Editing Mehmed VI (section)

=== Armistice era ===
[[File:Sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin.jpg|thumb|Riding the royal carriage]]
With Talât Pasha's resignation and the CUP's self-liquidation at end of the Great War, Sultan Vahdeddin was given the opportunity to reassert the Sultanate, in contrast to his deceased half-brother who was accommodating to the CUP. He could now appoint a new Grand Vizier. His first choice was his in-law [[Ahmet Tevfik Pasha|Ahmed Tevfik Pasha]], a senile Hamidian that everyone objected to and couldn't present a government, so he dropped the matter. Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a telegram to the Sultan, asking him to appoint [[Ahmed Izzet Pasha|Ahmed İzzet Pasha]] (the Sultan's new [[aide-de-camp]]) and make himself [[Ministry of War (Ottoman Empire)|War Minister]]. İzzet Pasha wooed the Sultan by promising to 'secure the dynasty's 'legitimate rights' and restore justice in the nation'.{{Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=92}} The sultan assigned the task of forming the government to İzzet, though Mustafa Kemal was excluded from the [[İzzet Pasha cabinet|new cabinet]], as well as any minorities.<ref name="Mehmed">{{TDV Encyclopedia of Islam|title=Mehmed VI|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-vi|last=Küçük|first=Cevdet|volume=28|pages=422–430}}</ref> In his speech for the opening of the new legislative year of the parliament, he wished for peace along the lines of [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]], and that he accordingly wanted peace with the appropriate honour and dignity of the state.<ref name=":1" />{{Sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=98}}

When İzzet's naval minister [[Rauf Orbay|Hüseyin Rauf (Orbay)]], reluctantly signed [[Armistice of Mudros]], the Sultan said the following of the cease-fire terms: "Let’s accept these conditions, even though they are very harsh. I think that the friendship and the condescending policy of the English in the East, which has continued for centuries, will not change. We will gain their tolerance later.” Rauf himself believed the many loopholes of the terms wouldn't be exploited due to his trust in English diplomatic credit and [[Somerset Gough-Calthorpe|Admiral Calthorpe]]. Instead, the allies exploited Article VII to continue occupying Ottoman territory, to much dismay from Ottoman anglophiles. Writing of the armistice terms during his exile, Vahdeddin believed Rauf to be responsible for all of the occupations of territory following Mudros, and Mustafa Kemal for exasperating the ensueing crisis.<ref name=":1" />{{Sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=98, 121}}

Sultan Vahdeddin soon requested the resignation of İzzet, which was unconstitutional, and assigned [[Ahmet Tevfik Pasha|Tevfik Pasha]] to form a government. Two days later, the [[Occupation of Istanbul|allies occupied Istanbul]], though Tevfik Pasha was able to receive a vote of confidence from a disgruntled parliament afterwards. Sultan Vahdeddin made a press statement absolving the Ottoman people of [[collective guilt]] stating that the CUP was solely responsible for the war and its excesses, such as the [[Armenian genocide]]. He requested of his government to establish [[Prosecution of Ottoman war criminals after World War I|tribunals]] to try war criminals and that he would work with all his might to maintain friendship with England. The [[Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)|Chamber of Deputies]], dominated by Unionists [[1914 Ottoman general election|elected back in 1914]], objected that only the chamber has the authority to establish special tribunals. It looked like the Chamber was drawing up a motion to censure Tevfik, Vahdeddin and the Grand Vizier decided to dissolve the Chamber on 21 December 1918. The Sultan postponed elections until a peace treaty could be signed, even though they were constitutionally mandated to occur four months after parliament's dissolution, on the grounds that the country was under occupation.<ref name=":1" />

The question which immediately dominated Turkey was the fate of the war criminals and the Unionists. Sultan Vahdeddin asked Tevfik Pasha to resign and assigned him to form a new government in order to purge Unionist sympathizers from the government. The escape and suicide of the former governor of [[Diyarbakır|Diyarbekir]], [[Mehmed Reshid|Reşid Bey]], from prison (25 January 1919) renewed British interest in prosecuting war criminals. Britain ended up cooperating with the Turkish government in these arrest campaigns, though controversially demanded extradition of some criminals. British and French demands on war criminals increasingly mounted on the Tevfik Pasha government, and after the Sultan complained about the lack of progress on the matter in the last three and a half months, he resigned, and [[Damat Ferid Pasha|Damad Ferid Pasha]] was appointed Grand Vizier on 4 March 1919. 

A new government, consisting of members of the [[Freedom and Accord Party]], arrested the leaders of the CUP, 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, which did not go over well with the Turks, and he was declared a national martyr.<ref name="Mehmed" /> Ferid Pasha was unable to send a Turkish delegation to the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]], and the Allies increased interference in government. To calm the situation at home and shore up his popularity, Vahdeddin dispatched [[Commissions of Admonition]] [''Heyet-i Nasîha''], delegations representing the imperial family headed by royal princes to Anatolia and Rumelia.<ref name=":1" />

By the end of the war, conditions in Thrace and Anatolia -by all metrics- were disastrous, to the point where public order collapsed. The Allied Powers allowed officers to be assigned to the army in Anatolia to ensure public order. On 30 April 1919 [[Mustafa Kemal Pasha]] was assigned to the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate, a wide-ranging responsibility which effectively gave him civil and administrative authority over all of Anatolia. In the lead up to this assignment, Kemal and the Sultan reconnected and held several audiences, with Vahdeddin trying to assess through Kemal the attitude of the army towards him, Kemal wrote later that Vahdeddin's singular concern of the army's loyalty gave him a feeling of hopelessness.{{Sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=116}} Once he arrived in [[Samsun]], out of the reaches of Istanbul and without the Sultan's permission, Kemal indeed used his extraordinary powers to coordinate [[Turkish National Movement|a nationalist resistance]] with like minded officers, which led to British demands for his recall. The sultan was indifferent to his activities until late June. Though the government announced Mustafa Kemal's cashiering from the army on 23 June, Vahdeddin preferred to remain silent.<ref name=":1" />

On 15 May 1919, after receiving the necessary support from the Allies, Greece landed an occupation force in Izmir, which inflamed sectarian tensions in Turkey. This began the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]]. In order to calm nationalist tempers, the Sultan had Ferid, who had resigned following the Greek [[Occupation of Izmir]], form his second government on 19 May, which included ten nationalist ministers without portfolio unaffiliated with political parties or the palace. Twenty-three jailed nationalists, whose trials had already been postponed were released. On 26 May, Damad Ferid convened a [[Sultanic Council]] [''Şûrâ-yi Saltanat''], a faux parliament akin to an ''[[Estates General (France)|estates general]]'', to formulate a response to the Greek occupation of Izmir. The delegates concluded the council demanding complete independence and the establishment of an emergency national council. Though the government did not implement the council's recommendations, in response the Allies extradited sixty-seven prisoners from the Bekir Ağa Division to [[Malta]], making them the first of the [[Malta exiles]]. The Sultan sent a special message to the British High Commissioner [[Somerset Gough-Calthorpe|Admiral Calthorpe]] and complained about Greek atrocities that had "[[Battle of Aydın|turned Aydın into a slaughterhouse]]". He stated that if the Greeks’ excesses were not stopped, it would be impossible to hold back the Anatolian people. He said that since his army had been demobilized, he had no soldiers to maintain order, that the journey had become terrifying and dangerous, and that he saw no hope other than the British government in preventing disasters.<ref name=":1" />