THE LAST OTTOMAN CALIPH AND THE END OF THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE: ABDULMEJID II

Abstract

Since Ottoman Sultan Selim I adopted the title of the leader of Islamic world – the caliph back in 1516, it became hereditary for the rulers of the Ottoman Empire and was reserved for the House of Osman (Ottoman Dinasty). After the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate back in 1922 the title of the Caliph was preserved until 1924 and was passed to the former Ottoman heir Abdulmejid Osmanoglu by tradition, who was to become not only the last ottoman, but overall the last caliph. On the 4^th of March, 1924, Grand National Assembly of Turkey adopted a resolution regarding the abolition of the caliphate and deportation of the House of Osmans in a 24-hour period. The already deported Caliph doesn’t accept the Assembly’s resolution, considers it illegitimate and tries engaging in some steps towards the restoration of the institution until the end of his life. In 1944, after the passing of Abdulmejid, the caliphate institution stopped its symbolic existence, as after the 1924 resolution the institution still preserved its continuation given the figure of the dethroned caliph, but after 1944, even that continuation came to an end. The de jure and de facto end of the Caliphate also played an important role in the struggle for laicism established by the founder and the first president Turkey Mustafa Kemal.