The Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerifi ("Supreme Edict of Gülhane") or Tanzimât Fermânı ("Imperial Edict of Reorganization") was a proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1839 that launched the Tanzimât period of reforms and reorganization in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after Gülhane Park, where the edict was first proclaimed. The 125th anniversary of the edict was depicted on a former Turkish postcard stamp.
The proclamation was issued at the behest of reformist Grand Vizier Mustafa Reşid Pasha. It promised reforms such as the abolition of tax farming, reform of conscription, and guarantee of rights to all Ottoman citizens regardless of religion or ethnic group. The goal of the decree was to help modernize the empire militarily and socially so that it could compete with the Great Powers of Europe. It also was hoped the reforms would win over the disaffected parts of the empire, especially in the Ottoman controlled parts of Europe, which were largely Christian. At the time of the edict, millets (independent communal law-courts) had gained a large amount of religious autonomy within the empire, threatening the central government. This edict, along with the subsequent Imperial Reform Edict of 1856, was therefore an early step towards the empire's goal of Ottomanism, or a unified national and legal Ottoman identity. It was published in the Takvim-i Vekayi in Ottoman Turkish. In addition, it was published in Greek and French, the latter in Le Moniteur ottoman, and François Alphonse Belin, a dragoman, created his own French version, published in the Journal Asiatique.
