Mehmed VI

Mehmed in 1909

Mehmed Vahdeddin was born at the Dolmabahçe Palace, in Constantinople, on 14 January 1861.[5][6] His father was Abdulmejid I, who passed away when he was only five months old, and Vahideddin's mother Gülistu Kadın died when he was four years old. She was of Georgian-Abkhazian origin, the daughter of Prince Tahir Bey Chachba, who was originally named Fatma Chachba.

After his mother's death, he was raised and taught by his Şayeste Hanım, an other of his father's consorts.[7][8] He trained himself by taking lessons from private teachers and attending some of the lessons given at Fatih Madrasa.[1] The prince had a rough time with his overbearing adoptive mother, and at the age of 16 he left his adoptive mother mansion with the three servants who had been serving him since childhood.[9] He grew up with nannies, female servants, and tutors. During the thirty-three years of his brother Sultan Abdul Hamid II's reign he lived in the Ottoman Imperial Harem.[10]

During his youth his closest friend was Abdul Mejid (to be proclaimed as Caliph Abdul Mejid II), the son of his uncle, Sultan Abdul Aziz. In the years to come, however, the two cousins became unyielding rivals. Before moving to the Feriye Palace, the prince had lived briefly in the mansion in Çengelköy owned by Şehzade Ahmed Kemaleddin.[11]

During the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Vahdeddin was considered to be the sultan's closest brother. In the years to come, when he ascended to the throne, this closeness would greatly influence his political attitudes, such as his intense dislike of the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), and his sympathy for the British.[12]

Mehmed took private lessons. He read a great deal, and was interested in various subjects, including the arts, which was a tradition of the Ottoman family. He took courses in calligraphy and music and learned how to write in the naskh script and to play the kanun.[9] Then he became interested in Sufism and, unknown to the Palace, he followed courses at the madrasa of Fatih on Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic theology, interpretation of the Quran, and the Hadiths, as well as in Arabic and Persian. He attended the dervish lodge of Ahmed Ziyaüddin Gümüşhanevi, located not far from the Sublime Porte, where Ömer Ziyaüddin of Dagestan was the spiritual leader, and he became a disciple of the Naqshbandi order.[13]

Vahdeddin held a quiet rivalry with his brother Crown Prince Yusuf İzzeddin and repeatedly requested that his brother Sultan Mehmed V Reshad retract İzzeddin as heir apparent. In the end İzzeddin committed suicide in 1916, putting Vahdeddin on track to succeed his brother upon his death.[8]

In 1917 he went on a five-week trip to Germany, accompanied by his aide, Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk).

Mehmed in 1915

Mehmed Vahdeddin succeeded to the throne after the death of his half-brother, and took the name of Mehmed VI, on 3 July 1918.[14] He held his Cülûs ceremony the day after. Instead of commissioning his own anthem he signed an edict making his grandfather Mahmud II's anthem as the official national anthem of the Ottoman Empire.[15] Vahdeddin reappointed Talat Pasha as Grand Vizier for another term and Mustafa Kemal Pasha commander of Seventh Army.

The end of the Great War allowed Vahdeddin to reassert the Sultanate, in contrast to his deceased brother who was accommodating to the CUP. With Talat Pasha's resignation, Vahdeddin had the opportunity to appoint a new Grand Vizier. Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a telegram to the Sultan, asking him to appoint Ahmed Izzet Pasha, another anti-Unionist and make himself a minister of war. Izzet Pasha wooed the Sultan by promising to 'secure the dynasty's 'legitimate rights' and restore justice in the nation'.[16] The sultan assigned the task of forming the government to Ahmed Izzet Pasha, though Mustafa Kemal was excluded from the new cabinet, as well as any minorities.[1]

The First World War was a disaster for the Ottoman Empire. British and allied forces captured Baghdad, Damascus, and Jerusalem during the war, and most of the Ottoman Empire was set to be divided amongst the European allies. At the San Remo conference of April 1920, the French were granted a mandate over Syria and the British were granted one over Palestine and Mesopotamia. On 10 August 1920, Mehmed's representatives signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which recognised the mandates and Hejaz as an independent state.

The Sultan requested the resignation of Izzet and assigned Ahmed Tevfik Pasha to form the government. In the speech of the opening of the new legislative year of the parliament, Woodrow Wilson said that he wished for peace according to his principles, that he wanted peace in accordance with the honour and dignity of the state.

A new government, consisting of members of the Liberty and Accord Party, arrested the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress, including one of the former grand viziers, Said Halim Pasha. The trial of Boğazlıyan District Governor Mehmed Kemal Bey was quickly concluded. He was sentenced to death and publicly hanged in Beyazıt Square, after the fatwa was signed by the sultan.[1]

Meanwhile, the French General d'Esperey, who came to Istanbul, threatened to go to the palace with a battalion of soldiers and make what he wanted by burning the distractions of the sultan and his government. He called him to the embassy without visiting the Grand Vizier. The French handed over a list of thirty-six people they wanted to arrest to the government.[1]

Turkish nationalists rejected the settlement by the Sultan's four signatories. A new government, the Turkish Grand National Assembly, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, was formed on 23 April 1920, in Ankara (then known as Angora). The new government denounced the rule of Mehmed VI and the command of Süleyman Şefik Pasha, who was in charge of the army commissioned to fight against the Turkish National Movement (the Kuvâ-i İnzibâtiyye); as a result, a temporary constitution was drafted for Kemal's counter-government in Ankara.

On 22 July 1920, Şurayı Saltanat was gathered in Yıldız Palace to discuss the principles of the Treaty of Sèvres. The Sèvres Agreement was signed on 10 August 1920. Since he had to resign two and a half-months later, Damat Ferid Pasha dispatched the last delegation of Tevfik Pasha, the last delegation of the Ottoman Empire, on 2 October 1920.[17]

Mehmed VI arrives in Malta on a British warship, 9 December 1922. On the left, 10-year-old Prince Mehmed Ertuğrul Efendi

As the nationalist movement strengthened its military positions in late August 1922, Mehmed VI, his five wives, and attendant eunuchs could no longer leave the safety of the palace.[18] The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the Sultanate on 1 November 1922, and Mehmed VI was expelled from Istanbul. One day before his departure, he had lunch with his daughter, Ulviye Sultan, and spent a night at her palace.[19] Leaving aboard the British warship Malaya on 17 November 1922, he took care not to bring valuable items or jewellery, other than his personal belongings. British general Charles Harington himself took the last Ottoman ruler from Yıldız Palace. Ten people with the sultan were sent off early in the morning by an English battalion. He went into exile in Malta, later living on the Italian Riviera.[1]

On 16 November 1922, Vahideddin wrote to Sir Charles Harington: "Sir, considering my life in danger in Istanbul, I take refuge with the British Government and request my transfer as soon as possible from Istanbul to another place. Mehmed Vahideddin, Caliph of the Muslims". Accompanied by his First Chamberlain, the bandmaster, his doctor, two confidential secretaries, a valet, a barber and two eunuchs, at 6 am on 19 November, two British ambulances took them to the house of General Sir Charles Harington.

On 19 November, Vahideddin's first cousin and heir, Abdul Mejid Efendi, was elected caliph, becoming the new head of the Imperial House of Osman as Abdul Mecid II before the Caliphate was abolished by the Grand National Assembly in 1924.

Mehmed VI's grave in the cemetery of Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus

Mehmed sent a declaration to the Caliphate Congress and protested the preparations made, declaring that he had never waived the right to reign and be caliph. The congress met on 13 May 1926, but Mehmed died without the news of the congress meeting on 16 May 1926 in Sanremo, Italy.[20] His daughter Sabiha Sultan found money for a burial, and the coffin was taken to Syria and buried in the cemetery of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus.[21][22][1][23]

Mehmed had an optimistic and patient personality according to the testimony of his relatives and employees. He was evidently a kind family man in his palace; outside, and especially at official ceremonies, he would stand cold, frowning and serious, and would not compliment anyone; he attached great importance to religious traditions; he would not tolerate rumors, nor would he allow them to circulate in his palace. Even in his informal conversations, he always attracted attention with seriousness. The sources in question also state that he was intelligent and quick-grasped, but he was under the influence of his entourage and especially those he believed in, that he had a very evident, unstable and stubborn temperament.[1]

Mehmed VI had dealt with advanced literature, music, and calligraphy.[24] His compositions were performed in the palace when he was on the throne. The lyrics of the songs he repeatedly composed while in Tâif envision the longing of the country and the pain of not getting the news that they have left behind. Sixty-three works belonging to him can be identified, but only forty works have notes. His poems, which can be an example to his poetry, are only the lyrics of his songs. He was also a good calligrapher.[1]

• 
  Departure of the Mehmed VI from Dolmabahçe Palace after the abolition of monarchy, 1922
• 
  Photograph of Mehmed VI by Sébah & Joaillier, c. 1920
• 
  A portrait of Mehmed VI, from before 1923

• Line of succession to the former Ottoman throne

• Bardakçı, Murat (2017). Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9-774-16837-6.
• Gingeras, Ryan (2022). The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain: Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-241-44432-0.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2015). Bu Mülkün Sultanları. Alfa Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71080-8.
• Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.

• Fromkin, David, 1989. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East ISBN 0-8050-0857-8

Media related to Mehmed VI at Wikimedia Commons

• Sultane Neslishah – La dernière Sultane – Turquie on YouTube