The newly elected Ottoman parliament in Istanbul did not recognize the occupation; they developed a National Pact (Misak-ı Milli).

The British, disturbed by the declaration of the National Pact, decided to completely occupy the city with the Allied military forces and seize the government buildings.

Following the military occupation of Istanbul on 16 March 1920, the parliament was officially closed on 11 April 1920, under pressure from the occupying forces, in violation of the constitution.

Once the Armistice of Mudanya was signed, replacing the Armistice of Mundros (signed by the Ottoman Empire in 1918 at the end of World War I) and ending the Turkish War of Independence, the GNA abolished the imperial Sultanate, which was accused of collaborating with the Allies during the occupation of Turkey.

The provisional government was a parliamentary republic where the unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly, practiced both executive and legislative powers.

[10] As the main purpose of the government was to salvage the Ottoman Empire, and they in reality still recognized the Sultan, despite the capital was under occupation, there was no designated head of state position.

[11] Two days after the proclamation of the Grand National Assembly, the Temporary Executive Council (Turkish: Muvakkat İcra Encümeni) was established under Mustafa Kemal's leadership to handle transition matters until the composition of an organized government.

[12] The Cabinet of the Executive Ministers was composed of eleven ministries, as follows: Even though the Constitution of 1921 had emphasized decentralization through expanding local administrators' powers, it was a unitary state.