Saliha Naciye Kadın (, "''the devout one''" and "''saved and freed''"; born Zeliha Ankuap; 1887 – 1923) was the last consort of Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Early life

Of Abkhazian origin, Saliha Naciye Kadın was born in 1887. Born as Zeliha Ankuap, she was the daughter of Aslan Bey Ankuap. In 1901, Kabasakal Mehmed Pasha, presented her for service in the

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace (, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire, Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the List of sultans of the Ottoman ...

, where her name according to the custom of the Ottoman court was changed to Saliha Naciye.

Marriage

Three years into service, Abdul Hamid took notice of Saliha Naciye, and they married on 4 November 1904 in the

. She was 17 years old, and he was 62. She was his thirteenth and final consort. She was given the title of "Sixth Ikbal". She was very sweet, gentle and modest, characteristics appreciated by the sultan. A year after the marriage, on 17 May 1905, she gave birth to her first child, a son,

Şehzade Mehmed Abid Şehzade Mehmed Abid Efendi (; 17 May 1905 – 8 December 1973) was an Ottoman prince, the son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Saliha Naciye Kadın, and brother-in-law of King Zog I of Albania. Early years Şehzade Mehmed Abid was born on 17 May 19 ...

, and three years later on 16 January 1908 to her second child, a daughter, Samiye Sultan, who died on 24 January 1909. After her daughter birth, she was given the honorary rank of "Fifth Kadın", with title Saliha Naciye Kadın. Saliha Naciye was by far the favorite consort of Abdülhamid II, followed by Müşfika Kadın and Pesend Hanım. In the 1909 mutiny, Kabasakal ("twisted beard") was shaved and publicly hanged, and on 27 April 1909, Abdul Hamid was deposed, and sent into exile in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. Naciye was close to him, and so she and her son Abid accompanied him. But after Thessaloniki fell to Greece in 1912, Abdülhamid returned to Istanbul and settled in the

Beylerbeyi Palace The Beylerbeyi Palace () is a 19th-century Ottoman palace located in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus. Commissioned by Sultan Abdulaziz and completed between 1861 and 1865, the ...

, where he died in 1918. Saliha Naciye refused to abandon Abdülhamid and, together with Müşfika Kadın, demanded to stay with him in Beylerbeyi Palace until his death. Pesend Hanım, on the other hand, was unable to obtain permission and therefore never saw her husband again, suffering greatly from this, so much so that she shaved her head as a sign of mourning at his death.

Last years and death

After Abdul Hamid's death, Saliha Naciye settled in the mansion of

Şehzade Mehmed Selim Şehzade Mehmed Selim Efendi (; 11 January 1870 – 5 May 1937) was an Ottoman prince, the eldest son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his consort Bedrifelek Kadın. Early life Şehzade Mehmed Selim was born on 11 January 1870 in the Dolmab ...

located in Serencebey. She died in 1923, and was buried in the mausoleum of Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

, located at Divan Yolu street.

Issue

In literature and popular culture

*Saliha Naciye Kadın is a character in Tim Symonds' historical novel ''Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman'' (2015). *In the 2017 TV series '' Payitaht: Abdülhamid'', Saliha Naciye Kadın is portrayed by Turkish actress Vildan Atasever.

Annotations

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naciye Hanım 20th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans 1887 births Georgians from the Ottoman Empire People from Batumi 1923 deaths People from the Ottoman Empire of Abkhazian descent Abdul Hamid II