Portrai̇t of a sultan in the constitutional system: Sultan Mehmed Reşad (1909-1918)

After Abdülhamid II was deposed on April 27, 1909, with the case of March 31, he was replaced with Şehzade Mehmed Reşad who was the oldest member of the Ottoman dynasty after the sultan and became Crown of Sultanate on September 1, 1876, according to the Constitution of 1876. This change will not be a mere change of sultan. Although the Ottoman sovereignty system, which had been going on for centuries, seemed to have changed on paper in 1876 by the proclamation of Kanun-i Esasi, the fundamental change in practice was made possible by enthroning Sultan Reşad. With the amendments made in Kanun-i Esasi on August 1909, the institution of the sultanate was reorganized and a constitutional sultan model was created with which most of its executive powers was taken from the Sultan. Second Constitution (II. Meşrutiyet), which was a turning point in the history of Turkish political life and democracy, constituted a new sultan portrait with the constitutional amendment of 1909. The constitutionalists established a model of the sultanate and regime, which they had imagined for many years, in Sultan Mehmed Reşad's personality. The parliamentary system came to the fore with the Constitutional system and the idea of the domination of the community became concrete. With the collapse of the Empire a few years later, the Republican administration will be built upon this experience. In this dissertation, the sultanate, which took a new form after the Second Constitution, was examined through the life and practices of Sultan Mehmed Reşad. The portrait of the Constitutional Sultan, who was projected in the personality of Sultan Reşad, was drawn. In this study, which is based on archival documents and memories of people who have witnessed the period, and the literature that was formed by historians and jurists, the institution of constitutional sultanate was discussed with its political, administrative and legal dimensions.