Sahin Giray (1745-1787) was Khan of Crimea from 1777 to 1782 (succeeding Devlet IV Giray and preceding Bahadir II Giray) and from 1782 to 1783, succeeding Bahadir II. He was the last ruler of the Crimean Khanate.
Biography[]
Sahin Giray was born in Edirne, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Turkey in 1745, the maternal great-grandson of Sultan Mehmed IV. He was educated in Greece and Venice before being recalled to Crimea by his uncle Qirim Giray in 1765 and made commander of the Nogai Horde. He served as a peace envoy to Tsarina Catherine the Great of Russia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and impressed her with his gentle nature, his good looks, his poetry, and his curiosity. He served as khan from 1777 to 1782, during which time he sought to rebuild and modernize Crimea and pursued pro-Russian policies. He was more tolerant towards the Jewish and Christian minorities and sought to integrate them into the Muslim-majority military, alienating the Nogai Tatar nobility, who saw the reforms as threatening their privileges, and by the conservative Muslim populace. Sahin overcame a 1778 rebellion with Russian assistance, and, while he was briefly overthrown by Bahadir II Giray in 1782, he returned to power before Russia decided to permanently annex Crimea. Sahin moved to Saint Petersburg, where he lived under house arrest, and he was transferred to Ottoman custody at Edirne. The Turks viewed him as a possible challenger to the throne and had him executed on Rhodes in 1787.