THE POLİTİCAL USE OF THE CALİPHATE IN THE REİGN OF ABDULHAMİD II

For II. Abdulhamid, the caliphate was the focal point of Islamist politics, and by exercising the caliphate in an unprecedented way, he gained the respect of millions of Muslims under the rule of Great Powers. He established spiritual and cultural relations with these Muslims, when it was said by the Great Powers that the Ottoman caliph was responsible for it, he flatly rejected them and gave information to the newspapers in this way. Later Abdulhamid II wanted to show the Great Powers that the Ottoman Empire was still standing by using the caliphate as an effective tool. For this purpose, he wanted to make him feel that the caliphate had a provocative power and that with a single word of the caliph, the Muslims under the colony would declare jihad against the Great Powers, although he did not want the relations to be cut, and he wanted to create times of peace for himself. In order to show this situation, he established cultural relations with Muslims. The activities of Abdulhamid II and the influence of the caliphate on the Muslims of the world caused the caliphate to become similar to the papal position by the Great Powers. In this study, the political emergence of the caliphate and Abdulhamid II’s view of the caliphate towards seeking a new policy will be discussed.