Abstract:

After their defeat in the Turkish Independence War, the Allied Powers invited both the Istanbul Government and the GNAT Government to the Lausanne Peace Conference. Against that move of the Allied Powers, which tried to gain an advantage by creating a division between the two parties, the GNAT legislated the abolition of sultanate on November 1, 1922 causing Sultan Vahdettin who now only had the title of khalifa to take refuge in Britain because of having no security of life. Following that event, the GNAT convened to elect a new khalifa. During the sessions which were closed first and open later, discussions were centered on where the new khalifa would live rather than who would be elected as the new khalifa. Majority of the deputies in the assembly argued that Istanbul was under an occupation, so it would not be lawful to obey a khalifa under occupation. On the other hand, some deputies claimed that if the new khalifa stayed in Istanbul, which was under a British pressure, he could declare himself as a new sultan thanks to the support of the British powers. As a result of long discussions, Abdulmecid Efendi who signed a title deed assuring that he would abide by the decisions to be made by the assembly was elected as the new khalifa and an allegiance ceremony was arranged for the new khalifa with the participation of a committee selected by the assembly in Istanbul on November 24, 1922.     

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