Vahdettin's betrayal...

Was Vahdettin a traitor or not? Let's take a look at this question.

Vahdettin was someone who was obsessed with his throne.

When the British effectively occupied Istanbul on November 13, 1918, they struck fear into Vahdettin. Everything was now in the hands of the British. The British, who dominated the capital, had the final say; patriotic intellectuals and writers were being arrested, Pashas were being thrown into prison without question—much like in the Ergenekon conspiracy—and Prime Minister Damat Ferit Pasha was arresting whomever the British wanted under the orders of Sultan Vahdettin.

Because they were sacrificing the entire country for the sake of their own thrones and futures.

Gallipoli had already been passed.

With the Armistice of Mudros, the armies had been disbanded, Turkish soldiers had been sent home, and the Pashas had been sent to prisons. Public opinion had intellectually surrendered to the idea of a mandate. Occupation soldiers were patrolling the streets of Istanbul, exerting pressure on the Turks.

Beyoğlu?

It wasn't like it is now, of course. When you walked, the British, French, and Greek flags hanging from the upper balconies would hit your forehead. You couldn't enter Beyoğlu without passing under the ornate British triumphal arches. You couldn't pass.

Although you can't get past the Syrians and Afghans now either, but anyway, let's return to our topic.

Occupation and captivity had seeped into the very marrow of Istanbul. Vahdettin was trembling in his palace. His throne could be gone at any moment. For this reason, he sat down with Prime Minister Damat Ferit Pasha and prepared a "Protectorate Project." This project was a plan for the Ottoman State to be protected by a foreign power.

In this context, on March 30, Vahdettin sent Prime Minister Damat Ferit to the British High Commissioner Sir Arthur Calthorpe. Damat Ferit met with British Admiral Calthorpe and explained the situation; he said that 'Vahdettin's father, Abdülmecit, harbored feelings of friendship toward the British, that he himself was raised with the same feelings, and that Sultan Vahdettin wanted to entrust the Ottoman Government today to the greatness of the British State.'

He also added that he had been sent by Sultan Vahdettin himself.

Calthorpe was quite surprised by these words. This was officially a surrender agreement. It was the first time in his life that Calthorpe had encountered such an offer. He asked Damat Ferit to speak more clearly. This time, Damat Ferit took a paper out of his pocket and handed the draft project they had prepared with the Sultan to the British admiral. The draft contained articles requesting that the Ottoman State, starting with the Sultanate, be placed under British protection.

These articles were as follows:

-Britain will occupy the places it deems necessary in order to ensure public order within the country,

-A British undersecretary will be appointed to places deemed necessary,

-The British will appoint a consul general to every province in the Ottoman country, and these consuls will act as 'advisors' to the governors,

-Elections will be held under the supervision of these consuls,

-The British will take control of the finances,

-The constitution will be drafted according to the political inclinations of the people in the east.

This was officially a colonial and surrender project. We understood the other articles, but do you know what the last article was?

A referendum will be held in the east, and Kurdistan and Armenia will be established.

That was it.

And it was not the British who proposed this. It was Vahdettin himself. Correspondence went back and forth. In the end, the British did not give it any credit. They rejected it. In the response they gave on April 3, 1918, they stated that they would not act without full consensus with their other allies, France and Italy. Because the British had made the Mudros Agreement without the knowledge of the French, and a coldness had entered between them. The French were offended. They did not want a second coldness.

The Italians were also resentful of the British because Izmir was given to the Greeks. They had started looking for other options. Furthermore, the British wanted to not just colonize the Ottoman Empire, but to eliminate it entirely.

Vahdettin did not want to understand this.

This proposal did not materialize in March-April 1919, but it did 6 months later. Vahdettin sent Damat Ferit again, this time to the British Admiral Sir J. de Robeck. Do you know who Robeck was?

He was the Royal Navy admiral who was not allowed to pass through the Dardanelles at the cost of the blood of tens of thousands of Turks. Vahdettin made an offer to such a man.

He offered the lands that the Mehmetçik (Turkish soldier) did not give up at the cost of his own blood on a golden platter.

In addition to his proposal from 6 months prior, he requested that the British send troops to Anatolia and that a British-backed army be used to crush Mustafa Kemal and the Turkish resistance in Anatolia. The source? You know how they are tearing their hair out saying "history that lies, etc." It is not a lie, my brother. It is in Celal Bayar's memoirs. It appears in "Entry into the National Struggle," pages 90-91, and in many other places. This time, the British accepted the proposal and signed it mutually in secret.

In 1925, the Istanbul correspondent of the Chicago Tribune newspaper sent this secret agreement to his newspaper under the headline "A Document of Betrayal by Damat Ferit."

And if you ask whether this agreement was put into practice, yes, it was. Under the name "Kuva-yı İnzibatiye" (Forces of Order), every vagabond in Istanbul was recruited under the title of "Muhammad's Armies," and with British money and weapons, they were sent to Anatolia against the Turkish resistance.

However, it was not successful.

Because Atatürk had established dominance in Anatolia by then and had transitioned to a regular army. They melted away and fled in the face of the Turkish Armies.

Vahdettin was living in a mansion in Çengelköy. There are some Sultans whose names become integrated with the place they lived. Like Abdülhamit and Yıldız Palace. Since Vahdettin also lived in the mansion in Çengelköy, the mansion was named the Vahdettin Mansion.

The Turkish Armed Forces were forced to salute Vahdettin's mansion on October 29.

I do not criticize the army. The army is the apple of our eye.

But was there no other mansion left in all of Istanbul? Did the water run dry? I don't know, if you had made them salute Topkapı Palace, at least Fatih's soul would have been pleased. Why specifically there? Why the place where Vahdettin lived? It is known that Vahdettin eventually fled the country by boarding a British ship.

In short, Vahdettin is a traitor, my brother. He is the leader of traitors.

Those who sit in that mansion will also one day abandon it and leave.