Editing Mehmed VI (section)

==Exile and death==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2025}}[[File:Mehmed VI praying.jpg|thumb|Mehmed VI prays with [[List of Sheikh-ul-Islams of the Ottoman Empire|Shaykh al-Islām]] [[Medeni Mehmet Nuri Efendi|Nuri Efendi]] and [[List of Ottoman grand viziers|Grand Vizier]] [[Ahmed Tevfik Pasha]] before leaving Istanbul, 17 November 1922]]
Leaving aboard the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[warship]] [[HMS Malaya|HMS ''Malaya'']] on 17 November 1922, he took care not to bring valuable items or jewellery, other than his personal belongings. He refused to take with him the [[Sacred Relics (Topkapı Palace)|Relics of the Sacred Trust]]. British general [[Charles Harington (British Army officer, born 1872)|Sir 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 [[Crown Colony of Malta|Malta]], later living on the [[Italian Riviera]].<ref name="Mehmed" /> In his memoirs, Vahideddin wrote that he did not flee, but emigrated by following the path of the Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammed]]. He wrote that he was forced to accept a caliphate without a sultanate, that he was overwhelmed by the blind and ungrateful people surrounding him, that he decided to temporarily relocate until public opinion calmed down and the situation became clear.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:Former Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI arrives in Malta on a British warship. 9 Dec 1922.jpg|thumb|Mehmed VI arrives in Malta on a British warship, 9 December 1922. On the left, 10-year-old Prince [[Şehzade Mehmed Ertuğrul|Mehmed Ertuğrul Efendi]]]]The British governor-general welcomed Vahdeddin on behalf of [[George V]] in Malta. He thanked the king and reiterated that he had not given up his throne and the caliphate. An eight-room apartment was prepared for the sultan and his entourage in the Pini Barracks. On 19 November, his first cousin and heir, Abdul Mejid [[Effendi|Efendi]], was elected [[caliph]], becoming the new head of the Imperial House of Osman as [[Abdulmejid II|Abdul Mecid II]]. Upon hearing this news Vahideddin said "Only my prophet [Muhammed] can dethrone me" ["Beni ancak müvekkil-i zîşânım haledebilir"]. Vahdeddin would say 
{{Blockquote|text=Mecid Efendi finally achieved his wish. They sent an imam’s coat to the poor man. He is still pretending not to know and trying to sit on the throne by dragging his robe.<ref name="Küçük, Cevdet."/>}}
Abdul Mejid, on the other hand, said that he had not only betrayed his country, but had also tarnished the honor of the dynasty and had now been expelled from the country and the dynasty's registry.<ref name=":1" />

[[Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz|King Hussein of Hejaz]], who had rebelled against Turkey in the [[Arab Revolt]], invited the deposed Sultan to his new kingdom. Vahdeddin left Malta on 5 January 1923 and was welcomed by King Hussein's son at [[Port Said]]. After that, he reached [[Suez]] on a second-class ship and from there to [[Jeddah]] on a third-class ship. King Hussein welcomed his guest with a 101-gun salute. From there, they proceeded to [[Mecca]]. The sultan stayed in Mecca until the end of February 1923 when he informed Hussein that he wanted to go to [[Cyprus]] or [[Haifa]]. Hussein wrote to the British representative in Jeddah and said that there might be ulterior motives behind this. London instructed Vahdeddin to stay in [[Taif]].<ref name=":1" />

The Islamic world criticized his visit to [[Kingdom of Hejaz|Hejaz]], where it was viewed as an insincere British public relations stunt for the Muslim world. The Indian Muslim writer [[Maulana Azad|Mawlana Abul Kelam]] attached Vahdeddin, accusing him of sentencing [[Turkish National Movement|Kemalist]] heroes to death while they were saving the state and nation with their hostility towards the British, whereas he was being used by the British to sow discord among Muslims. In the face of this criticism, Vahdeddin published a declaration addressed to the entire Islamic world with the hope to salvage his legacy. A summary of the declaration, which could not be distributed due Sharif Hussein's censorship, was published in ''[[Al-Ahram]]''. In this declaration, Mehmed Vahdeddin defended his actions, and responded to the accusations against him. He attacked Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his friends, stating that he had sent him to Anatolia, but he turned a blind eye to the government that later deemed it necessary to order a military operation against him in order to punish him for not recognizing his sovereignty. He had tried to prevent the Ankara-Istanbul diarchy, that he was being accused of treason for opposed the separation of the caliphate and the sultanate, and that he was taking a risk being temporarily being separated from his throne, homeland, and comfort in order to protect the honor and dignity of the caliphate.<ref name=":1" />{{Sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=307–312, 447–452}} When he realized that he could not stay in the Hejaz any longer, he wished to go to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] or Cyprus. However, the British vetoed this and offered to house him in Switzerland, though he had to pay out of his own pocket for the journey. From [[Jeddah]], he landed in Suez by sea and from there he reached [[Alexandria]] by train provided by the Egyptian government. Since the British did not allow him to stay in Egypt for more than seventy-two hours, he set off for Switzerland. But due to the [[Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923|Lausanne Conference]] the British understood his presence could raise unnecessary tensions and directed him to [[Fascist Italy|Italy]].<ref name=":1" />

The Italian government welcomed Vahdeddin with an unofficial ceremony at the Port of [[Genoa]] on 2 May 1923. Damad Ferid Pasha was a part of this crowd, and met with his former sovereign for the last time. He moved to the [[Villa Nobel]] in [[Sanremo|San Remo]], where he wrote doomed petitions to England and other states for permission to go to Muslim land. He lived alone for sixteen months, though he enjoyed playing his [[Qanun (instrument)|qanun]]. He was able to reunite with his family after Turkey's decision to send the [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottoman Family]] (soon to be rendered surname [[Osmanoğlu family|Osmanoğlu]]) into exile was made on 3 March 1924. As his family reunited around him he moved to Villa Mamolya, though this financially strained him. As fugitives of the Ottoman court gathered in San Remo, a Little Istanbul was formed here. When Abdul Mejid settled in [[Nice]] in his exile, he and Vahdeddin got in a legal battle over obtaining [[power of attorney]] over their family's affairs. The case was settled by granting both power of attorney.<ref name=":1" />[[File:Damascus Sulaymaniyya Takiyya tomb of the last Sultan Mehmet VI 7886.jpg|thumb|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 before hearing of the news of the congress meeting on 16 May 1926 in [[Sanremo]], [[Fascist Italy|Italy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780140244618 |title=Istanbul: The Imperial City |date=1998 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-024461-8 |location=London; New York |page=296 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Vahdeddin left Istanbul with £20,000. He had lost some of it to [[swindler]]s and spent some of it with his former brother-in-law and aide Zeki Bey in casinos. Since he was in dire financial straits, he had sold everything he had that could provide money, including some of his medals. He owed some 60,000 [[Italian lira|Italian lire]] to all the artisans and creditors of San Remo. Officers locked the former sultan's body in a room along with all the belongings they found in Villa Mamolya and sealed the door. The Italians did not allow for his burial until all the debts were paid. It took one month for the money to be given to the creditors.<ref name=":1" />

In the meantime, a Muslim land was sought where the body could be buried. It was decided that it would be buried in the [[Sulaymaniyya Takiyya]] in Damascus, after the necessary permission was obtained from France and his daughter [[Sabiha Sultan|Sabiha Sultana]] found money for a burial. Once the debt was paid off the body was taken to a station by a horse-drawn carriage and from there to [[Trieste]] by train. Here, the body was loaded onto a ship and transported to [[Beirut]] under the supervision of Prince [[Şehzade Ömer Faruk|Ömer Faruk Efendi]], and from there to Damascus by train where he was buried on 3 July 1926.<ref>{{cite book |author=Raşit Güdogdu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7vDVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |title=The Sultans of the Ottoman Empire |author2=Büşra Yildiz |publisher=Rumuz Yayınları |year=2020 |isbn=978-605-5112-15-8 |page=247 |quote=His funeral was brought to Beirut and later to Damascus and buried in the cemetery in the garden of Süleymaniye Complex.}}</ref><ref>Freely, John, ''Inside the Seraglio'',  1999, Chapter 19: The Gathering Place of the Jinns</ref><ref name="Mehmed" />{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=498}}<ref name=":1" />