During the Eighth century, under the pressure of the Mongolians led by Ghenkis Khan, four thousand Turks swept over the steppes of Central Asia towards Asia Minor. At first Shamanists, they became Muslims when they established themselves in Anatolia. After numerous conquests, their chief, Othman, (‘ottoman’ comes from Othman, which will later on become Osman) proclaimed himself emperor and founded the ottoman dynasty, in 1299. Until His Imperial Majesty the Sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin left, in 1922, thirty-six emperors succeeded at the head of the Ottoman Empire, all descendants of Othman.
Such a line of descent over six hundred years is unique. In most European States, women have ruled at one point or the other. In 1453, Mehmed II the Conqueror seized Constantinople, then capital of the Byzantine Empire, and named it Istanbul. One century later, the emperor Selim the First declared himself caliph, supreme chief of the Muslims, successor of Mohammed. Thereafter, the rulers held the temporal and the spiritual powers concurrently.
At its peak, during the rule of Mustafa II (1695 – 1703), the Ottoman Empire encompassed a territory that stretched from North Africa to the Balkans,extending over Eritrea, the Near East, most of the Middle East as well as all the countries along the Black Sea.
In 1909, overwhelmed and harassed by the Great powers, His Imperial Majesty Mehmed V was forced to yield his power and his authority to the Young Turks, a movement of students and officers. On August 2nd, 1914, secret negotiations between the Young Turks and Berlin led to a military alliance treaty directed against Russia. As soon as he heard about it, Mehmed V declared the empire militarily neutral.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. On November 5th, 1914, the Allies declared war to the Ottoman Empire, at the end of which they dismembered it.
The Young Turks ran off. When Mehmed VI Vahdeddin ascended the throne, all was lost. The French, the English and the Italians occupied Istanbul and the Dardanelles, the Greeks, Izmir.Out of desperation, emperor Mehmed VI received General Mustafa Kemal pasha, whom he trusted, and told him: «You have rendered great services to the State. The services that you will render now are much more important than the others. Pasha,you can save the country! » Kemal answered: «Have no fear. I have understood Your Majesty’s point of view. I shall not for an instant forget your orders. »
Armed with the authority the emperor had granted him, just as Brutus had stabbed Julius Cesar, Kemal abolished the sultanate, on November 1st, 1922. Two weeks later, Mehmed VI, the 36th sultan and caliph, left the capital on a British ship. On November 19th, 1922, the Grand National Assembly elected Abdulmejid II caliph. Less than a year later, Mustafa Kemal was proclaimed president of the republic of Turkey. Soon, with the agreement of Parliament, he abolished the caliphate. All the members of the ottoman family were exiled, including the 35 imperial princes. The imperial princesses were not allowed to come back to Turkey until 1951, and the imperial princes, not until 1974. Of those exiled, only two imperial princes are still alive. One of them is my father, HIH prince Burhaneddin Djem.
