Ottoman Constitution of 1876 (Midhat Constitution)
Also called: Midhat Constitution, Kanun-i Esasi, First Constitutional Era
The Ottoman constitution drafted by the reforming grand vizier Midhat Pasha was proclaimed and a parliament met. But the sultan soon suspended both, using the Russo-Turkish War as a pretext.
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When bankruptcy and Balkan uprisings continued after the Tanzimat, the Young Ottomans and Midhat Pasha, who wanted constitutional government, replaced the sultan in 1876. The new sultan, Abdulhamid II, proclaimed a constitution on 23 December 1876. It was the first modern constitution in the Islamic world, establishing a two-chamber parliament and the equality of subjects; the first parliament met in March 1877.
Yet the constitution left the sultan great power. Abdulhamid II exiled Midhat and, in February 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War, dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. For the next thirty years he ruled as an autocrat, trying to hold the empire together with Pan-Islamism. The constitution was restored only by the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.