ABDUL AZIZ ah-zez) (1830-1876), Sultan of Turkey, second son of Sultan Mahmud II., was born Feb. 9, 183o, and succeeded his brother Abdul Mejid as sultan 1861. He took advantage of the constant issue of State loans to ac quire wealth which was squandered extravagantly, and received large sums from Ismail Pasha, the khedive of Egypt, for signing the firman of 1866, which made succession to the khedivate hereditary from father to son in direct line, as well as subse quent firmans of 1867, 1869 and 1872, extending the khedive's prerogatives. In 1870 Abdul Aziz signed the firman creating the Bulgarian exarchate, thus separating the Bulgarian church from the Greek church at Constantinople. The insurrection of 1875 in Bosnia and Hercegovina and the abortive revolts in Bulgaria (Sept. 1875 and May 1876) together with the Sultan's inca pacity and extravagance in Turkey itself caused an outbreak of Muslim discontent and fanaticism culminating in the Bulgarian atrocities, and in the murder of two consuls at Salonika. Abdul Aziz was deposed May 29, 1876 by a group of prominent politicians, and his death, four days later, is attributed to sui cide. Abdul Aziz was the first Ottoman sultan to visit western Europe (1867).