Mustafa Kemal and Sultan Vahdettin: Avni Pasha's Memoirs

Mustafa Kemal Pasha placed his right hand on the Holy Quran and took this oath.

Those historic moments were recounted this way by Sultan Vahdettin's Minister of the Navy, Avni Pasha.

Before Mustafa Kemal went to Anatolia, the incident he mentioned was the oath he swore with his hand on the Quran before the sultan.

“With His Majesty the Sultan's permission, with pride and in accordance with the authority vested in me, I will strive to do everything I can with all my loyalty, I swear by God.”

The relationship between Mustafa Kemal and Sultan Vahdettin has been much debated to this day.

Some saw the sultan's role in the War of Independence as treachery, while others say he was the one who sent Mustafa Kemal to Anatolia to wage the War of Independence.

If May 19, 1919, the beginning of the National Struggle, was a turning point, then without Sultan Vahdettin's decree, that date would not have become a turning point.

Now, everyone should put their hand on their conscience and judge for themselves.

Whether he was a traitor or not. The final decision was made by Vahdettin.

Let no one deny these things. We don't need to deny them, either.

Let's not hide our history, either. Let's learn it.

Historian and author Osman Öndeş, in his new book, “Avni Pasha, Vahdettin's Confidant, Tells His Story” made history.

He used the memoirs of Ahmet Avni Pasha, close to Vahdettin, who called him “confidant.”

He used the memoirs of Ahmet Avni Pasha, close to Vahdettin, who called him “confidant.”

He wrote these memoirs, but they remained unpublished.

The family was apprehensive. The family hid them somewhere.

The memoirs were brought from France, and only then were they published.

For the first time, the memoirs provide documentary evidence of certain very important facts that had not been recorded in our history.

Ten pages of those memoirs included in the book are about Sultan Vahdettin.

The interesting part is that four pages were written in person by Vahdettin.

The memoirs of Sultan Vahdettin that exist so far, the known memoirs, are ten pages long.

According to author Osman Öndeş, Mustafa Kemal's departure from Istanbul, then under British occupation, and his journey to Samsun were thanks to the sultan.