The Allies had also invited the sultan's Government to the peace conference. Tewfik Pasha, the last grand vizier of the Ottoman empire, wrote to the Great National Assembly, proposing joint action, and this made it necessary for the assembly to face the dilemma of having two Governments in one country. In conse quence the caliphate was separated from the sultanate ; the sul tanate was abolished, and the sovereignty of the nation without any restriction, already inserted in the new constitution, was reaffirmed on Oct. 1, 1922. But it was decided to keep the caliphate in the house of Osman. The governmental departments in Constanti nople then passed to the Angora Government, which formality was accomplished by Refet Pasha, the Angora Government's high commissioner for Thrace. Thus the house of Osman, which had reigned for seven centuries, came to an end through the treason of its last Sultan, Mohammed VI.; and for the first time in its history Constantinople was no longer the capital of the State to which it belonged. On Nov. 17, 1922, Mohammed VI. took refuge in the British warship "Malaya" and escaped to Malta. The commissary of Sheria deposed the refugee Caliph by a fetva, and elected Prince Abdul-Mejid, the son of Abdul-Aziz, as Caliph. The new Caliph recognized the sovereignty of the Great National Assembly, and gave up his claims to the sultanate by a written document. This was the last time the Turks used the fetva.
The Lausanne Conference met on Nov. 20, 1922, and signed a peace treaty on July 24, 1923. By it the Turks procured the demands they had put forward in the national pact, except that concerning Mosul. The capitulations were abolished. To realize racial unity in new Turkey the Orthodox Greeks in Anatolia were exchanged for the Muslim Turks in Greek Macedonia : the Greeks of Constantinople and the rest of the Christian minorities were to have the same rights as were secured to other minorities in Europe under the post-war treaties. The tracing of the Turko 'Iraqi frontiers was to be discussed between England and Turkey at a future date, and if necessary to be submitted to the League of Nations. Turkey also concluded treaties with America and Poland which restored diplomatic relations with these countries.
The New Turkey.—The Ottoman empire, which had tried to end the war in 1918 by the armistice of Mudros, was no more. The Turks, the principal element of the defunct empire, had cre ated a new independent Turkish State. The new Turkey had abolished the capitulations and contracted treaties with all the other States. Released from external troubles she was free to begin a new era of progress and reconstruction. The new consti tution was not complete, and the position of the president of the national assembly, who was the head of the State at the same time, was vague. Taking advantage of this, during a difficulty in forming a new council of commissaries, Mustafa Kemal Pasha proposed a constitutional amendment by which Turkey would become a re public (Oct. 29, 1923). This amendment was accepted and Mus tafa Kemal Pasha was elected the first president of the Turkish republic, and Ismet Pasha, his right hand man, formed a cabinet.
Like all the reformers preceding him, Mustafa Kemal Pasha accepted the clause in the new constitution which declared the State religion to be Islam. But there was a growing conviction that radical reform would be possible only after freeing the State from religion. Turkey after adopting the republican form of Gov ernment was determined to complete the partial secularization of the preceding regime, and to prevent all interference of religious influence, which was regarded as having been the principal obstacle to modernization. The clause in the constitution in declaring Islam the State religion and the position of the fainéant caliph were accordingly the first objects of attack. On March 3, 1924, Mustafa Kemal Pasha succeeded in passing three laws at one sitting expelling the Ottoman dynasty; abolishing the Caliphate, the commissariat of sheria (the recognized office for the religious affairs) and eykaff (pious foundations) ; and attaching all the educational and scientific institutions, including the medresses (religious colleges), to the commissariat of Public Instruction. By these laws the Turkish republic put an end to Pan-Islamism in Turkey and also paralysed the Khilafat movement in British India. The most important step in secularization was the clause of one of the three laws which withdrew the "civil transaction" section of the sheria, which so far had dominated the Turkish code through the mejelle (Turko-Islamic code). The dispatch of all concerns and cases which related to dogma and religion passed to an office called the "Presidency of Religious Affairs." Thus for the first time Turkey tried to separate religion from the State. Of the two classes, the ulema and the military, which had domi nated the Turkish State, the ulema were no more. The military, from the time of the tanziniat, had nominally ceased to interfere in internal politics. But in spite of this, the deposition of Abdul Aziz (1876), the re-establishment of the constitution (1908), the nationalist movement (1918) were all brought about through the army. And although during the last and most important changes of regime, including State secularization, military influence was not obvious, the force behind the throne in the Turkish state was still the army. A month before the passing of these laws Mustafa Kemal Pasha assembled the commanders of the army in Smyrna and discussed these questions with them, thus diplo matically shifting the responsibility to the shoulders of the army in case of any public opposition. A new constitution which was more democratic than that of England was adopted on April 20, 1924. To win over the peasantry, who constituted the majority and who did not regard these radical measures favourably, the tithes, which lay heavily on the agricultural classes, were abolished and military service was reduced to 18 months. The deficit in the revenue, due to the abolition of the tithes, was met by a heavier taxation of the urban population.