Birth/Death: 1879 – 1948
Title: Sultanzade
About: His full name was Mehmed Sabahaddin. He was the son of Damat Mahmud Celaleddin Paşa and Seniha Sultan, the sister of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Due to his mother’s lineage, he bore the title Sultanzade, and was referred to in the West as Prince Sabahattin. He received a quality education at an early age. In 1899, he fled to Paris with his family due to political pressure. He joined the Young Turks movement but later diverged from Ahmed Rıza in ideological stance. In 1902, he convened the First Young Turks Congress and was elected its president. He founded the group Teşebbüs-i Şahsi ve Adem-i Merkeziyet (Private Enterprise and Decentralization), promoting liberal and decentralist political ideas. After the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era, he returned to Istanbul but refrained from participating in active politics. He opposed the Committee of Union and Progress in 1909 and was briefly imprisoned during the 31 March Incident. In 1913, he returned to Paris, and in 1919 came back to Istanbul. In 1924, he was exiled as a member of the Ottoman dynasty. He spent his final years in poverty in Switzerland and died in 1948
