Murad V

Murad V (Ottoman Turkish: مراد خامس‎) (21 September 1840 – 29 August 1904) was the 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 30 May to 31 August 1876.

He was born at Constantinople,Topkapı Palace. His father was Abdülmecid I. His mother, whom his father married in Constantinople on 1 August 1839, was Valide Sultan Şevkefza, (Poti, Georgia 12 December 1820 – Constantinople, Ortaköy, Çırağan Palace, 17 September 1889), an ethnic Mingrelian, daughter of Mehmed Bey Zaurum and his wife Cemile Hanım. He was born at Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy, Constantinople.

Reign

Murad became the Sultan when his uncle Abdülaziz was deposed. He was highly influenced by French culture. He reigned for 93 days before being deposed on the grounds that he was supposedly mentally ill; however his opponents may simply have used those grounds to stop his implementation of democratic reforms. As a result, he was unable to deliver the Constitution that his supporters had sought. The ensuing political instability caused by his ousting moved the empire closer to the disastrous war with Russia, then ruled by Alexander II.