Sazkar Hanım (, "''harmony''"; born Fatma Zekiye Maan; 8 May 1873 – 1945) was the ninth 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

Sazkar Hanım was born on 8 May 1873 in Kayalar,

Adapazarı Adapazarı () is a municipality and the capital Districts of Turkey, district of Sakarya Province, Turkey. Its area is 324 km2, and its population 281,489 (2022). It covers the central and northern part of the agglomeration of Adapazarı and t ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Born as Fatma Zekiye Maan, she was a member of an Abkhazian noble family, Maan. Her father was Recep Bata Bey Maan, the son of Osman Bey Maan, and grandson of Kats Bey Maan. Her mother was Rukiye Havva Hanım Mikanba, an Abkhazian. She was the first cousin of Behice Hanım, twelfth consort of Sultan Abdul Hamid. She was presented in the imperial harem by Çorlulizade Mahmud Celaleddin Pasha's Abkhazian consort, Bidar Hanım. Sazkar was tall, with blonde hair and light blue-green eyes.

Marriage

Sazkar Hanım married Abdul Hamid in 1890 in the Yıldız Palace. She was given the title of "BaşIkbal". On 15 June 1891, a year after the marriage, she gave birth to her only child, a daughter, Refia Sultan. Sazkar became close friends with Peyveste Hanim, another consort of Abdülhamid II. 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 ...

. Sazkar was close to Abdul Hamid, and accompanied him for some time She returned to Istanbul in 1910 and settled with her daughter at her palace in Yeniköy. Later she settled in

Şişli Şişli () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 10 km2, and its population is 276,528 (2022). Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş ...

with

Peyveste Hanım Peyveste Hanım (; "''chatty''"; born Princess Hatice Rabia Emuhvari; 10 May 1873 – 1943) was a consort of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. Early life Peyveste Hanım was born on 10 May 1873 in Pitsunda, Abkhazia. Born as prince ...

, her favourite among her husband’s consorts. Their rooms were on the same floor and every day they took coffee together and reminisced about the past. Peyveste's son Şehzade Abdürrahim lived close by and he used to visit often. After Thessaloniki fell to Greece in 1912, Abdul Hamid also 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.

Widowhood and death

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Sazkar went to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

with her daughter, although as a consort and not a blood member of the family she could have remained in Turkey. When her daughter died in 1938, she moved to Damascus, Syria, to be near her daughter's grave and where she died in 1945. She was buried in the city, next to her daughter in the cemetery of the

Sulaymaniyya Takiyya The Sulaymaniyya Takiyya (; ) is a '' takiyya'' ( Ottoman-era Arabic name for a mosque complex which served as a Sufi convent) in Damascus, Syria, located on the right bank of the Barada River.. Commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Ma ...

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Issue

References

Sources