Editing Mehmed VI (section)

=== Detente with the nationalists ===
In the [[1919 Ottoman general election|1919 general election]], held as part of the Amasya Protocol, Mustafa Kemal's [[Association for Defence of National Rights|Association for the Defence of Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia]] won an uncontested victory. The sultan did not attend the opening of the legislative session, citing his illness as an excuse. In order not to be subject to criticism, he had reports about his health published in the press. Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a get well soon telegram to the sultan. He cordially responded and thanked him. In an interview Sultan Vahdeddin gave to an American agency, he stated that he wanted peace as soon as possible, because delay was worse than war. He stated that the desired peace in the East could only be achieved by continuing Turkey's independence.<ref name=":1" />

Despite the appearances of national unity, the sultan would always believe that the Turkish nationalists surrounding Mustafa Kemal were Unionists (most members of the movement, including Mustafa Kemal, were previously members of the CUP). This disrespect was mutual, Kemal thought of Vahdeddin as naïve and incompetent. The fear of losing Istanbul prevented Vahdeddin from establishing close relations with the nationalists. He considered the nationalists’ seizure of the country's administration as a rebellion, based on the fact that the sultan's prerogatives were no longer absolute. He believed that it was out of the question for a sovereign to compromise and negotiate with rebels. The nationalists imploring him to escape from Istanbul to Bursa or Ankara was also offensive to the sultan, as he thought it would make a compelling excuse for Greece or the Allies to press a claim on the imperial capital.{{Sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=101}} While meeting with the British High Commissioner Rumbold (23 March 1921), he said that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was a “revolutionary.” He brought up the issue of the caliphate and said, “...The caliphate will become a tool in the hands of wolves who love foggy weather.” In his memoirs written years later, he would say that he had dispatched Mustafa Kemal, but that he had openly rebelled, that Damad Ferid Pasha had tried to remove him from his post and bring him to his senses, but he had failed, that he had called Tevfik Pasha to duty to reach a compromise, but he had also failed.<ref name=":1" />

After the military [[occupation of Istanbul]] (16 March 1920), an action the Sultan had to accept under duress, Vahdeddin reported that he received the Allies' pronouncement with sorrow. He said that he had always desired cooperation with the Allied Powers, that he was relieved by the arrest of certain nationalist leaders in Istanbul, and that if the allies had not made such a decision, he would have had to do it himself. He expressed his appreciation for the guarantees regarding his own royal prerogatives.<ref name=":1" />