This presentation will focus on the pardons in Ottoman Empire during the reign of Abdulhamid II, which has been rarely studied despite the abundance of materials in the Ottoman archives. As one of the most controversial periods in Ottoman historiography, the Hamidian era (r.1876-1909) was marked by a legitimization crisis, censure on press, separatist national movements, centralization of the authority, international power dynamics and the bankruptcy of the economy. I argue that the frequently issued pardons had played a particular role in this context. The pardoning power of the Sultan worked well in the establishment of a legitimate and just rule in the eyes of the people and compensated the weakness of state in many cases. This research claims that pardons were issued as a state policy considering how it worked during the Armenian Events of the 1890s, the banditry problem and tribal conflicts in the borders. Also, to put an end to the activities of outlaws, to use them as informants and collaborate them in the critical areas of the Empire, pardons became the main tool for government to make alliances without losing its prestige. Through the discretionary power of forgiveness, the Sultan tried to restore the monarchical ideology with the merciful image of the Sultan. However, although granting pardons seems to have been a kind of obedience to the authority, the relationship established on pardons was established through bargaining and negotiations. The process of granting pardons was an interactive one in which the actors negotiated on the conditions according to the position of supplicant. In this context, pardon petitions sent by the convicts might allow us to see the dynamics behind frequently issued pardons and might give a new approach to the most debated characteristics of the Hamidian era. Keywords: pardons, petitions, state policy, late Ottoman history, Abdulhamid II, negotiation.