A translation of Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı’s poem called “İstimdad” on Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Rıza Tevfik was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress, which dethroned Abdul Hamid II. He is one of many who regretted Abdul Hamid’s deposition.

The Tribute :

Where are you my glorious Sultan Hamid Han?
Does my lamentation reach your presence?
Stand up from the sleep of death for a moment
Look at the sin of this ungrateful nation
When history will remember your name
It will confess you being right, oh great Sultan
We were those who shamelessly slandered
The most sage ruler of its time

We said our Sultan was cruel and crazy
We said he has to succumb to the revolution
We said what satan told us to say

We gave birth to chaos
Not you, we were insane
We have threaded a rotten yarn with reveries
Not only Insane, but we were also ill-mannered
We have spit onto the honour of our ancestors
Then, a degenerated and ill-behaved
Herd has sprout up and entered the arena
From where have all these traitors come?
Shame on all of them!
They have cut people into pieces
They have perpetrated slaughters

Those who did not honour the Sultan
Prostrated themselves before
The dirty hat of a rebellious officer
There is no limit for those who suffer from famine
For those who have sacrificed their heads
Cursed should be this tyrant
But still he is remembered with mercy

Now the nation has turned into a cemetery
Everyone has his share of the cursing
Only few people have found peace
In the morning of the devastated cities

The nations interest is covered by sins
The religion is trampled under feet
The soul of the Turk was forced to rebel
Against his Prophet and his Lord
But you, my Prophet are a great intercessor
Even from paradise you may send your support
This nation has suffered, may it be rescued
Forgive us, oh my Padishah

The Poem, along with its translation, has also been rendered into a video available on You Tube