Word: osman
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...issues were given pause by the following considerations: 1) In 1922 the Turkish Parliament abolished the Sultanate, deposed the Sultan-Calif Mohammed VI and conferred the Califate upon his cousin, Prince Abdul Mejid. Subsequently (1924) it abolished the Califate and banished from Turkey all members of the House of Osman, which had ruled as Sultan and Calif since 1517. Thereupon King Husein of the Hejaz was somewhat irregularly "elected" Calif by his adherents, but abdicated as King in favor of his son Ali, who was subsequently conquered and deposed by Sultan Ibn Saud of Nejd. 2) None of these three...
Observers recalled that all male members of the former Imperial House of Osman have been expelled from Turkey, including even Prince Abdul Medjid, whom the Kemalists suffered to act as Caliph from 1922 to 1924. At present over 250 members of this once omnipotent family are said to be living an all but hand-to-mouth existence. A few, of course, have capitalized the lure of royalty at Paris, but for the most part they are said to make their living in such pursuits as "hawking rugs along the Riviera . . . peddling fruits and vegetables . . . driving taxicabs...
Quoth emotional observers: "Many a dark night has passed since the great Osman, looking into a pool of blood, saw a star and the crescent moon there reflected and bethought him of a design for the Turkish flag...
...Needless to say, the authority for this legend is nebulous. Another version has it that a white standard upon which the hero Osman fell was stained with his blood into the famed device. His scimiter, on which he lay, produced the crescent; similarly a diadem, crushed beneath him, prevented the blood from staining a white star-shaped patch...
...father, Abdul Hamid, was one of the astutest and most brilliant of the 36 rulers of the Turkish House of Osman. Had he been less brilliant, the Young Turks might not have thrown him into prison...