How The Khilafah Was Destroyed by Abdul Qadeem Zallum

It seems that Britain did not call for the final peace conference until she had finished all her manoeuvres and achieved the results that she had wanted. By reviewing all the actions undertaken in Turkey alone since the holding of the Mondros truce, up until the first conference of Lausanne, it appears that the British had played with utmost shrewdness the dirtiest of roles in order to destroy the Khilafah. The British General Harrington was the Commander in Chief of the Allied armies occupying the Turkish lands and he was in total control of Istanbul and all the Turkish lands.

Turkey by then had already been severed from the rest of the Islamic lands. Hence, the prospect of undertaking what they had been harbouring had become favourable. Their activities were focused on destroying the Khilafah and alienating the allies - France, Italy and Greece, from Turkey.

So they proceeded to initiate their manoeuvres while realising that these two tasks, of destroying the Khilafah and alienating the allies was not going to be an easy ride.

Therefore, they proceeded with the utmost malice and shrewdness. The process of secluding the allies was assumed by the British government through various political and diplomatic styles, international and military manoeuvring and through flaring up a domestic war, which she also used as one of the means to destroy the Khilafah. As for the process of destroying the Khilafah, this was carried out by the British government through direct actions inside Turkey itself , with the two British Generals, Harrington and Wilson being used to execute it, in addition to these political styles and international manoeuvres. Mustafa Kemal was the man who aided in this horrific role, and had it not been for him their conspiracies would have been doomed to failure.

It appears also that there were other little renowned men from among the British who performed a host of direct actions inside the Turkish territories themselves. It seems that Captain H.S. Armstrong, although he was an unknown and low ranking officer, was nevertheless undertaking certain actions at the time. Just before the First World War, he was the British Military Attaché in Istanbul, and during the war, he was taken prisoner along with the whole of the sixth army division. During his imprisonment, he requested a meeting with Anwar Pasha. His request was astonishing, for Anwar Pasha was at the time the War Minister and the whole country was under his control. For a British prisoner to request a meeting with him was extraordinary. Nonethless Anwar met him and a long conversation took place between them, which ended with Anwar ordering that he should be placed in solitary confinement as a punishment.

It never became known what caused Anwar to become angry with this prisoner; however, it is said that he attempted to initiate a war of nerves against Anwar and that he insulted him or the state, thus leading to his punishment. However, it seems that this prisoner was in fact in contact with some of the army officers, for before the end of the war he escaped from prison and returned to the British forces. It never became known who helped him escape. No sooner had the war ended than the British government dispatched him back to Istanbul and the British occupying authorities delegated to him a host of official duties. He remained there for several years, during which time he was in direct contact with the Turks in general and with Mustafa Kemal in particular, and he witnessed all the moves undertaken to remove the Khilafah. Hence, it is very likely that he was from among those who colluded with Mustafa Kemal in his endeavour to destroy the Khilafah.

However, the principal role was assigned to Harrington, for he was the Commander in Chief and he was in total control of all affairs. It seems that when Mustafa Kemal was playing his role, his main contact was with Harrington. The British considered Harrington as the supreme authority in Turkey and there exists a host of official statements highlighting his role in Turkey.

On 25th February 1924, Lieutenant-Colonel Dalemass addressed the Commons by saying: “Britain’s reputation in the east is muddled.” He then added: “Britain should not interfere in the Armenian issue”, and referred to many letters reaching him from the Armenians stating that they wished to live with the Turks in peace.

Upon this Charles Bate replied: “The feeling of the Turks towards us is very friendly and our actions there are very successful.” He was basing his answers on the information that had reached him from Sir Charles Harrington, but he did not disclose the nature of this information. On 24th March 1940, two days after the death of Harrington, the Times newspaper wrote an article in which it mentioned the following: “In the wake of the Greeks’ defeat by the Turks in 1921, the allied forces Commander in Chief Sir Harrington was given wide powers to cooperate with Mustafa Kemal.” However, the nature of this cooperation was not mentioned. The paper added: “Harrington’s flirtation with politics concealed his resoluteness and determination to achieve his ambitions, and he was worthy of this.” With these wide powers to cooperate with Mustafa Kemal, the final phase to settle the issue and deal the Khilafah the fatal blow had started. After the holding of the truce in July 1922, the evacuation of the Greeks and after the evacuation of the French and the Italians, the country was rid of all the foreign garrisons, apart from the British garrison. Accordingly Harrington became the sole operator, and the force of Mustafa Kemal with his influence and popularity throughout the whole country had reached their peak. Meanwhile, the Istanbul government was a nominal government that had no say in matters whatsoever, for the full authority was in the hands of the Ankara government, whether pertaining domestic matters such as the execution of laws, controlling the armed forces and supervising all the state’s affairs, or pertaining foreign matters such as relations with other states and signing of treaties.

The Sultan meanwhile was in his palace experiencing a great deal of anguish, without finding anyone to listen to him. The British used to display sympathy towards him and pity him. Indeed, they used to give him money from time to time, after the treasury became empty and he had run out of funds. So he used to receive money from them as a gift, i.e. as a charity from them. It was amidst this status quo in Turkey, that the allied states Britain, France and Italy sent an invitation to the Ankara government and another invitation to the Sultan’s government in Istanbul to attend the Lausanne conference in order to sign the peace treaty. This was on 17th October 1922. This invitation of the two governments in the country was met with anger by the National Assembly, thus the direct attempt at abolishing the Khilafah had started and the struggle over it had also started.

The National Assembly, i.e. the assembly of Mustafa Kemal - was unhappy about these games, that is the invitation of two Turkish governments to attend the peace conference; the National Assembly wanted to put an end to this situation and rid the country from its dual rule. The National Assembly wanted to settle the score, and some of the deputies suggested the resignation of the Istanbul government and the establishment of a new government headed by Mustafa Kemal for life.

Whilst the National Assembly was debating this issue Mustafa Kemal was in Izmir, but he was closely following the news of the current debates.

The Assembly contacted him twice to discuss with him the issue of the forthcoming peace conference, but he replied with apologies for not being able to attend claiming that his military duties are holding him in Izmir. Upon this Ra’uf and a host of politicians joined him in Izmir to seek his opinion on how the new government in Turkey should be, for it was inconceivable to have two governments, one being an interim government in authority with Ankara as its centre and the other an official nominal government in the capital, headed by the Sultan and his ministerial cabinet. They suggested to Mustafa Kemal the merger of the two governments into one single government, with the Khalifah becoming a constitutional Sultan and Mustafa Kemal becoming the Prime Minister.

He, however, did not reply to this proposal and they began to suspect his intentions. Ra’uf continued to press him with a series of questions and finally Mustafa Kemal promised to meet him in Ankara.

Consequently, the National Assembly convened and the deputies debated the issue. Mustafa Kemal’s supporters said: “What did the capital’s government do to salvage Turkey? Turkey has one single government, that is the government of Ankara, and the majority of the deputies suggest that the Istanbul government should resign and that Mustafa Kemal should form the new government, and that the Khaleefah should become a constitutional Sultan.” Amidst such heated debate and the gloomy atmosphere which engulfed the Assembly, Mustafa Kemal took to the podium and requested the deputies to pay attention to him. He then suggested the separation between the Sultanate and the Khilafah, thereby abolishing the Sultanate and removing Wahid-ud-Deen. At this point the danger facing the Khilafah became frightfully apparent and the uproar increased dramatically. Hence, Mustafa Kemal backed by eight of his personal followers demanded the holding of an immediate ballot; but the Assembly referred the matter to the foreign affairs committee in order to study it.

On the following day, the committee gathered, being formed of a group of lawyers and scholars. It spent long hours studying the issue of separating the Sultanate from the Khilafah and its members referred to texts from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, in addition to hundreds of examples from the history of the Khulafa’, both in Baghdad and in Cairo. It followed that the committee as a whole was averse to the proposal and it unanimously rejected it.

Mustafa Kemal was present at the time; so when heard of their general consensus and realised that the committee’s decision was a unanimous rejection of the proposal, he angrily leapt up onto a chair, interrupting the debate of the attendees and shouted: “Sirs! The Ottoman Sultan has usurped the authority from the people by force, and it is by force that the people are determined to regain it from him. The Sultanate must be separated from the Khilafah and abolished. This will happen whether you agree to it or not. All there is to it is that some of your heads will roll in the process.” Upon hearing this the committee members became panic stricken and their knees trembled. All they could do was to refer the proposal to the National Assembly.

The National Assembly then convened to debate the proposal. The overwhelming majority declared their rejection of the proposal and expressed their resentment towards it and even towards Mustafa Kemal himself. Mustafa Kemal sensed this and when the procedures to organise an open ballot on the proposal were about to start, he realised that it was inevitably going to be rejected and that the overwhelming majority was against it. Hence, he gathered his private supporters around him to protect him and demanded that a vote on the proposal should be taken only once, but some deputies refused and suggested taking the vote by calling each one by name. However, Mustafa Kemal refused this. His supporters were clearly armed and he shouted threats while they rested their hands on their pistols: “I am sure that the Assembly would accept the proposal with a general consensus and it will be sufficient to take a vote just by raising hands. Upon this the proposal was put forward to be voted on and few hands were raised; however, the speaker announced the result of the ballot as follows: “The Assembly has endorsed the proposal by a general consensus.” Upon this a number of deputies jumped on to their seats protesting and shouting: “This is not true, we did not agree to this.” So the supporters of Mustafa Kemal shouted back: “Sit down! Shut up.” Then chaos broke out and the uproar intensified, and the session was noisily wound up.

In the beginning of November 1922, Mustafa Kemal left the building of the National Assembly surrounded by his supporters. This was 14 days after the invitation to attend the Lausanne conference had arrived.

Five days after taking this decision, Rif ’at Pasha staged a sudden military coup in Istanbul through which he seized the reins of power in the capital with the help of the army and the military power. This occurred right under the nose of General Harrington. Hence, he abolished the government of the Sultan by force. The Sultan pretended to know nothing about this situation for a few days; then he sent to Harrington a message with the maestro of the musical band at the Sultanic Palace. The message was verbal and a man conveyed it to Harrington by saying: “The Sultan is seeking the protection of the British Commander and the British government, for his majesty is certain that his life is in danger.” Two days later on 17th November 1922, a British ambulance came to the Sultan’s palace and Wahid-ud-Deen climbed on board followed by his son, a eunuch carrying a small suitcase and a porter carrying his baggage.

The car took him to where he boarded a steam boat, which in turn took him to a British warship that was waiting in the port. The warship took him to Malta.

In the wake of Wahid-ud-Deen’s departure, his cousin the Amir Abdul- Majid ibn Abdul-Aziz was appointed as Khaleefah of the Muslims after the consent of the Greater National Assembly on this matter had been sought. Hence, many men from among the supporters of the Khilafah rushed to him to pledge their support for him. He was also visited by Rauf Beik and Doctor Adnan Beik, as well as Ali Fuad and Kathim Qara Bakir and they openly declared their allegiance to him in order to let the world know that they were still loyal to the Khaleefah and that the Khilafah still existed. Mustafa Kemal was contented with the separation of the Sultanate from the Khilafah and he took over the reins of power, leaving the Khaleefah stripped of all authority. He then started to prepare for the peace conference.

On 20th November 1922, the Lausanne conference was inaugurated. It was attended on behalf of the Ottoman State by a delegation of the Ankara government only, who acted as the representative of the Ottoman State that was defeated in the World War. It was also attended by Curzon the British Foreign Secretary, as head of the British delegation, for the government of Lloyd George had resigned on 19th October 1922. The conference started its sessions and during it, the head of the British delegation Curzon, stipulated four conditions prior to recognising the independence of Turkey. These conditions were: the total abolishment of the Khilafah, the expulsion of the Khalifah beyond the borders, the confiscation of his assets and declaration of the state’s secularisation. The success of the conference rested on the fulfilment of these four conditions.

However, it was wound up on 4th February 1923 without yielding any result and it was declared a failure.

Ismat returned to Turkey and Mustafa Kemal rushed to meet him in Eskisehir where he learnt from him all the matters which had been raised at the conference; then he returned with him to Ankara.

On their arrival at Ankara station, the pair were surprised by the failure of Ra’uf, the Prime Minister, and the city’s deputies to turn up to greet them. Mustafa Kemal was incensed by this and summoned Ra’uf and demanded him to explain his behaviour. Ra’uf replied by expressing his protest against the sending of Ismet to the conference without consulting the government and against Mustafa Kemal’s rushing to meet Ismet in Eskisehir also without consulting the government, stressing that this was an unconstitutional act; he then followed his protest by handing in his resignation from the Premiership.

Consequently, the National Assembly convened to debate the peace conference. The Assembly sided with Ra’uf and gathered to lend him support and the majority of its members were against Mustafa Kemal.

The debate was heated and the deliberation lasted for nine days, during which time the deputies condemned Mustafa Kemal’s acceptance of the truce with the enemies in Mudanya and described it as a trick which he had fallen for, stating that he should have rather continued his advance towards Istanbul, and even towards Athens if necessary.

The deputies then launched a fierce attack on Ismet, accusing him of infringement of procedure and imbecility in negotiating with Curzon.

They also criticised his being sent without their consent and they decided to take a vote pertaining to his dismissal and the sending of a successor to resume negotiations in Lausanne. Upon this Mustafa Kemal became frantic and started to issue threats and to incite the deputies against Ra’uf, until he managed to foil the decision of dismissing Ismat, for he was his confidante and his faithful envoy in his contacts with the British and the man who obeyed him with no questions asked. To send someone else would jeopardise all of Mustafa Kemal’s plans and it could have spelt his end.

Hence, he fought desperately until he managed to overturn the decision of his dismissal and replacement.

He then set about plotting against the National Assembly and the struggle between them intensified. At this point most of the colleagues who had sided with him in the darkest hours during the past four years started to join forces against him, led by Ra’uf. Amongst them were Rahmi, Adnan, Kathim Qara Bakir, Rif ’at, Ali Fu’ad, Noureddine and others. Only Ismet, Fawzi and some of his friends remained on his side. The deputies joined Ra’uf one after the other and started criticising Mustafa Kemal openly.

The majority in the National Assembly gathered against him and he realised that his defeat was a certainty.