The hapless sultan is deposed in 1876…

The hapless sultan is deposed in 1876 by a fetva (legal opinion) obtained by Midhat Pasha, a reformist minister sympathetic to the aims of the Young Ottomans.

His successor, Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876-1909), comes to the throne with the approval of Midhat and other reformers.

In December of this year, on the eve of the war with Russia, the new sultan promulgates a constitution, based on European models, that have been drafted by senior political, military, and religious officials under Midhat's direction.

Embodying the substance of the Young Ottoman program, this document creates a representative parliament, guaranteed religious liberty, and provides for enlarged freedom of expression.

Abdul Hamid's acceptance of constitutionalism is a temporary tactical expedient to gain the throne, however.

Midhat is dismissed in February 1877 and is later murdered.

The sultan calls the empire's first parliament but dissolves it within a year.