Mehmet VI, Ottoman Sultan AH 1336-1341/AD 1918-1922

KM 821, PCGS MS-63

Qustantiniyah (7.24gm). Tughra, stars above, wreath below composed of olive branches and quivers with arrows; reverse, ‘azza nasruhu, mint and accession date, all within olive wreath.

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Mehmet VI (1918-1922) was the last of the Ottoman Sultans. He was well-educated and highly civil in his interactions with the court and government. As a result of the First World War in which the Ottoman Turks were defeated, virtually all Ottoman territories outside Anatolia were placed under League of Nations mandate. The cities of Istanbul and Izmir were occupied by Allied troops. Under these conditions, Ottoman rule was no longer acceptable. The leader of the Young Officers, Mustafa Kemal (later known as Ataturk meaning “Father of Turkey”), convened a special session of the national assembly and declared the end of the Ottoman Empire and birth of the Turkish Republic. Mehmet VI went into Exile in Italy and died in 1926.