Payitaht: Abdülhamid (lit. “The Capital: Abdul Hamid”), named The Last Emperor in English, is a Turkish historical television drama series starring Bülent İnal and Özlem Conker depicting historical events during the reign of the 34th Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II.Payitaht Abdulhamid takes us back in time to the fight for the existence of the Ottoman Empire. The story depicts the life of Sultan Abdulhamid Han who ascended the throne in 1876 and remained on the post for 33 years. It also follows the events that took place in the Ottoman State and around the world during the time of the “Almighty Sultan”.The series follows important events that marked the last 13 years of the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid. It includes a war that resulted in the victory of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek War. It also shows the request for lands from Palestine and 1st Zionist Congress. Another important project that the Sultan succeeded is the work of Hejaz railway. The main theme of the series is struggle and fight till the end.
Season 1
The series starts during the 20th year of the sultan’s reign. They are planning a big project, the Hejaz Railway. However, the Sultan’s brother-in-law, Mahmut Paşa, the Brits, and Theodore Herzl are trying to sabotage this project. In the harem, on the other hand, a strong rivalry between Bidar Sultan and Seniha Sultan extends to their family. Also, the sultan’s brother Murad’s daughters come to the palace. His eldest daughter, Hatice Sultan, falls in love with Kemalettin Paşa and plans to marry him while on the other hand Naime Sultan, the Sultan’s daughter, also is in love with Kemalettin and tries to win his heart, eventually getting ill. Hatice Sultan with her love for Naime pretends that Kemalettin loves Naime by giving a Naime a letter which Kemalettin had written to Hatice. Mahmut Paşa, Seniha Sultan’s husband, piles slander upon slander on Mehmet Paşa, Bidar Sultan’s brother, eventually getting him exiled. Abdülkadir, the sultan’s son, is consistently manipulated by Mahmut Paşa and his son Sabahattin, and while trying to ruin their game gets himself into a deeper mess, getting stuck in a burning room with his mother at the end of the season which was started by Esma, a traitor servant girl, at Sabahattin’s order. Also in the last episode of the season is the Ottoman Empire declaring war on Greece.
Season 2
The new century begins. Sultan Abdülhamid changed the fortune of the Ottoman, who had not been victorious in the last two centuries, and won the Greek War. The war that ended at the front continues at the table now. Parvus, the vizier of the Global Monarchy, pretends to be an engineer and gets into the palace. The sultan is preparing the state for a great war with his development moves and launches the oil move that starts wars for the new century after the railway move. While Parvus is struggling to end Payitaht with agents spread all over Istanbul under the leadership of Marco, his right-hand man, Sultan Abdülhamid’s extraordinary and successful nephew, Murad, fights with his team at the expense of their lives. Sultan Abdülhamid is unaware of the storms in his harem while fighting to protect Payitaht. Entering to avenge the her mother, who was fired from the palace, Firuze helps the enemies in their war against the Ottoman Family. She gets Abdülkadir to fall in love with her. She causes all the balances to turn upside down between Bidar Sultan and Seniha Sultan. At the end of the season, Bidar Sultan, who left the palace, has an accident and her carriage falls down a cliff, severely injuring her. Parvus, although in a cage, makes a plan to kill the entire palace; using a man named Mr. Crowly, he gets poison gas into the palace by using a new invention, the radiator, and poisons everyone during a ceremony. But at the end, Fehim Paşa, risking his life, shot Mr. Crowly, dying in the process.
Season 3
In the palace, the wounds of the last serious incident are tried to be healed, and the death of Fehim Paşa is mourned. Sultan Abdülhamid ensured Parvus was thrown into the dungeon in England. The partner of this plan, Crowly, is found where he is hiding in Egypt and punished by Halil Halid. Fuat Efendi, the son of a former Khedive of Egypt, comes to Payitaht. Bidar Sultan cannot forget what has happened to her. Moreover, she cannot make anyone believe what he remembers about her accident, which is that it was deliberate and that she was kidnapped and taken to someone’s house; everyone just calls it nightmares. Meanwhile, Şivenaz, fiancé of Fuad Efendi and daughter of Mr. Rothschild, comes to the palace and makes problems in harem. The Young Turks become a true organization when Sabahattin goes to Paris and becomes a leader. Sultan Abdülhamid sends Zühtü Paşa, who everyone thinks is a traitor, to Paris as a spy. However, when he gets information Efendi’s betrthat one of the Paşas actually is a spy, he calls the head of intelligence, Ahmet Celalettin Paşa, to find the traitor. Around the end of the season, Fuatayal is uncovered and he is shot by Ahmet Paşa, while at the end of the season his fiancée Şivenaz gets killed by Şehzade Abdülkadir and the Young Turks start a revolution, attacking the palace. Tahsin Paşa, Mahmut Paşa, and all get shot and the sultan and his family are stuck inside the burning palace.
Season 4
The revolution was suppressed and the fire in the palace was extinguished. However, its consequences and destruction continue. Sultan Abdülhamid makes veladet-i humayun celebrations to show that the Ottoman Empire was not destroyed and cannot be destroyed easily. The news of victory from Payitaht brings together the adversaries of Abdülhamid once again. During the celebration, Zuluflu Ismail Paşa is revealed to be the elder brother of Sultan Abdülhamid, surprising everyone including the enemies. Cemile Sultan, who came to Payitaht for Veladet-i humayun celebrations, manages to disturb everyone in harem, causing Seniha Sultan to leave. Meanwhile, Zalman David Levontin comes to Payitaht disguised as Mr. Gustav, making secret moves against Sultan Abdülhamid. Zalman is eventually exposed and punished, so the Brits send William Hechler as an ambassador. He openly becomes enemies with Sultan Abdülhamid, making many moves before being defeated and imprisoned. However, one of Hechler’s men arranges an assassination for the sultan and shoots at him with a sniper which injures Ahmet Paşa (not shown) and the season ends there.
Season 5
Season 5 begins with Ferit Paşa becoming the grand vizier. Sultan Abdülhamid’s older brother Murat Efendi passes away, leaving behind an heir that will take his place in the Freemasons, which he left in his will in the form of a composition. The sultan has the composition played in the palace so that they can keep an eye on events, and they notice that someone decoded the message. The sultan sends Ahmet Paşa, Selim Paşa, and Zülüflü İsmail Paşa to follow the man on a train, but the man is killed inside the train he and the three Paşas board, causing the sultan to think that one of the three is a traitor, so they are questioned by Tahsin Paşa and Mahmut Paşa. Ahmet Paşa and Selim Paşa appeared to have said the truth in the questioning, but Zülüflü İsmail Paşa says he went to a place with shoemakers and there were in fact no shoemakers due to a game the Mason Paşa had played. Everyone then thinks that Zülüflü İsmail Paşa, who escaped after realizing that the sultan suspected him, is a traitor, but he meets someone named Manyas who tells him that this is a game by the Masons and that the real traitor is Tahsin Paşa. A secretary who knows who the traitor is gets shot while the Paşas are testing a new type of gun, and the suspicions on Tahsin Paşaget stronger as the sultan notices that he gathered five shells when theTahsin Paşa were only supposed to fire four times. Ahmet Paşa and İsmail Paşa each think that the other is the traitor, which eventually results in Tahsin Paşa shooting İsmail Paşa. When Sultan Abdülhamid sends Selim Paşa and Ahmet Paşa to raid a Mason meeting, Selim brings masks as proof that there was a meeting but Ahmet Paşa says there was nobody there. He then realizes that he is going to be arrested and escapes the palace, joining the Young Turks and working with Manyas. Source: www.wikipedia.org