By Emirhan Özkır
From: İstanbul
Attending: İstanbul Medipol University, Faculty of Communication, Public Relations & Advertising
Age: 20 years old
Today is August 26, that is, the 53rd anniversary of the death of Sabiha Sultan, daughter of the last Ottoman Sultan Mehmet Vahdettin VI. Rukiye Sabiha Sultan was born in Feriye Palace on March 19, 1894, as the third daughter of Sultan Vahideddin and Emine Nazikeda Kadınefendi. Her mother, Nazikeda Kadinefendi, was a princess belonging to the Marchan Dynasty, one of the oldest and most noble families in Abkhazia. She was born in 1866 in Tzebelda, Abkhazia, as the daughter of Prince Hasan Ali Marşania and Princess Fatma Horecan Aredba. At a very young age, she was raised by Cemile Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Abdülmecid, and for this reason, in accordance with palace customs, she was given a new name, Nazikeda. Nazikeda became the best friend of Fatma Hanımsultan, the daughter of Cemile Sultan. In 1885, she married Prince Mehmed Vahideddin at the Feriye Palace in Ortaköy. Münire Sultan, the first child of Şehzade Vahideddin and Nazikeda Kadın, died when she was a few weeks old.
Then their second daughter Fatma Ulviye Sultan (1892-1967) and their third daughter Rukiye Sabiha Sultan (1894-1971) were born. As a result of a fire in the Feriye Palace where they lived, Sabiha Sultan’s family moved to Çengelköy in 1898-1899. Sabiha Sultan and her older sister Ulviye spent their childhood in Çengelköy Mansion, located on an area of 50 thousand acres. Ulviye and Sabiha Sultans received a very good education. They learned French, German, Arabic and Latin. After the death of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad in 1918, their father, Prince Vahideddin, ascended the throne as Sultan Mehmed VI. Sabiha Sultan was now a sultan’s daughter, and they moved to Yıldız Palace with all their entourage. However, the reign of Sultan Vahideddin coincided with the most troubled period of the 600-year-old empire, and almost all the lands of the empire were occupied.
Likewise, Istanbul was under occupation, and although Sabiha Sultan was the daughter of the sultan, she reused her dresses by turning them inside out during this troubled period. On April 29, 1920, Sabiha Sultan married Prince Ömer Faruk. Prince Ömer Faruk was the son of Prince Abdülmecid Efendi, one of the sons of Sultan Abdülaziz. Prince Ömer Faruk was a tall, well-formed, educated and cultured prince who received military training in Germany and whose handsomeness was talked about throughout Istanbul society. After Sabiha Sultan and Prince Ömer Faruk got married, they moved to Sabiha Sultan’s mansion in Nişantaşı, they generally spent the winter months in their mansion in Nişantaşı and the summer months in the Tophane Müşiri Zeki Pasha Mansion in Rumelihisarı.
On February 4, 1921, Sabiha and Faruk’s first child was born, Fatma Neslişah Sultan. Her first name, Fatma, was given by her mother’s father, Sultan Vahdettin, and her second name, Neslişah, was given by her father’s father, Prince Abdülmecid Efendi. The sultanate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on November 1, 1922. 16 days later, on November 17, 1922, Sabiha Sultan’s father, Sultan Vahdettin, left Istanbul. On 18 November 1922, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey declared Prince Abdülmecid Efendi, Sabiha Sultan’s father-in-law, as the “Caliph”. The new Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi, moved from his mansion in Çamlıca to Dolmabahçe Palace with his family and entourage. Sabiha Sultan gave birth to her second daughter, Zehra Hanzade Sultan, on September 19, 1923, at the Dolmabahçe Palace upon the request of her father-in-law.
They stayed at the Dolmabahçe Palace for a while after the birth. About 6 months after the birth of Hanzade Sultan, the Caliphate was abolished on March 3, 1924 and it was decided to send the Ottoman Dynasty outside the borders of Turkey. After the decision to exile, Sabiha Sultan and her family first went to Switzerland. After staying in Switzerland for about 6-7 months, they decided to move to Nice, France. About 2 years after moving to Nice, Necla Hibetullah Sultan, the youngest daughter of Sabiha and Faruk, was born on May 15, 1926, Sultan Vahdettin gave the little princess the name Necla, and Abdülmecid Efendi gave the name Hibetullah. After the joy they experienced on the same day, Sabiha Sultan’s father, Sultan Vahdettin, passed away as a result of a heart attack at his home in San Remo. Sabiha Sultan, who was in a miserable state, could not go to San Remo because she had just given birth.
Sabiha Sultan’s husband, Prince Ömer Faruk, took care of the funeral arrangements. Sultan Vahdettin’s body was buried in the Cemetery of Sultan Selim Mosque in Damascus. Years passed and Sabiha and Faruk’s three beautiful daughters grew up. Prince Ömer Faruk decided to move to Egypt with his family because he thought that a war would start in Europe, so they moved to Egypt in 1938. After living in Alexandria, Egypt for a while, they decided to move to Cairo. After moving to Egypt, Sabiha Sultan’s daughters Neslişah, Hanzade and Necla married Egyptian princes. Neslişah married Prince Muhammed Abdülmünim, the son of the Last Khedive Abbas Hilmi Pasha II, Hanzade married Prince Mehmed Ali İbrahim, and Necla married Prince Amr İbrahim. After her daughters’ marriages, Sabiha Sultan started to become a grandmother. In 1948, Sabiha Sultan and Prince Ömer Faruk divorced after 28 years of marriage. Prince Ömer Faruk married his cousin Mihrişah Sultan.
In 1952, with the amnesty law for female members of the Ottoman Dynasty, Sabiha Sultan moved to Istanbul. She spent the last 19 years of her life in her beloved hometown, Istanbul, and sometimes with her daughters in some European cities, especially Paris (because her daughter Hanzade Sultan lived in Paris).
She passed away on August 26, 1971, exactly 53 years ago today, at her daughter Hanzade Sultan’s house in Yeniköy. After the funeral prayer performed at the Bebek Mosque, her body was buried in Aşiyan Cemetery, according to her will.
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