Yıldız Attempt

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Yıldız Attempt (Armenian: Եըլտըզի Մահափորձը; Turkish: Yıldız suikast teşebbüsü) was an assassination attempted on Sultan Abdul Hamid II by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation at Yıldız Mosque in July 21, 1905 in the Ottoman capital Istanbul (modern-day Turkey).

[edit] Preceding events and planning

The events of the Hamidian massacres and Sultan Abdul Hamid II's continued anti-Armenian policies ^[1] gave way for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to plan an assassination attempt on the sultan to enact vengeance. Dashnak members, led by ARF founder Christapor Mikaelian, secretly started producing explosives and planning the operation in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Abdul Hamid would pray every Friday at the Yildiz mosque and would usually leave around the same time each time, creating a pattern in his movement. Taking advantage of this, the ARF planned to hide timed explosives in a carriage parked outside the mosque which were to explode at the time that Abdul Hamid would leave the mosque. It was decided that Zareh, a fedayee and participant in the Ottoman Bank takeover, would drive the carriage.

During planning, Kristapor Mikaelian, alongside his friend Vramshabouh Kendirian, died in an accidental explosion while making the explosives at the improvised bomb-making factory in the village of Sablyar, near the Bulgarian town of Kyustendil. Despite losing the brainchild of the operation, it continued as planned.

[edit] The attempt

Zareh drove the carriage in front of the mosque and set the timer for a planned 42 seconds. But Abdul Hamid failed to show up because he got caught in a conversation with Sheik ul Islam, making him appear a few minutes later than planned. The bomb went off killing many with it including Zareh, but sparing the life of the sultan. After the attempt failed, the Sultan pardoned the assailants.

[edit] References

• Translated from the Armenian: Mihran Kurdoghlian, Badmoutioun Hayots, C. hador [Armenian History, volume III], Athens, Greece, 1996, pg. 48.