Documents on failed ''Yıldız'' assassination unfolds
A mystery over the failed assassination attempt against the 34th Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid has considerably unveiled after more than a century.
An 89-page work, ''The Assassination on Sultan'', brought important facts into the light for the first time, 109 years after the attack, which killed 26 people and wounded 58 others under the Sultan''s service, along with a number of civilians in attendance following the Friday weekly prayer in Yildiz Mosque.
According to the work, by a senior academician of Sakarya University, more than 100 failed assassinations were actually planned against Abdul Hamid during his 33-year reign as the Sultan of Ottoman Empire.
''40 assassination bids completely failed to cause any damage. Out of 100 assassination attempts, it is the 1905''s which managed to reach to its target the most,'' said Prof. Haluk Selvi, the Director of Turkish-Armenian Relations Centre at the university. ''The foiled attempt in 1905 is also the most dangerous one when compared to all, previous and next.''
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The failed assassination against the Ottoman Sultan was orchestrated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, (ARF) at Yildiz Mosque in Istanbul on July 21, 1905. ''Sultan escaped without any injury as he left the mosque a few minutes later than planned,'' he reaffirmed.
Abdulhamid would usually leave the Yildiz Mosque around the same time following every weekly prayer. The pro-Armenian group planned a car bomb attack to enact vengeance from the Ottoman''s influenced leader. Zarehi, an Armenian-origin, parked a time-bomb laden carriage before the mosque, which was supposed to blast at the time the Sultan would leave the prayer. Zarehi set the timer for 42 seconds. However, the Sultan did not turn up as expected because he got caught in a long conversation with an high-ranking Islamic scholar. So, the bomb went off killing many including Zareh.
The report is mainly based on the written proceeding, investigations and reports into the failed assault. ''Abdulhamid set up a commission, led by Necip Melhame Pasha to investigate the incident. The commission submitted a report that revealed how the assassination was planned and who was involved in this, within 30 days,'' explained Prof Selvi.
''The summary of the 1000-page proceeding ended up with an 80-page summary to be presented to Sultan. The prope first focused on the bomb-laden carriage.''
The report also displayed pictures of some explosive materials and bomb-laden carts which were used as a tool in the assassination bids.
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