Editing Abdulaziz (section)

=== Further decline of the empire ===
[[File:Ottomans 1875.png|thumb|left|The [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1875]]

Also in 1867, Abdulaziz became the first Ottoman Sultan to formally recognize the title of [[Khedive]] (Viceroy) to be used by the Governor of the [[Egypt Eyalet|Ottoman Eyalet of Egypt and Sudan]] (1517–1867), which thus became the autonomous [[Khedivate of Egypt|Ottoman Khedivate of Egypt and Sudan]] (1867–1914). [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]] and his descendants had been the governors of Ottoman Egypt and Sudan since 1805, but were willing to use the higher title of Khedive, which was unrecognized by the Ottoman government until 1867. In return, the first Khedive, [[Isma'il Pasha|Ismail Pasha]], had agreed a year earlier (in 1866) to increase the annual tax revenues which Egypt and Sudan would provide for the Ottoman treasury.<ref name="OttomanDebt">{{cite web| url = http://www.mevzuatdergisi.com/2006/04a/03.htm| title = Mevzuat Dergisi, Yıl: 9, Sayı: 100, Nisan 2006: "Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Borçlanma Politikaları ve Sonuçları"}}</ref> Between 1854 and 1894,<ref name="OttomanDebt" /><ref name="Lausanne18">{{cite web| url = http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne| title = Article 18 of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)}}</ref> the revenues from Egypt and Sudan were often declared as a [[surety]] by the Ottoman government for borrowing loans from British and French banks.<ref name="OttomanDebt" /><ref name="Lausanne18" />

Abdulaziz gave special emphasis on modernizing the [[Ottoman Navy]]. In 1875, the Ottoman Navy had 21 battleships and 173 warships of other types, ranking as the third largest navy in the world after the British and French navies. His passion for the Navy, ships and sea can be observed in the wall paintings and pictures of the [[Beylerbeyi Palace]], which was constructed during his reign. However, the large budget for modernizing and expanding the Navy, combined with the [[1873–1875 Anatolian Famine]] which reduced the government's tax revenues, contributed to the financial difficulties that caused the [[Sublime Porte|Porte]] to declare a [[sovereign default]] with the "Ramazan Kanunnamesi" on 30 October 1875. The subsequent decision to increase agricultural taxes for paying the [[Ottoman public debt]] to foreign creditors (mainly British and French banks) triggered the [[Great Eastern Crisis]] in the [[Rumelia|empire's Balkan provinces]]. The crisis culminated in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)]] that devastated the already struggling Ottoman economy, which led to the establishment of the [[Ottoman Public Debt Administration]] in 1881, during the early years of Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II|Abdulhamid II]]'s reign.<ref name="OttomanDebt" />

[[File:Sultan Abdülaziz.JPG|thumb|185px|Sultan Abdulaziz in 1863.]]

The [[Panic of 1873|global financial turmoil]] increased the importance for Britain of the sureties regarding the Ottoman tax revenues from [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]] for the repayment of [[Ottoman public debt|Ottoman debts]] to British banks.<ref name="Lausanne18" /> Combined with the strategically important [[Suez Canal]] which was opened in 1869, these sureties were influential in the British government's decision to [[History of Egypt under the British|occupy Egypt and Sudan]] in 1882, with the pretext of helping the Ottoman-Egyptian government to put down the [[ʻUrabi revolt]] (1879–1882). Egypt and Sudan (together with [[Cyprus Convention|Cyprus]]) nominally remained Ottoman territories until 5 November 1914,<ref name="Lausanne17-21">{{cite web| url = http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne| title = Articles 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)}}</ref> when the British Empire declared war against the Ottoman Empire during [[World War I]] and changed the status of these territories as British protectorates (which was formally recognized by Turkey with Articles 17–21 of the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] in 1923).<ref name="Lausanne17-21" />

By 1871, both Fuad Pasha and Âli Pasha were dead.<ref name="EB" /> The [[Second French Empire]], the Western European model embraced by Sultan Abdulaziz, had been defeated in the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Abdulaziz turned to the [[Russian Empire]] for friendship, as unrest in the Balkan provinces continued. In 1875, the [[Herzegovina Uprising (1875–1878)|Herzegovinian rebellion]] triggered further unrest in the Balkan provinces. In 1876, the [[April Uprising]] saw insurrection spreading among the [[Bulgarians]]. Ill feeling mounted against Russia for its encouragement of the rebellions.<ref name="EB" />

While no single event led to his deposition, the crop failure of 1873 and his lavish expenditures on the [[Ottoman Navy]] and on new palaces which he had built, along with mounting public debt, helped to create an atmosphere that conducted to the end of his reign. Abdulaziz was [[1876 Turkish coup d'état|deposed by his ministers]] on 30 May 1876.<ref name=EB/>