With the Greek Occupation of Smyrna on 15 May 1919 galvanizing the Turkish nationalist movement and beginning the Turkish War of Independence, by October the sultan's government had to give in to nationalist demands with the Amasya Protocol. With the Turkish nationalists standing against Allied designs for a partition of Ottoman Anatolia, the Allies militarily occupied Istanbul on 16 March 1920, and pressured Sultan Mehmed VI to dissolve the Nationalist dominated Chamber of Deputies, ending the Second Constitutional Era. Kemal Pasha responded by establishing a provisional government known as the Grand National Assembly based in Ankara, which dominated the rest of the Ottoman Empire, while the Sultan's unpopular government in Istanbul was propped up by the Allied powers and effectively impotent. Mehmed VI condemned the nationalist leaders as infidels and called for their execution, though the provisional government in Ankara claimed it was rescuing the Sultan–Caliph from manipulative foreigners and ministers. The so called Istanbul government would go on to sign the Treaty of Sèvres, a peace treaty which would have partitioned the remainder of the empire, leaving a rump Turkish state. With Ankara's victory in the independence war, the Sèvres Treaty was abandoned for their Treaty of Lausanne. On 1 November 1922, the Grand National Assembly voted to abolish the Sultanate and to depose Mehmed VI as Caliph, and he left for Europe in exile. On 29 October 1923, the Republic of Turkey was declared, with Mustafa Kemal as its first president.
With the Greek Occupation of Smyrna on 15 May 1919 galvanizing the Turkish nationalist movement and beginning the Turkish War of Independence, by October the sultan's government had to give in to nationalist demands with the Amasya Protocol. With the Turkish nationalists standing against Allied designs for a partition of Ottoman Anatolia, the Allies militarily occupied Istanbul on 16 March 1920, and pressured Sultan Mehmed VI to dissolve the Nationalist dominated Chamber of Deputies, ending the Second Constitutional Era. Kemal Pasha responded by establishing a provisional government known as the Grand National Assembly based in Ankara, which dominated the rest of the Ottoman Empire, while the Sultan's unpopular government in Istanbul was propped up by the Allied powers and effectively impotent. Mehmed VI condemned the nationalist leaders as infidels and called for their execution, though the provisional government in Ankara claimed it was rescuing the Sultan–Caliph from manipulative foreigners and ministers. The so called Istanbul government would go on to sign the Treaty of Sèvres a peace treaty which would have partitioned the remainder of the empire, leaving a rump Turkish state. With Ankara's victory in the independence war, the Sèvres Treaty was abandoned for their Treaty of Lausanne. On 1 November 1922, the Grand National Assembly voted to abolish the Sultanate and to depose Mehmed VI as Caliph, and he left for Europe in exile. On 29 October 1923, the Republic of Turkey was declared, with Mustafa Kemal as its first president.