"The primary institutional obstacle to transplanting the Third Republic [French model of government] to Turkey was the six-centuries-old sultanate...Had the sultan of the Ottomans not been at the same time the caliph of Sunni Islam, removing him would have been less complicated. But in the fall of 1922, on the heels of a war [with Greece] ostensibly fought on behalf of Islam, a radical shift to a republic without a caliph would have prompted a major hue and cry. Mustafa Kemal therefore proceeded circumspectly, directing the Turkish Grand National Assembly first to separate the caliphate from the sultanate and then to abolish the latter on November 1-2, 1922. The assembly...had no intention of sharing its victory and enhanced power with the paper government of the sultan...
From a doctrinal standpoint, separating the caliphate from the sultanate, and thereby creating a religious figurehead who reigned but did not rule, had become extremely difficult by the twentieth century…members of the ‘ulama’ in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, who had vehemently defended this point of view, spoke out against the proposed separation. During a particularly turbulent session of the Sharia and Justice Commission, Mustafa Kemal cut the discussion short by jumping on a table and issuing a peremptory warning: “sovereignty and sultanate are not granted to anyone through discussion and debate…Now the Turkish nation…seizes its own sovereignty. This is…a fait accompli…If the assembly…accepts this naturally, it would be better in my opinion. If not, this truth will…be expressed in due course, although probably some heads will be cut off.” In response, the commission members, aghast at this outburst of candor, hurried to explain that they had merely been discussing the issue from a theoretical viewpoint, and were “enlightened” by Mustafa Kemal’s explanation. They accepted the proposal immediately and forwarded it for deliberation in the assembly."
Sources:
Hanioglu, M. Sukru, Ataturk, An Intellectual Biography, Princeton University Press, p. 135-137
Nutuk: Gazi Mustafa Kemal Tarafindan (Ankara: n.p., 1927) 420
"The primary institutional obstacle to transplanting the Third Republic [French model of government] to Turkey was the six-centuries-old sultanate...Had the sultan of the Ottomans not been at the same time the caliph of Sunni Islam, removing him would have been less complicated. But in the fall of 1922, on the heels of a war [with Greece] ostensibly fought on behalf of Islam, a radical shift to a republic without a caliph would have prompted a major hue and cry. Mustafa Kemal therefore proceeded circumspectly, directing the Turkish Grand National Assembly first to separate the caliphate from the sultanate and then to abolish the latter on November 1-2, 1922. The assembly...had no intention of sharing its victory and enhanced power with the paper government of the sultan...
From a doctrinal standpoint, separating the caliphate from the sultanate, and thereby creating a religious figurehead who reigned but did not rule, had become extremely difficult by the twentieth century…members of the ‘ulama’ in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, who had vehemently defended this point of view, spoke out against the proposed separation. During a particularly turbulent session of the Sharia and Justice Commission, Mustafa Kemal cut the discussion short by jumping on a table and issuing a peremptory warning: “sovereignty and sultanate are not granted to anyone through discussion and debate…Now the Turkish nation…seizes its own sovereignty. This is…a fait accompli…If the assembly…accepts this naturally, it would be better in my opinion. If not, this truth will…be expressed in due course, although probably some heads will be cut off.” In response, the commission members, aghast at this outburst of candor, hurried to explain that they had merely been discussing the issue from a theoretical viewpoint, and were “enlightened” by Mustafa Kemal’s explanation. They accepted the proposal immediately and forwarded it for deliberation in the assembly."
Sources:
Hanioglu, M. Sukru, Ataturk, An Intellectual Biography, Princeton University Press, p. 135-137
Nutuk: Gazi Mustafa Kemal Tarafindan (Ankara: n.p., 1927) 420
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