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Events on Wednesday 1 November 1922 2
1922Abolition of the Sultanate -- 1 November 1922The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolishes the Ottoman Sultanate on 1 November 1922, separating the sultanate from the caliphate. Mehmed VI, the last sultan, flees Constantinople on a British warship on 17 November 1922. His cousin Abdulmecid II becomes the last caliph until the caliphate too is abolished in March 1924. The Ottoman Empire -- 623 years after Osman I's declaration of independence -- ceases to exist. Its territory is divided among Turkey, the British and French mandates of the Middle East, and the new Balkan states. The empire's legacy shapes the Middle East to the present day.
1922 – 1924Abolition of the Sultanate and CaliphateThe Grand National Assembly abolishes the Ottoman Sultanate on 1 November 1922; Mehmed VI flees on a British warship on 17 November. His cousin Abdülmecid II becomes the last Caliph -- a purely religious role -- until the caliphate too is abolished on 3 March 1924. The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed on 29 October 1923 with Mustafa Kemal as its first president and Ankara as its capital. The abolition of the caliphate shocks the Muslim world; proposals for a new caliphate (in Egypt, India, Arabia) come to nothing. The 623-year Ottoman dynasty and the 1,300-year institution of the caliphate both end within 16 months.