Mohammed VI

The deposed Sultan, Mohammed VI, appointed a delegation of nine to accompany him to Lausanne, where he intends to plead the cause of Islam against the Kemalists. He has left Mecca in the Hedjaz, where he was the guest of King Hussein, and is now en route for Switzerland.

Islam is very active. A movement is on foot to reestablish the Caliphate at Bagdad. A Pan-Islamic conference to determine the character of the Caliphate (in which King Feisul of Iraq, King Hussein of the Hedjaz and delegates from India, Algeria and Egypt will take part) is to be held at Damar (Arabia) in the near future. The ex-Sultan considers himself both Sultan and Caliph and has a large following in the Islamic world, particularly with regard to his claim to the Caliphate. According to Mohammedan law it is impossible for two Caliphs to exist at the same time. The ex-Sultan never gave up the Caliphate, but was forced out by the Kemalists. His partisans, therefore, charge the Kemalist movement with irreligious acts.

Mohammed was born on January 27, 1861, a, son of Sultan Abdul Medjid, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Mohammed V, July 3, 1918. On November 3, 1922, he was dethroned by the Kemalists, who declared an end to the Ottoman Empire and elected Abdul Medjid Effendi, cousin of Mohammed and heir to the Sultanate, to the Caliphate. The ex-Sultan then made his escape on a British warship and was later landed at Madeira, whence he accepted the hospitality of King Hussein. In the confusion of his flight he was compelled to leave his harem in Constantinople.