Abstract
In November, 1922, a change of capital importance took place in the internal economy of Turkey. Up to that time Constantinople (now called Istambul) continued to be the residence of the Sultan, and a Government deriving its authority from him still existed there. This Government, however, exerted no effective power outside Constantinople, together with a small adjacent area and another small area adjoining Chanak on the Dardanelles. Except for the small areas mentioned above, the whole of Asia Minor was under the authority of the de facto Government set up at Angora (now called Ankara) in April, 1920, under the name of the ‘Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.’ On November 1, 1922, the Grand National Assembly voted a resolution declaring that the office of Sultan had ceased to exist and providing that the office of Caliph, which had hitherto been vested in the person of the Sultan, should be filled by election from among the Princes of the House of Osman. Previous to this the Angora Government had made preparations not only to take delivery of Eastern Thrace from the Greek occupying authorities in accordance with the military Convention concluded at Moudania on October 11, 1922, but also to take over the administration of Constantinople whenever an opportunity offered. On November 4, 1922, the administration of Constantinople passed into the hands of the Angora Government. The same day the Grand Vizier, Tewfik Pasha, presented the resignation of the Constantinople Cabinet to the Sultan. The Sultan himself, on November 17, left Constantinople in secret. Nearly a whole year was, however, to elapse before the decisive step of proclaiming a Republic was taken. On October 29, 1923, the national leader, Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who had been born at Salonica in 1881, was elected first President of the Turkish Republic, and the revolution was complete when, on March 2, 1924, the Grand National Assembly decided upon the abolition of the Turkish Caliphate, a decision which was immediately followed by the expulsion from Turkey of all the members of the House of Osman, at the same time depriving them of their Turkish citizenship. On November 1, 1927, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was reelected President of the Republic by the unanimous vote of the new Assembly which met on that day.
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© 1931 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Epstein, M. (1931). Turkey. In: Epstein, M. (eds) The Statesman’s Year-Book. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230270602_74
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230270602_74
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27060-2
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