for Selim to cone with. The Janissaries rose once more in revolt, induced the Sheikhul-Islam to grant a fetva against the reforms, dethroned and imprisoned Selim (1807), and placed his nephew Mustafa on the throne.
  The pasha of Rustchuk, Mustafa Bairakdar, a strong partisan of the reforms, now collected an army of 40,000 men and marched on Constantinople with the purpose of reinstating Selim. But he came too late; the ill-fated reforming sultan had been strangled in the seraglio, and Bairakdar's only resource was to wreak his vengeance on Mustafa and to place on the throne Mahmud II, the sole surviving member of the house of Osman. Died on 29 July 1808.

• Extreme Right side at the bottom.
• At the bottom left side near the edge.
• In the curve of Sultan (left side), in the bottom line (4th line from top).
• In the curve of Bin (left side), in the second last line (3rd line from top).

Below chart can be used to compare Arabic alphabets symbols with Roman Reign digits. Letters, symbols and numerals were placed on coins during the reigns of Mustafa II (1695) until Selim III (1789). They have been observed in various positions but the most common position being over bin in the third row of the obverse.

• Mustafa IV S/o Abdulhamid I..........................29 May 1807 - 28 Jul 1808
• He was born on 08th Sep 1779. His father was Abdul-Hamid I. During the reign of the reformist Selim III, Mustafa was looked upon favorably by the sultan. However, when a janissary revolt rose up against Selim, Mustafa deceived the sultan and supported the janissaries who deposed the old Sultan, and made Mustafa the new ruler. Sympathy for Selim persisted, however, and in 1808 an army under Mustafa Bayrakdar set out for Istanbul in order to bring Selim back to the throne. In response, Mustafa ordered the execution of Selim as well as another brother, Mahmud. This would make Mustafa the only remaining male member of the royal line and, he hoped, thus defuse the rebellion by eliminating any other legitimate candidates for the throne. Selim was killed and his body was thrown before the rebels in mockery, but Mustafa was deposed anyway and replaced by Mahmud, who had escaped execution by hiding in the furnace of a bath. Just as the rebels demanded that Mustafa "yield his place to a worthier," Mahmud revealed himself, and Mustafa was deposed. The failure of his short reign prevented the efforts to undo the reforms, which continued under Mahmud. Mustafa was later killed on Mahmud's orders on 17 November 1808 at the age of 29, and was buried in his father's mausoleum.
• Mahmud II Adli S/o Abdulhamid I......................28 Jul 1808 - 01 Jul 1839
• He was born on 20th July 1785. Placed on the throne after the rebels deposed Mustafa. The leader of this rebellion, Mustafa Bayrakdar, then became Mahmud's vizier and took the initiative in resuming reforms that had been terminated by the conservative coup of 1807 that had brought Mustafa IV to power. It was not long before the vezir was killed by rebellious Janissaries in a fire, however, and Mahmud was forced to temporarily abandon the reforms. Later in his reign, Mahmud's efforts at reform were more successful. His most notable achievement was the massacre of the Janissary corps in 1826. Most of his reforms were not so successful, however, and he was confronted in 1821 with a major rebellion in Greece. Following the great power intervention which resulted in the Battle of Navarino in 1827 and a Russo-Turkish War in 1828-1829, Mahmud was forced to grant Greece its independence in 1832.
  Mahmud appears to have been unable to effect the reforms he desired in the mode of educating his children, so that his son received no better education than that given to Turkish princes in the harem. His son Abd-ul-Mejid succeeded him. Late in his reign, Mahmud became involved in disputes with his ambitious vassal Mehemet Ali, Wali (Governor) of Egypt. Mahmud had enlisted Mehemet Ali's help in suppressing the rebellion in Greece, but had not paid the promised price for his services. In 1831, the Wali declared war, and managed to take control of Syria and Arabia by war's end in 1833. In 1839, Mahmud resumed the war, hoping to recover his losses, but at the very time he died, the news was on its way to Constantinople that the empire's army had been signally defeated at Nezib by an Egyptian army led by Mehemet Ali's son, Ibrahim Pasha.
  When he died from tuberculosis on 01st July 1839, his funeral was crowded by throngs of people who came to bid the sultan farewell. British, Prussian and French advisors were imported. Most importantly a series of schools teaching everything from math to medicine were set up to train the new officers. Mahmud adopted other western ideas, however. The government was overhauled and redesigned on European models. European clothing styles were also imported and the Sultan and the elites abandoned the fez and turban. The first Turkish newspaper, an official government publication, was also published during this time. This period of reform continue after the death of Mahmud in 1839. In 1849 a massive new program of reforms known as the Tanzimat was launched.
• Abdulmecid Ghazi S/o Mahmud II.......................02 Jul 1839 - 25 Jun 1861
• Abdulmejid died of tuberculosis (like his father) at the age of 38 on 25 June 1861 in Istanbul, and was buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Sultan Abdülaziz, son of Pertevniyal Sultan.
• Abdulaziz S/o Mahmud II..............................25 Jun 1861 - 30 May 1876
• Abdülaziz was deposed by his ministers on 30 May 1876. On the morning of 05 June, at Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy, Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul)., Abdülaziz asked for a pair of scissors with which to trim his beard. Shortly after this he was found dead in a pool of blood flowing from two wounds in his arms. One of those physicians also stated that “His skin was very pale, and entirely free from bruises, marks or spots of any kind whatever. There was no lividity of the lips indicating suffocation nor any sign of pressure having been applied to the throat.” The direction and nature of the wounds, together with the instrument which is said to have produced them, lead us to conclude that suicide had been committed.

• Murad V S/o Abdulmecid...............................30 May 1876 - 31 Aug 1876
• He was born on 21st Sep 1840. Son of Sultan Abdul Mejid, he was placed in power after his uncle Sultan Abdul Aziz was deposed. He was highly influenced by French culture. He reigned for 93 days before also being deposed, due to mental illness, and succeeded by his brother Sultan Abdul Hamid II. He failed to deliver the Constitution that his supporters had sought, and under his reign the country moved closer to the disastrous Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 against Alexander II of Russia. He died on 29th Aug 1909.
• Abdulhamid II Ghazi Kanli Bedros S/o Abdulmecid......31 Aug 1876 - 27 Apr 1909
• The new attitude of the sultan did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the powerful reactionary elements in the state, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude towards the counter-revolution of 13 April 1909 known as the 31 March Incident, when an insurrection of the soldiers backed by a conservative upheaval in some parts of the military in the capital overthrew the new Young Turks' cabinet. The government, restored by soldiers from Salonica, decided on Abdul Hamid's deposition, and on 27 April his brother Reshad Efendi was proclaimed as Sultan Mehmed V. The Sultan's countercoup, which had appealed to conservative Islamists against the Young Turks' liberal reforms, resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands of Christian Armenians in the Adana province. The ex-sultan was conveyed into dignified captivity at Salonica. In 1912, when Salonica fell to Greece, he was returned to captivity in Constantinople. He spent his last days studying, carpentering and writing his memoirs in custody at Beylerbeyi Palace in the Bosphorus, in the company of his wives and children, where he died on 10 February 1918, just a few months before his brother, the Sultan. He was buried in Constantinople. In 1930, his nine widows and thirteen children were granted $50$ million from his estate, following a lawsuit that lasted five years. His estate was worth $1.5$ billion. Abdul Hamid was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to hold absolute power. He presided over 33 years of decline. The Ottoman Empire had long been acknowledged as the "sick man of Europe" by other European countries.
• Mehmed V Resad Ghazi S/o Abdulmecid..................27 Apr 1909 - 03 Jul 1918
• Mehmed V (Muhammad V) died at Yıldız Palace on 03 July 1918 at the age of 73, only four months before the end of World War I. Thus, he did not live to see the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. He spent most of his life at the Dolmabahçe Palace and Yıldız Palace in Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul). His grave is located near to Eyüp Sultan Mosque in the Eyüp district, Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul).
  • The 1913 Ottoman coup d'état (January 23, 1913), also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî Baskını), was a coup d'état carried out in the Ottoman Empire by a number of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) members led by Ismail Enver Bey and Muhammad Talaat Bey, in which the group made a surprise raid on the central Ottoman government buildings, the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî). During the coup, the Minister of the Navy Nazım Pasha was assassinated and the Grand Vizier, Kâmil Pasha, was forced to resign. After the coup, the government fell into the hands of the Committee of Union and Progress, now under the leadership of the triumvirate known as the "Three Pashas", made up of Ismail Enver Pasha, Mehmed Talaat Pasha and Ahmed Djemal Pasha.
  • The Battle of Sardarabad (Armenian: Սարդարապատի ճակատամարտ, Sardarapati č̣akatamart; Turkish: Serdarabad Muharebesi) was a battle of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place near Sardarabad, Armenia from 22 to 29 May 1918, between the regular Armenian military units and militia on one side and the Ottoman army that had invaded Eastern Armenia on the other. Sardarabad was only 40 kilometers west of the city of Yerevan. The battle is currently seen as not only stopping the Ottoman advance into the rest of Armenia, but also preventing complete destruction of the Armenian nation.
• Mehmed VI Vahdettin S/o Abdulmecid...................04 Jul 1918 - 01 Nov 1922
• Muhammad VI was born on 14th Jan 1861. He was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.The brother of Mehmed V Resad, he succeeded to the throne due to the suicide of Yusuf Izzetin, the heir to the throne. He was crowned on July 04, 1918, as the thirty-sixth padishah. World War I had been a disaster for the Ottoman Empire. British forces had occupied Baghdad and Jerusalem during the war and most of the Empire was to be divided among the European allies. At the San Remo conference of April 1920, the French had been given a mandate over Syria and the British had been given one over Palestine and Mesopotamia. On August 10, 1920, Mehmed's representatives signed the Treaty of Sevres, which recognized the mandates, removed Ottoman control over Anatolia and Izmir, severely reduced the extent of Turkey, and recognised Hejaz as an independent state.
  Turkish nationalists were angered by the Sultan's acceptance of the settlement. A new government, the Turkish Grand National Assembly, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal had been formed in April 1920, centred on Ankara. On April 23, the government of Mehmed was denounced and a temporary constitution was affirmed.
  The nationalists' successes meant that the sultanate was abolished on November 01, 1922, and Vahdettin left Constantinople aboard a British warship on November 17th, bound for exile on the Italian Riviera. He died in San Remo, Italy. On November 19, 1922 his first cousin and Crown Prince was elected Caliph becoming the new Head of the dynasty. Vahdettin died on 16th May 1926  in Sanremo, Italy and was buried at the Tekkiye Mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Damascus.

• Mehmed VI S/o Abdülmecid I (continued).............01 Nov 1922 - 16 May 1926
• He was the 36th Head of the House of Osman but in exile. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the Sultanate on 01 November 1922, and Mehmed VI was expelled from Constantinople. Leaving aboard the British warship Malaya on 17 November, he went into exile in Malta; Mehmed later lived on the Italian Riviera. On 19 November 1922, Mehmed's first cousin and heir Abdülmecid Efendi was elected Caliph, becoming the new head of the Imperial House of Osman as Abdülmecid II before the Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1924. Mehmed died on 16 May 1926 in Sanremo, Italy, and was buried at the Tekkiye Mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Damascus.
• Abdülmecid II S/o Abdulaziz........................16 May 1926 - 23 Aug 1944
• He was the 37th Head of the House of Osman following Mehmed VI's death. He was the last Muslim Caliph: 19 November 1922 - 03 March 1924. On May 29 1868, he was born at Dolmabahche Palace of Istanbul (former: Constantinople) to then Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz. He was educated privately. On July 04, 1918 his first cousin Mehmed VI became Sultan and Abdul Mejid was named Crown Prince. Following the deposition of his cousin on November 01, 1922 the Sultanate was abolished. But on November 19, 1922, the Crown Prince was elected Caliph by the Turkish National Assembly at Ankara. He established himself in Istanbul on November 24, 1922. On March 03, 1924 he was deposed and expelled from the shores of Turkey with the rest of his family. He was given the title of General of Ottoman Army and served as Chairman of the Ottoman Artist's Society. A painter himself, his portraits of Ludwig van Beethoven Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Selim I were displayed at the Vienna Exhibition of 1918. On August 23, 1944 Abdul Mejid II died at his house in the Boulevard Suchet, Paris, France. His death coincided with the Liberation of Paris from the German occupation. He was buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia, by the order of King Saud of Saudi Arabia.
• Ahmed Nihad S/o Mehmed Selaheddin Efendi...........23 Aug 1944 - 04 Jun 1954
• 38th Head of the House of Osman. He was born in Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy on 05 July 1883, as the eldest son of Prince Mehmed Selaheddin Efendi, by his wife, Naziknaz Hanım, and grandson of Sultan Mehmed V. He was educated privately. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel of Infantry of the Ottoman Army.
• Osman Fuad S/o Mehmed Selaheddin Efendi............04 Jun 1954 – 19 May 1973
• 39th Head of the House of Osman, half-brother of Ahmed Nihad. He was born as the third son of Prince Mehmed Selaheddin Efendi, by his sixth wife, Jalefer Hanım, and was a grandson of Murad V. He spent his early childhood confined to the Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy, in Qustantiniya (Constantinople now Istanbul). The Palace served as an enforced residence to his grandfather Murad V, who had been deposed in 1876, and replaced by his brother, Abdülhamid II. The restrictions imposed on the former Sultan extended to his entire family, and were not lifted until his death in 1904. On the death of his grandfather, Osman Fuad Efendi left this life of confinement and for a few years lived in the properties rented by his father in Feneryolu, Kuruçeşme, and Ortaköy, before returning to the Çırağan Palace to live with his grandmother Empress Şayan Kadın, the third wife of Murad V. When Libya was invaded by the Italians in 1911, Osman was aged sixteen. He joined the Volunteer Officers force (Fedâî Zâbitân) raised by Enver Pasha and saw active service in the campaign. Osman Fuad Efendi, took part in the Cyrenaica Operation in the sanjak of Benghazi. Here, he made the acquaintance of Mustafa Kemal Bey, who was then a captain. Fuad died at Nice, France, following a short illness on 19 May 1973 and is buried in the Moslem cemetery, Bobigny, Paris. Although he got married but had no children, he was particularly close to his only nephew Prince Ali Vasib Efendi, and as such he treated his nephew's son Prince Osman Selaheddin Osmanoğlu as if he was his own, naming him as his heir.
• Mehmed Abdulaziz S/o Mehmed Seyfeddin..............19 May 1973 – 19 Jan 1977
• 40th Head of the House of Osman, grandson of Sultan Abdülaziz I. Prince Mehmed Abdulaziz was born on 26 September 1901 at, Ortaköy Palace, Ortaköy, Istanbul the son of Prince Mehmed Seyfeddin, Rear Admiral of the Ottoman Navy and his first wife Georgian Necem Felek Hanım, and paternal grandson of Sultan Abdülaziz by his sixth wife. He was married in Cairo on 21 February 1929 to Berkemal Yegen Hanım, a descendant of Menliki Ahmad Pasha and Emine Zübeyde (sister of Muhammad Ali Pasha, Wāli of Egypt), and had one daughter Hürrem Abdulaziz. He died in Nice on 19 January 1977 and was buried there.
• Ali Vâsib Efendi S/o Ahmed Nihad...................19 Jan 1977 – 09 Dec 1983
• 41st Head of the House of Osman, son of Ahmed IV Nihad. He was born on 13 October 1903 at Beşiktaş, Istanbul (Constantinople). Much of his life was spent in exile. He was the only son of Ahmed Nihad and Her Highness, Safiru Hanım. Murad V, the 33rd head of the House of Osman, was Vâsib's great grandfather. After the formation of the republic of Turkey in 1923 and the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Caliphate in the following year, Vasib and other members of his family were forced into exile. They left Istanbul from Sirkeci railway station. Vasib lived in Budapest for a few months, before settling in Nice, France. In January 1935, Vasib moved to Alexandria, Egypt with his wife and her family. For the next 18 years, Vasib was the director of the Antoniadis Palace, which served to accommodate foreign heads of state and dignitaries visiting Alexandria. Vasib was permitted to return to Turkey in 1974. From that time, he visited annually and his wife lived in a humble rented flat in the old part of the city near Sultan Ahmed Square. Vasib's memoirs have been published in Turkish. Vasib's son, Osman Selaheddin, transcribed the work from Arabic to a Latin script. On 09 December 1983, in Alexandria, Vasib died from a stroke. He was 80. He was buried in Alexandria and later his remains were moved to Sultan Reşad Mausoleum, Eyüb. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Ottoman prince. On his death, the Monarchist League wrote: "Prince Ali Vasib will be remembered as a man of great charm. His ease of manner and his gifts as a raconteur were the hallmarks of one of the last of the grands seigneurs of the Gotha."
• Mehmed Orhan Osmanoğlu S/o Mehmed Abdülkadir.......09 Dec 1983 – 12 Mar 1994
• 42nd Head of the House of Osman. He was born on 11 July 1909 at Serencebey Palace or at Kızıltoprak, Asia Minor or according to Hamide Ayşe Sultan in Naime Sultan Palace. He was the son of Prince Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkadir, Captain of the Ottoman Army, by his third wife Mihriban Hanım and grandson of Abdul Hamid II by his fourth wife Empress Bidar Kadın. Mehmed Orhan worked as a shipbuilder in Brazil, a taxi driver in Beirut and Damascus, a cemetery attendant in USA and an aide to King Zog of Albania. He died on 12 March 1994 at the age of 84 in Nice and was buried there. In a 1990 feature in Life magazine, he said his legacy is "both sacred and laughable," and said, "To be Ottoman is to know how to breathe with time." He married twice and had a daughter Fatma Necla Sultan and a adopted son from second marriage: Mehmed Selim Orhan.
• Osman Ertuğrul Osmanoğlu...........................12 Mar 1994 – 23 Sep 2009
• 43rd Head of the House of Osman, grandson of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Osman was born on 18 August 1912 in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He was the youngest son of Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin (Yıldız Palace, 19 December 1885 – New York City, United States, 15 June 1949, and buried in Damascus). His father served as a Captain of the Ottoman Army. From 1914 to 1919 his father was crown prince and titular king of Albania by his marriage to his first wife, Aliye Melek Nazlıyar (Adapazarı, 13 October 1892 – Ankara, 31 August 1976), daughter of Huseyin Bey. They married at Nişantaşı, Nişantaşı Palace, Pera (today Beyoğlu) on 07 June 1909 and divorced in 1919. Osman's paternal grandparents were Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his fourth wife.
  In 1924, while studying in Vienna, Austria, he received news that all members of the Sultan's family were to be exiled. He lived in the United States from 1933 and later resided in New York City. Osman lived modestly in New York after 1945, residing in a two-bedroom apartment above a restaurant. He returned to Turkey in 1992, having been invited by the country's government. At that time, he observed, "Democracy works well in Turkey." He became the 43rd Head of the Imperial House of Osman in 1994. Osman was granted a Turkish passport and citizenship in 2004. Osman spoke Turkish, English, German and French fluently and understood Italian and Spanish. He died aged 97 on 23 September 2009. The Turkish Ministry of Culture announced that Ertuğrul had died in his sleep as a result of renal failure. His wife, who was by his side, when he died, also confirmed the cause of death. The Prince had spent one week in Istanbul's Memorial hospital at the time of his death. Osman's funeral was held at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul on 26 September. His body was interred next to his grandfather Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Istanbul’s Çemberlitaş neighborhood. His coffin was draped with the Imperial Ottoman Standard and his funeral was attended by Turkish Government Ministers. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey and the President of the Republic of Turkey both sent condolences to the Imperial family. The Prime Minister also later visited Osman's widow at a former Imperial Palace to express his condolences.
• Osman Bayezid Osmanoğlu............................23 Sep 2009 – 06 Jan 2017
• 44th Head of the House of Osman, great-grandson of Sultan Abdülmecid I. He was born on 23 June 1924 at Paris, France and the second son of Sultan Abdülmecid I's grandson Ibrahim Tevfik (24 September 1874 – 31 December 1931) by his fourth wife Hadice Sadiye Hanım. He was a member of one of the younger branches of the House of Osman. He was the first member of the House of Osman to be born in exile, and the first head to have been born after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Osman never married and had no children. On 23 September 2009 with the death of Ertuğrul Osman, he succeeded to the head of the House of Osman. Osman's relative, Abdulhamid Kayıhan Osmanoğlu, announced on social media that Osman had died in New York on 06 January 2017, aged ninety-two.
• Dündar Ali Osman Osmanoğlu.........................06 Jan 2017 - date
• 45th Head of the House of Osman, great-grandson of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. He was born on 30 December 1930.

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