The Last Padishah and the Last Caliph. How the Ottoman Empire faded into oblivion

On November 1, 1922, the history of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted six centuries, came to an end. The throne was left by the last, 36th sultan (padishah) Mehmed VI Vagideddin.
You won’t envy him at all — Mehmed became Sultan in 1918, at the end of the First World War, which the Turks lost. In the following years, nothing good happened in the country: a shameful peace, the invasion of foreign armies, the occupation. It was not the sultan who could cope with these problems, but the military Mustafa Kemal, the future Ataturk.
In 1922, there was a dual power in the Ottoman Empire: in Istanbul — the court and government of the Sultan, in Angora (Ankara) — the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNST) headed by Kemal. The latter have incomparably greater authority and receive international recognition as a legitimate Turkish government.
On November 1, the GNST voted to abolish the sultanate. Kemal, speaking at the Assembly that day, did not restrain his expressions regarding Mehmed — he called him a heartless creature and a vile executioner who tried to destroy the country on the orders of foreign states.
Mehmed did not resist and admitted that he was no longer a padishah. What an hour of wine from the homeland, having lost at the palace of Eldiz. But the rebuking in Istanbul became unsafe for him, and the ex-sultan asked the English to bring yoga from the country. On November 17, accompanied by British General Charles Harington, Mehmed left the palace and boarded a Royal Navy ship bound for Malta. The family did not know about this and remained in the palace. The last padishah settled in Italy, where he died in 1926.
From the 16th century, the Ottoman sultans also bore the religious title of caliph — the leader of all Muslims. On November 1, 1922, the caliphate was not abolished, but separated from the sultanate. Abdul-Mejid II, the cousin of Mehmed, who was considered his heir to the throne, was soon appointed caliph. It was a ceremonial position that did not affect anything. In 1924, already in the Republic of Turkey, the caliphate was also abolished. All representatives of the Ottoman dynasty (in particular the Mehmed family, who remained in Istanbul) had to leave the country.