Eleven 'descendants' might demand Ottoman sultan’s land in Mosul, Kirkuk

Eleven of 32 applicants claiming to be descendants of Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II (1842-1918) might be telling the truth, a preliminary expert report has revealed, possibly opening the way for the applicants to demand the sultan’s heritage including several palaces and squares in Istanbul, as well as oil basins in Mosul and Kirkuk.

A total of 32 people claiming to be the descendants of Sultan Abdulhamid II opened a case five years ago, demanding to collect their inheritance. The case was sent to a three-member expert team composed of one historian, one legal person, and one Ottoman language translator. The expert team prepared a preliminary report, according to which 11 of the applicants were deemed to be possible descendants of the sultan.

The experts also determined that some applicants had arranged false documents, and said a lawsuit could be opened on the grounds that they attempted to cheat the court.

The expert report, which was sent to the court on Oct. 23, stated the names of all the children of Sultan Abdulhamid II, who married his first wife in 1863.

In the next trial on Feb. 12, 2015, the court could demand the determination of inheritance, according to Bülent Görür and Ümit Yılmaz, both lawyers of the descendants. The lawyers also said the sultan had property in Turkey and in Mosul and Kirkuk which are rich in oil reserves.

A Turkish law from 1924 states that nobody can demand the property of the sultan as they belong to the state.

However, the lawyers said Abdulhamid II was not a sultan in 1924 as he died in 1918. Kabataş Square, a grove in Dolmabahçe and Galatasaray Island in the Bosphorus are among the properties demanded.