1st Edition

The Abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate, 1924 Debates and Implications

Edited By Elisa Giunchi, Nicola Melis Copyright 2025
198 Pages
by Routledge

198 Pages
by Routledge

198 Pages
by Routledge

This book explores the decision by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1924 to abolish the caliphate. The Ottoman sultans had long borne the title of caliphs of Islam, with all the prestigious authority throughout the Muslim world that went with it, and in the aftermath of the First World War the caliphate still retained great symbolic relevance.The book considers the questions that arose... Read more

List of contributors vii

Abbreviations x

Introduction 1

ELISA GIUNCHI AND NICOLA MELIS

1 The Tradition of the Ottoman Caliphate and Its End 13

AZMI ÖZCAN

2 The Pamphlet Battle of Deputy Hocas: The Caliphate Versus the Grand National Assembly 26

YASEMIN TÜRKKAN TUNALI

3 The Caliphate Debates in Turkey and Beyond: Dissensus and Politicization 41

NURULLAH ARDIÇ

4 The Caliphate and Absent Authority 65

REZA PANKHURST

5 The Abolition of the Caliphate, Secularization and Kurdish Nationalism 78

MARTIN VAN BRUINESSEN

6 Pan-Islamism and Defence of the Ottoman Caliphate in Some Writings of Sulayma-n al-Baru-nı - 93

FEDERICO CRESTI

7 The Caliphate Congresses and the Ottoman Sultans 120

NICOLA MELIS

8 “The Spiritual Authority of the Caliph”: Unpacking British Policymaker’s Perceptions of Caliphal Authority and Its Implications for British Imperial Goals 151

SEAN OLIVER-DEE

9 Debating the Future of the French Colonial Empire on the Eve of the Ottoman Caliphate 168

FATIMA-EZZAHRAE TOUILILA

Index 181

Biography

Elisa Giunchi is a Professor at the University of Milan, Italy

Nicola Melis is an Associate Professor at the University of Cagliari, Italy