Sultan as Caliph Sultan Abdulhamid II of the Ottoman Empire came to power deposing his brother. Sultan Murad V, who had been crowned sultan on 30 May 1876. Turks, originally from out east who had come west with the great Khans of Mongolian, had never adopted the Moslem term of “caliph” as ruler. Instead, they kept their own “sultan” for their ruler. Nonetheless whether calling it sultan or caliph, he was the sole ruler and interpreter, and defender of the faith. Murad himself had deposed his uncle,  Abdülaziz, calling him “mad”. Three months later, Murad met the same fate, and…