ABD-UL-AZIZ, fibd'ul-a-zez' (1830-76). Thir ty-second sultan of the Dttoman Empire. Ile was the second son of 11., and suc ceeded his brother Abd-ul-Medjid, June 25, 1861. Ile placed the government in the hands of two ministers, Fund and Ali, both of reforming ten dencies, largely reduced his own civil list, and aroused hopes of an improvement in the condi tion of his empire. But he, soon lapsed into reckless extravagance. and the projected reforms proved meaningless and ineffective. In 1867 he made a tour of Europe, visiting the Paris Expo sition and several capitals, in which he spent a vast amount of money to little purpose. In he reorganized the council of state, and promised more reforms in response to the demand of the Powers: but the revolt in Crete took his atten tion, war with Greece was probable, and the state of the treasury precluded efficient reform. The Greek difficulty was arranged by a confer ence at Paris. Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, took advantage of the Sultan's financial embar rassment to obtain important concessions, among them a new law of succession for his house, and nearly all the prerogatives of an independent sovereign. The Sultan's affairs grew desperate.
The friendship of France had been Turkey's main reliance during the Second Empire. When that fell in 1870, the rival Russian influence became powerful at Constantinople. When the revenues were so low as barely to pay interest on the public debt, a revolt began in Herzegovina (1875), and soon extended to Bosnia. A renewed and more imperative demand of the Powers for radi cal reforms was embodied in the "Andrrissynote" (De•ember 30. 1875), and the progressive eonsti tutional party (Young Turkey) demanded the Sultan's abdication. He was deposed by the council of ministers May 30, 1876, and on June 4 was found dead in his apartments, whether by assassination or suicide is not known.