SULTAN’S FORTUNE

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1930, Page 8

SULTAN’S FORTUNE

HUCHEST MAN IN WOULD. DESPOT’S LONG REIGN OF PL LINDER. LONDON, Jiiliuarv 29. The “Daily Mail’’ is able to-day to reveal the story, which reads likt pages from the Arabian Nights, of a five-years’ fight by the 13 children and nine surviving widows of Abdul the Damned, the notorious Sultan of Turkey ,wno was deposed in 1909, for a share of his £300,000,000 estate. Grade is reported to be’ prepared to pay them £10,000,000, and they now imp':* to get £2oo,Ojj,<JOO from Mesopotamia. The claimants are: Prince Selim, Prince Ahmed and Princess Aelie, and their mother Bedrifeiek, Abdul's favourite wife; Prince Abdul Kadir and Princes; Nairnee, the children of his second favourite, Ridar, who is dead; Princess Naile, Prince Nourreddin, Princess Aiche, Prince Abid, Princess Refie, Princess Ciiadie and Prince Ardurrahim; Fatima, Behiclje, Mouelifika, Nadjie, Saziigiiiar, Emsalinour, and Pei.vesto, the Sultan’s other wives and their respective mothers; and Prince Bourhanneddin and his mother, the tenth of the Sultan’s wives. The Sultan was reputed to be the | richest man in the world. He reignI ed 33 years as an all-powerful Oriental I despot, and died in prison in 1918. Abdul, in the course of his long reign over the Ottoman Empire, acquired by “gifts” and other means from his “devoted subjects” immense wealth and great estates. When he was deposed by the Young Turks in 19U9, his private fortune, which was then estimated at £8,0C0,000, and his estates, which brought him a revenue of about £3,000,000 a year, were confiscated. That property included : Lands in Thessaly, Greece; Almost half the province of Salomon., ,-v large portion of Macedonia; Extensive holdings in Syria, Mesopat, amia, Palestine and Grypus; The island of Tassos, where an AngloGerman group is developing the zinc deposits; and The Mosul oilfields. Post-war treaties compelled Turkey to hand over to Greece certain territories which were once the Sultan’s private property. The Mosul oilfields were dealt with by apportionment to companies which included the Royal Dutch Shell, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, and the AngloPersian Oil Company, as well as the French Government. The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, however,, provided that the property of Turkish nation as was to be respected by the various countries which took over parts of the Ottoman Empire, and io is this which has led to the deve- • lop’inents which the “Daily Mail” is now able to disclose.

50,000 TITLE DEEDS. Adbul Hamid’s heirs have always protested that the confiscation of the sultan’s property was illegal, and in their efforts to establish their contention they enlisted the aid of British and American financiers. First the Anglo-Hellenic Finance! Corporation was formed and then the Vafideh Trust Ltd. More recently these companies have been taken over by the /Egean Trust, Ltd., of Westminster, and it is this company which has achieved success. Its task, however, lias been difficult and it was only after securing the good offices of a French jurist of world-wide repute that the differences between the heirs were composed and a common demand made for recognition. For' five years the negotiations have been in progress. Immense sums have been expended in searching for records of the Sultan’s pronorties and a collec■L,’nn of' nearly 50,000 title deeds has boon seen red. T u add ; tion the trust has had to find ” ’"ontfilv .sum of about £I.OOO to en • able some of the Tmnerinl lipins to live. ’’on and women bronoLt nn in the bi'-urv and snlendonr of tl"> v, bliy, Kiosk the Sultan’s unlace hi ""ens+nnt.’iionlp. and waited unon hv slaves to whom their slightest wish "•es law. have been hard put to it fn find nnoueli to cot,. 'f' "owhirr the death of thru- Tni'v.i.. *° l do rl|C" ond ll|n r.pn Creation of hi, oclnlfty fbcftP eo . l|ppp*„ 0 1 r ' ■ W/ »»’C ftp heirs to m-nnorf.ies worth Aq00.000.000 were scattered over Europe and Asia

Those better circumstanced than ihu rest found a haven in France; some have tried to exist in Budapest, Hungary where it is reported that one eked out an existence by driving a taxica -j The Greek Government, it is now reported from Athens, is prepared, to recognise the claims of all these heirs in respect of the territory and other property valued at £10,000,000 acquired iromi Turkey under post-war treaties, and which formed part of Alxlul Hamid’s private estate. £200,000,000 OILFIELDS. Once the settlement is made with Greece the claims in respect .of the properties in Palestine, Syria, Iraq and toe Mosul oilfields will be proceeded with. The value of the property in Iraq alone consisting as it does of oil lands it has been estimated at £200,(aa/,000. It is understood that the arrangement between the Sultan’s heirs and the AEgban Trust is that the latter shall receive 3o per cent of the value Oi all properties recovered.