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Ertugrul OsmanRepresentative of the Ottoman dynasty, the last heir to the sultans of the Ottoman Empire
Date of Birth: 18.08.1912
Country:  Turkey |
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Biography of Ertugrul Osman
Ertugrul Osman was born in Istanbul in 1912. He was the last heir of the Ottoman sultans, representing the Osman dynasty. However, most of his life was spent in New York. Ertugrul held the title of His Imperial Highness Prince Shehzade Ertugrul Osman Effendi during his time in the Ottoman Empire until the establishment of modern Turkey in the 1920s. He was the grandson of Sultan Abdulhamid II.
In his early childhood, Ertugrul Osman attended school in Vienna. It was during this time that he learned that his family had been exiled by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the military leader who founded modern Turkey on the remnants of the old empire. This event shocked the young Ertugrul. Together with his brother, he received education in Vienna and later continued his studies in Paris, focusing on political science and philosophy.
While in Vienna, Osman contemplated moving to the United States, a country he believed valued its citizens and would not deprive them of their homeland. He settled in New York with his father and lived modestly in an apartment above a restaurant for 60 years. Osman admitted that living in exile, far from his homeland, was not easy for him, but he always lived with the hope of being able to return. He stated that he had no political ambitions and only visited Turkey at the end of the 1990s by invitation from the government. During his visit, he toured the palace where he had played as a child and then joined a tourist group to avoid official ceremonies. It took significant efforts for Osman to finally move back to Turkey.
In 1947, Ertugrul Osman married Gulda Twerskoy, who passed away in 1985. Six years after the death of his first wife, he remarried Zeynep Tarzi, a member of the Afghan royal family. He outlived his second wife, Zeynep, who was a relative of the last king of Afghanistan. On September 23, 2009, at the age of 97, the sultan, better known as the "last Osman," passed away. He was buried with a large crowd in attendance at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Succession of the Osman Dynasty
With the passing of Ertugrul Osman, Osman Bayazit, who resides in New York, will become the head of the Ottoman dynasty. Bayazit was born in Paris in 1924 and is the youngest son of Ibrahim Tefik, the grandson of Sultan Abdulmejid. Osman Bayazit spent some time serving in the US Army, eventually becoming an officer. He later worked at the New York Public Library. Historians consider the Osman dynasty to be one of the most severe ruling dynasties, with many members known for their aggression and vindictiveness. However, this is unlikely to apply to the "last Osman," who spent most of his life away from his homeland.
