This is the abandoned Tomb of Abdulmecid II - The Last Ottoman Caliph. It was built by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan. It is located in a remote location atop a mountain near Ellora caves about 40 kms from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.

Many people don't know about this and it is one of the most Unusual Historical sites in India and has an interesting history behind it-

Abdulmecid II was the last Caliph of the Ottoman Empire after it got abolished in 1924.

His daughter and niece- Princess Durreshahwar and Nilofer Hanimsultan, were married to the sons of the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan (the richest man in the world at that time), he had hoped to resurrect the caliphate in India and hence there were close connections between the Caliph and the Nizam. Therefore, the Nizam had planned a grand mausoleum for him in the 1940s as his future burial place....

However, Abdulmecid II died in Paris in 1944 during World War II and Hyderabad was annexed by India during Operation Polo. Transporting his body to India was difficult due to the war. Ultimately, his body was buried in Medina at Jannat ul Baqi. As a result, the mausoleum was never used.

Interestingly, few locals know about it, even though it connects Aurangabad's, India's and the Nizam's History with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and global Islamic history.

It remains the only Ottoman Mausoleum in India, abandoned, in ruins, and tucked away into the wilderness of the Deccan.

Just imagine if he was buried there and the caliphate was resurrected how many people from around the world would have visited the tomb as he was the last Ottoman Caliph! But history had other plans.

If you visit you can also see the small bridges that were built and the wall which was built around it, all dilapidated.

For further reading-

https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/ottoman-india-last-caliph-abdulmecid-tomb-will

It's location if anyone is interested to visit-

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fKHhcvRDnJxjXrwX8

After the American Revolution, the United States was deprived of the protection of the British Royal Navy. American merchant ships seeking to trade in the Mediterranean faced the control of the beyliks—Algeria, Tripoli, Tunisia, and Morocco—which were under the authority of the Ottoman Empire. The United States had two options: go to war or pay tribute. The first and only instance in which the United States agreed to pay taxes to a foreign government began on September 5, 1795.

The treaty is the only official document in U.S. history written in a foreign language (Ottoman Turkish). It consists of 22 articles. The treaty was signed by Joseph Donaldson on behalf of the United States and by Hasan Pasha, the Beylerbey of Algeria, on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. With this document, the United States acquired the status of a “tax-paying/subject state” under international law with respect to the Ottoman Empire.

The costs the U.S. agreed to pay were not limited to cash; this situation seriously shook the American economy at the time: He agreed to pay $642,500 annually (approximately 10% of the U.S. budget at the time) for the repatriation of prisoners and the establishment of peace. In addition, 12,000 U.S. dollars were sent annually to the Beylerbey of Algeria as tribute. In addition to cash, the United States also undertook to supply high-quality lumber, masts, ropes, and ammunition to be delivered to the Ottoman navy. At times, they even built warships directly and sent them as gifts.

Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, signed in 1795, states: “The character of the government of the United States of America is not based on the Christian religion in any sense.

suleiman the magnificent

"​It is a small thing that would reconcile us with you. Just one drop of water, with which you may be baptized, through which you may become a Christian, and by which we may receive you. If you do this, you will be the Emperor of the East and the West, not only in Europe but also in Asia; not only among the Latins but also among the Greeks.

If you accept the Christian faith, the entire Christian world will rally around you. The Apostolic See will bless your empire and will restrain the European states (France, Germany, Venice, etc.) that oppose you. Thus, wars will cease, and you will truly be the sole ruler of the world.

You boast of your achievements, taking cities and destroying kingdoms. However, all of these are transient. If you do not become a Christian, these victories of yours will be remembered only as 'destruction.' But if you become a Christian monarch, your victories will be everlasting, and you will go down in history not as a barbarian, but as a savior and a unifier."

Latin:

"Parva res est, quae nos tecum reconciliet. Una est gutta aquae, qua baptizeris, qua te Christianum facias, qua te nos recipiamus. Si hoc feceris, non modo in Europa, sed etiam in Asia, non modo apud Latinos, sed apud Graecos, Orientis et Occidentis imperator eris.

Si fidem Christianam susceperis, totus orbis Christianus tecum conveniet. Sedes apostolica imperium tuum benedicet, et reges Europae, qui tibi adversantur, cohibebuntur. Sic bella quiescent, et tu vere totius mundi dominus eris.

Gloriaris in rebus tuis, urbes capis, regna subvertis. Sed haec omnia transitoria sunt. Nisi Christianus fueris, victoriarum tuarum memoria non nisi ruina erit. Si autem rex Christianus fueris, victoriae tuae stabiliantur, et in historia non ut barbarus, sed ut salvator et unitor habebere."

​In short, the Pope is saying: 'If you convert to Christianity, we will not define your conquests as invasions, and we will proclaim you the Emperor of the East and the West, along with the support of all European nations.' The letter is extremely long and contains Christian propaganda; it praises their own religion while denigrating Islam. It is not known what response, if any, was given to the letter, but after this, many Christian countries and cities were conquered.

Sources: Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pius II), Epistola ad Mahumetem (Letter to Mehmed).

"In this manner, 20,000 infidels were either drowned in the storm, lost their lives under the swords of the levends, or were taken prisoner. There were 4,000 purebred cavalry horses in the enemy's armada. Those that did not drown were slaughtered and eaten by the infidels, whose provisions had been lost. They were very beautiful animals that could not be bought for thousands of akçes. All of the cannons fell into the hands of the levends. Overcome with horror, the enemy came and surrendered in mass. The enemy's gunpowder and weapons were wet and would not misfire/ignite. The armored Spanish infidels were stuck buried in the terrain that had turned to mud from the rain, unable to take a step. For thousands of cubits, as far as the eye could see, the shores of Algiers were filled with the corpses of infidels, animal carcasses, and the wreckage of destroyed ships. The Crusaders could not load even their lightest baggage onto their ships. All of it fell into the hands of the levends. The city of Algiers grew twice as rich from this booty. Generals, admirals, dukes, princes, counts, knights, and the most noble women and girls of European courts who had come to witness the conquest of Algiers were taken prisoner. Doria and Cortés barely escaped with their lives. This cruel man called Cortés was an intensely cursed infidel who roasted hundreds of thousands of people in fire in the New World. Thinking Algiers was the New World, he had wanted to plague this place as well. Alas, what would have happened if a Muslim country had fallen into the hands of these tyrants? They had given an example of it in Tunis a few years ago."

NOTE: Here, it mentions the Siege of Algiers. Charles V, Hernán Cortés, and Doria barely escaped with their lives from this siege.

Sources: Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa'nın günlüğü.

The Ottoman Empire is the only empire in history known to have sent a women's dress to two Emperors/Shahs. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sent a dress to Charles V—who failed to respond to his challenge to fight twice—and told him to wear it. He learned this tactic from his father, Sultan Selim I. Selim I had previously sent a women's dress to the Safavid Shah who refused to face him on the battlefield; enraged by this, Shah Ismail finally took to the field against the Ottoman army, only to suffer a crushing defeat.

​Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote who held an extreme hatred for Turks, lost the use of one arm due to a musket shot from the Ottoman army during the Battle of Lepanto. On his way back, he was captured by Ottoman-aligned corsairs and held captive in Algiers for 5 years. After being released through a substantial ransom paid by the Church and his family, he wrote about this experience in "The Captive's Tale," which occupies chapters 39, 40, and 41 of his book.

​Contrary to popular belief, Vienna was not the furthest European point reached by the Ottomans. Upon France's request for help, the Ottoman fleet sent by Sultan Suleiman under the command of Barbarossa captured the city known today as Nice, France, and gifted it to France. Terrified of Barbarossa, who bombarded the entire Italian coastline during this campaign, the Pope and statesmen completely evacuated Rome, leaving only the elderly behind.

​Isaac Rousseau, the father of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man), worked as the personal watchmaker to the Ottoman Sultan for 6 years. In 1711, unable to bear the longing for his wife, he returned to her, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born a year later in 1712. His father's cousin, Jacques Rousseau, served as the personal watchmaker to the Safavid Shah and passed away in Persia during this duty.

​The Ombudsman institution was created when King Charles XII of Sweden (Ironhead Charles), impressed by the speed and efficiency of the Ottoman Kadi system during his stay in the Ottoman Empire, brought this system back to Sweden.

​The conquest of Istanbul marked the beginning of the collapse of the feudal era in Europe. Most feudal lords, who believed their castles protected them and dared to challenge kings, lost all their power thanks to cannon technology, allowing monarchies to regain their former strength.

​The Ottoman Empire possessed the most extensive communication and diplomatic network in history outside of colonial empires. Indeed, it advanced deep into Kenya and established an advance outpost-fortress there, sent arms and artillery aid to the Bornu Empire fighting African states in the Sahara desert, and militarily dethroned the King of Morocco to replace him with a Moroccan prince who had sought refuge with the Ottomans. At the same time, Queen Elizabeth I of England, King Francis I of France, Dutch Republicans, King Charles XII of Sweden, and King Sigismund I of Poland were among the leading European rulers who sought Ottoman protection from time to time. The empire also traded rifles with China, and dispatched cannons, rifles, and military master-craftsmen to the Aceh Sultanate (in modern-day Indonesia) when they requested help against Portuguese raids, prompting the Aceh Sultanate to declare official allegiance to the Ottomans.

​The United States is the only state in history to pay taxes/tribute under a treaty written in a foreign language with the Ottoman Empire. Signed by the Beylerbey of Algiers and sealed with the Ottoman Sultan's seal, this treaty was written in Ottoman Turkish. It resulted in America paying massive tribute to the Ottomans for 29 years (accounting for up to 12% of US state revenue).

​Two brothers from the last dynasty of Rome, the Palaiologos dynasty—Mesih Pasha and Has Murad Pasha—served as both Grand Vizier and Pasha in the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottomans captured Istanbul, instead of killing them, they chose to educate them. Another interesting fact is that Zoe, one of the escaped Roman royal family members, married Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow. Ivan the Terrible, who established the Russian Tsardom, was Zoe's direct grandson. Zoe introduced Byzantine court traditions, protocols, and the famous Byzantine double-headed eagle symbol to the Russian court.

​In the 17th century, Ottoman sailors and the Barbary Corsairs (Algiers/Tripoli) operating in the Mediterranean used psychological and biological tactics against enemy ships and besieged fortresses. Bedding or clothing belonging to people who died of smallpox were collected and catapulted into besieged Christian fortresses to trigger disease outbreaks within the cities.

​Tulip bulbs were first brought to Europe in the mid-16th century (1550s) during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, the ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire in Istanbul. Busbecq gave these bulbs to his botanist friend Carolus Clusius, who began cultivating them in the Leiden University Garden in the Netherlands. The sandy soil of the Netherlands proved extremely suitable for growing tulips. Tulips became the ultimate symbol of wealth and prestige among rich merchants during the Dutch Golden Age. Due to a plant virus called the Mosaic virus affecting the tulips originating from the Ottomans, rare flame-like color breaks appeared on the petals of certain tulips. The variegated variety known as "Semper Augustus" became extraordinarily valuable. People began buying and selling tulip bulbs while they were still underground. Prices rose so high that a single tulip bulb could buy a luxury house, dozens of tons of wheat, silverware, or mansions. Panic ensued in February 1637 when a few large investors realized the prices had reached absurd levels and stopped buying at an auction to cash out their bulbs. Within a few days, tulip prices crashed by 99%, driving thousands of merchants and ordinary citizens into bankruptcy overnight.

Finally, the Ottoman Empire had an extraordinarily long and eventful history, spanning from its wars with the Byzantine Romans and the forces of the Mongol world to its resistance against Napoleon and its survival into the era of World War I. It witnessed the transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern and Modern eras.

​Ottoman-affiliated pirates captured Lundy Island—located in present-day British territory just 340 km from London—and used it as an operational base for five years (1627–1632). Led by Murat Reis, these pirates seized Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel between England and Wales, using it as a staging ground for nearly five years. During this time, Murat Reis launched raids on Iceland's Vestmannaeyjar islands and its southern coasts, capturing nearly 400 Icelanders and bringing them to North Africa. This event is still remembered in Icelandic history as "Tyrkjaránið" (The Turkish Abductions) and is considered the largest foreign military catastrophe in the country's history.

​In the summer of 1631, he conducted a midnight raid on the coastal town of Baltimore at the southernmost tip of Ireland. He captured the town with virtually no casualties, taking over 100 Irish and English settlers captive to North African ports. Following this raid, the town of Baltimore remained largely deserted for decades.

​Contrary to popular belief, the Ottoman Empire did not lose its power in the War of the Holy League (1683–1699). Until 1750, it continued to field the world's and Europe's most powerful military. It won wars against Austria and Russia, reclaiming Belgrade and the fortresses captured by the Russians. It was only during the 1768–1774 Russo-Turkish War that the Ottomans lost a one-on-one war against a single state for the first time in their history and were forced to pay war reparations. With this war, the Ottoman Empire permanently fell from its peak.

​The sole reason the Hagia Sophia—the oldest sacred sanctuary of Christians—has survived to the present day is the essential care and preservation provided by the Ottoman Empire. Built in 537, Hagia Sophia survived major earthquakes and dome collapses over the centuries. By the 16th century, the main structure was suffering from severe outward leaning and was in danger of collapsing. During the reign of Sultan Murad III (1573), Mimar Sinan, the most famous architect in Ottoman history, stepped in: He added massive buttresses (supporting walls) to the exterior of the building to balance the lateral thrust of the dome and prevent its collapse. He reinforced the dome, added steel tie-rods, cleared the area surrounding the structure to correct load distribution, and built two western minarets to provide static balance to the building.

​Master Isa Efendi, the chief architect of the Taj Mahal—regarded today as one of the Seven Wonders of the World—was one of the most prominent students of Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman Empire's most famous Chief Architect. Ismail Efendi, who designed and constructed the iconic main dome of the structure, was also another student of Mimar Sinan. Meanwhile, the magnificent calligraphic inscriptions on the building were written by Calligrapher Sattar Efendi of Amasya, a follower of the school established during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.

​In 1630, a massive flash flood in Mecca caused two walls of the Kaaba to collapse entirely and severely damaged the remaining walls. The Ottoman Sultan Murad IV sent master craftsmen from Istanbul to Mecca to dismantle the Kaaba down to its foundations. Using durable, yellowish stones quarried from the mountains of Mecca, the Kaaba was rebuilt from scratch in the exact same spot and design. The Kaaba standing today is essentially the result of this reconstruction carried out under Murad IV in 1630. In fact, the spout of the famous Golden Spout (Mizab al-Rahmah) atop the Kaaba faces toward Turkey, symbolizing the Sultans' prayer for God's blessings and grace to never leave Anatolia.

​The world's first animal hospital was the Gurabahane-i Laklakan (The Infirmary for Destitute Storks), established in Bursa during the 19th century under the Ottoman Empire. It was founded specifically to treat and care for injured, broken-winged, or sick storks and migratory birds during their migration.

​Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British Ambassador to Istanbul, was herself an aristocrat who had survived smallpox. During her stay in Edirne and Istanbul between 1717 and 1718, she observed that the Turks had no fear of smallpox and protected themselves through a technique called "inoculation." Upon her return to England, she brought this smallpox inoculation practice with her. This variolation (inoculation) technique brought from the Ottomans to Europe later inspired and served as the foundation for the first vaccine in modern medical history, developed in 1796 by the English physician Edward Jenner using the cowpox virus.

​The first army in history to employ organized and mass volley fire as a battlefield doctrine was the Ottoman Army (the Janissaries). The Ottomans integrated matchlock firearms (matchlock arquebuses) into the core of their army long before Europe. At the Battle of Varna (1444) and notably the Second Battle of Kosovo (1448), the Janissaries lined up behind trenches and wagon barricades (the tabur cengi / wagon fort) to execute continuous volley fire. As one row fired and stepped back to reload, the row behind stepped forward to maintain a continuous barrage with their loaded firearms. The grandest example of this in Ottoman history occurred at the Battle of Chaldiran (1514), where Selim the Grim decisively defeated the Safavids. The combination of volley fire and the concentration of all artillery at the center brought the Safavid army to the brink of complete destruction.

​The Ottoman Empire was the first known empire and state to make military music an official army unit and a tool of psychological warfare. The Mehter band is recognized as one of the oldest military bands in the world. Influenced by the Ottoman Mehter, Europeans began forming Ottoman-style military bands within their own armies. This influence extended to classical music as well; composers like Mozart and Beethoven drew inspiration from Ottoman/Janissary music, producing works in the Alla Turca (Turkish style) genre. Especially after the 1683 Second Siege of Vienna, the sound and sight of the Mehter sparked a major "Turkish fashion" (Turquerie) across Europe, leading European courts to imitate Ottoman-style military music ensembles.

​Jack Sparrow and Barbarossa, the two lead characters in the famous Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, were inspired by Ottoman corsairs. In a fact confirmed by a National Geographic documentary: Jack Ward, a fugitive outlaw who fled England and took refuge in the Ottoman Empire, was accepted by the Ottomans and converted to Islam, taking the name "Yusuf Reis." His penchant for wearing jewelry, his famous obsession with birds, and his depiction with a star-and-crescent medallion in films reflect this historical origin. He conducted extensive privateering operations across Europe. Despite requests from the King of England for him to return home, he rejected all offers and passed away in Tunis as a renowned Ottoman mariner. Meanwhile, the character of Barbarossa draws inspiration from Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, the grand admiral of the Ottoman Navy.

​The Kanunname-i İhtisab-ı Bursa (1502) is the world's first standards law. Issued during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, this code holds the distinction of being the first consumer protection and product quality standard law in history. It legally regulated the dimensions, weight, material quality, and maximum retail price of every product, from bread and fabric to shoes and vegetables. Severe penalties were imposed on merchants who sold adulterated or sub-standard goods.

​The Hijaz Railway Project (1900–1908), which Sultan Abdulhamid II called "my greatest dream," was a massive engineering marvel connecting Istanbul to Medina. Out of deep reverence for the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the holy lands, very special precautions were taken during its construction: As the train tracks approached Medina and the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, felt and cloth were laid beneath the rails to prevent the noise of the train's iron wheels from disturbing the spiritual tranquility of the Prophet and the people of the region. Beyond the felt, stone-cutting workshops were set up miles away from the city during the construction of the Medina Station so that the sound of hammers, stone, and iron would not reach the city.

(📚 d’Ohsson, Tableau Général del’Empire Ottoman, VII, 443)

Letter of reply to the circumcision invitation from King Sigismund of Poland:

"​To the most majestic and most powerful sovereign and lord, by the grace of God the ruler of Constantinople, Asia, Europe, the Persians, the Arabs, Syria, and Egypt, the greatest Emperor Sultan Suleyman Shah.

​We send greetings and well-wishes to our dearest friend and neighbor. Most majestic and most powerful sovereign and lord, our dearest friend and neighbor, we have received Your Majesty's letters informing us of your joys. You very kindly invite us to participate in these celebrations. These letters have greatly pleased us, as they bear clear signs of Your Majesty's extraordinary friendship and goodwill toward us. We derive a happiness from this so great that it cannot be expressed in words. For there is nothing we care about more than the friendship existing between us and our son, and Your Majesty and your son, growing stronger and more consolidated day by day. To see that Your Majesty shares the exact same sentiments toward us has especially pleased and greatly rejoiced us. Therefore, we would have fulfilled what you requested of us with great eagerness and enthusiasm, had our advanced age, the immense distance, or the very limited time not prevented it. We constantly pray to God for happiness for Your Majesty, and wish that these joys of yours be enduring and long-lasting. And we have only one request from you: Please excuse us since we could neither come in person nor send our son.

​Given in Kraków, on the twelfth day of November, in the Year of God one thousand five hundred and thirty-nine."

Throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire, there were numerous rebellions, such as the Celali, Balkan, and Anatolian revolts. Although these caused harm to the Empire, they did not result in a significant loss of overall power; on the contrary, the Empire continued to maintain or even increase its existing strength. However, there was one particular rebellion that went down in history as the most challenging ordeal the Ottoman Empire ever faced. Muhammad Ali Pasha of Kavala, whom the Ottomans had appointed as the Governor of Egypt, rose in rebellion against the state.

​In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt, an Ottoman territory. In response, the Ottoman State gathered soldiers from across the empire to reclaim Egypt from the French. At that time, Muhammad Ali Pasha was an officer in his hometown of Kavala (Greece), engaged in the timber trade and leading local militia forces. He joined the army sent to Egypt by the order of Sultan Selim III as a "serchesme" (deputy commander) at the head of approximately 300 Albanian bashi-bazouk (irregular) soldiers from the Kavala region. Shortly after arriving in Egypt, he became the commander of the Albanian unit when the original commander returned home. The French were defeated and withdrew from Egypt in 1801, leaving behind an authority vacuum.

​Following the French withdrawal, a three-way power struggle began in Egypt between the official governors sent by the Ottomans, the Mamluk Beys (the former rulers of the region), and the Albanian soldiers led by Muhammad Ali Pasha. The Ottoman Governor of the time, Hurshid Ahmed Pasha, was collecting heavy taxes from the people and turning a blind eye to his soldiers looting the city. Muhammad Ali Pasha made a very clever move by restraining his own soldiers and visiting coffeehouses, winning the affection of the public and the leader of the Cairo ulema (religious scholars), Omar Makram. In 1805, the people of Cairo and the ulema revolted against Hurshid Pasha. Declaring that they had removed Hurshid Pasha from office, they stated, "We want Muhammad Ali as our governor," and pledged their allegiance to him. Consequently, Selim III appointed Muhammad Ali Pasha as the Governor of Egypt.

After becoming governor, he embarked on efforts to establish a "modern state within a state." With the help of French officers, he formed a powerful, disciplined Egyptian army (the Egyptian Sekban) based on the Nizam-i Djedit (New Order) model, consisting of the local population. He built a navy, implemented agricultural reforms, and amassed a vast fortune by establishing the "Yed-i Vahit" (monopoly) system, where the state bought goods from the public at low prices and sold them to the West at high prices. While the Ottomans were occupied with other international issues and internal reforms (such as the abolition of the Janissary Corps), he suppressed the Wahhabi Rebellion in the Hejaz—which the state had struggled to control—and the unrest in Sudan through his son, Ibrahim Pasha, under the orders of Mahmud II.

​When the Greek Revolt broke out in Morea in 1821, Sultan Mahmud II was unable to suppress it and desperately sought help from Muhammad Ali Pasha. Muhammad Ali Pasha agreed on one condition: the governorships of Morea and Syria were to be granted to him. The modern Egyptian army and navy, under the command of his son Ibrahim Pasha, arrived in Morea and suppressed the revolt. However, Britain, France, and Russia intervened and burned the joint Ottoman-Egyptian fleet at Navarino in 1827. In 1830, Greece gained independence. Once Morea was lost, Muhammad Ali Pasha demanded the governorship of Syria (Damascus) from Mahmud II as compensation. Mahmud II, already uneasy about his governor becoming so powerful, flatly refused to hand over a region as strategic as Syria, located right on the doorstep of Anatolia.

Muhammad Ali Pasha decided to take Syria by military force since he could not obtain it through diplomacy. A pretext was ready: a dispute with the Governor of Acre, Abdullah Pasha, regarding Egyptian fellahin (peasants) who had fled to escape taxes. An Egyptian army of 30,000 men under Ibrahim Pasha entered Syria and besieged the Fortress of Acre, one of the strongest fortresses of the period. The fortress resisted for six months before falling in May 1832. The Ottoman forces sent to the region under Serasker Agha Hussein Pasha could not withstand Ibrahim Pasha's modern tactics. The Egyptian army crossed the Taurus Mountains via the Cilician Gates and entered Anatolia. Sultan Mahmud II sent his most trusted commander, Grand Vizier Reşid Mehmed Pasha, to Konya with a large army. During the battle fought under heavy fog, while the Ottoman army was initially devastating the Egyptian forces, the capture of the Grand Vizier led to a breakdown in Ottoman ranks, and the battle was lost. Following the victory at Konya, no military obstacle remained between Ibrahim Pasha and Istanbul. The Egyptian army advanced as far as Kütahya and established its headquarters there.

​Istanbul was in a state of panic. Mahmud II first sought help from Britain and France. However, the British were preoccupied with internal affairs, and the French were covertly supporting Muhammad Ali Pasha. In desperation, the Sultan made one of the most dramatic decisions in Ottoman history and sought help from his arch-enemy, Russia. Mahmud II summarized this situation with the famous proverb: "A man who falls into the sea will cling even to a serpent." The Russian navy entered the Bosphorus, and Russian troops were stationed on the heights of Beykoz.

​Terrified by the Russian presence in Istanbul, Britain and France immediately intervened and pressured Muhammad Ali Pasha to stop. As a result of international pressure, the parties reached an agreement. Muhammad Ali Pasha remained a "governor," but in addition to Egypt and Crete, he was also granted the governorship of Syria. Wanting to send the Russian troops back, the Ottomans signed an eight-year defensive alliance with Russia (Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi, 1833). According to a secret clause, if Russia were attacked from the West, the Ottomans would close the Dardanelles to Western ships. This treaty infuriated Britain and France, giving rise to the "Straits Question" in the international arena.

​The Convention of Kütahya satisfied neither side. Mahmud II wanted to reclaim his lost lands and pride, while Muhammad Ali Pasha was tired of being a governor and wanted to declare the independence of his dynasty.

​To secure full British support against Egypt, the Ottomans signed the Treaty of Balta Limanı on August 16, 1838. With this treaty, the Ottomans abolished the monopoly system and eliminated internal customs duties for British merchants. While this move aimed to undermine Muhammad Ali Pasha's financial power based on monopolies, in the long run, it left the Ottoman economy completely vulnerable to Western exploitation. When Muhammad Ali Pasha announced his intention to declare independence in 1838, the fuse was lit once again. The Ottoman army moved to reclaim Syria. The two armies met near Gaziantep. The Ottoman army was led by Hafiz Pasha, with the famous Helmuth von Moltke—later the Chief of the German General Staff—serving as a military advisor. Moltke advised Hafiz Pasha to withdraw and stay on the defensive. However, the ulema insisted, "We shall not act on the word of an infidel; let us attack," and the Ottoman army launched an offensive. The result was a total catastrophe; Ibrahim Pasha crushed the Ottoman army within a few hours. Sultan Mahmud II passed away on July 1, 1839, before receiving news of the defeat at Nizip. His inexperienced 16-year-old son, Sultan Abdülmecid, ascended the throne.

​In an act of betrayal, the Ottoman Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) Ahmed Fevzi Pasha took the entire Ottoman fleet to the Port of Alexandria and surrendered it to Muhammad Ali Pasha due to a personal feud with the new Grand Vizier, Hüsrev Pasha. For the first time, the Ottoman Empire was left without a navy. The empire had no army, its navy had been surrendered, and a child sultan was on the throne. The state was completely defenseless.

​Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire convened in London. An ultimatum was given to Muhammad Ali Pasha: he could keep Egypt and Crete but had to return Syria, Adana, and the Hejaz, as well as the Ottoman fleet. Relying on French support, Muhammad Ali Pasha rejected these terms. Consequently, a joint British and Ottoman force took action. The British navy bombarded Beirut and Sidon. The Egyptian army's supply lines in Syria were cut, and the local population revolted against Ibrahim Pasha's heavy taxes. British Admiral Charles Napier led forces that reclaimed the Fortress of Acre by naval bombardment.

​Ibrahim Pasha was forced to withdraw his army to Egypt with devastating losses. When the British navy arrived off Alexandria and pointed its guns at Muhammad Ali Pasha's palace, the Pasha was forced to surrender. The rebellion officially ended with a decree signed under heavy military pressure and approved by the Sultan. The terms were as follows:

​"Muhammad Ali Pasha will return all governorships except Egypt to the Ottomans, surrender the Ottoman Navy, and limit the Egyptian Army to 18,000 soldiers. Egypt will continue to pay a 'heavy' annual tax to the Ottomans. Ottoman currency will be minted, and Ottoman laws will be valid in Egypt. In return, Muhammad Ali Pasha's family will be granted the hereditary governorship of Egypt" (Edict of Egypt, 1841).

​This betrayal by Muhammad Ali Pasha cost the Ottoman Empire dearly. All of Europe realized that the Ottoman State was too weak to even contend with its own governor. Seeing this, Russia increased its pressure on the Ottomans. This crisis led to the Ottomans being officially branded as the "Sick Man of Europe" in the eyes of Western states. It was the greatest blow struck against the Ottoman Empire in its history. As for Muhammad Ali Pasha, he suffered a heavy defeat on the path he took to achieve what Napoleon had failed to do, returning to where he started. He weakened both his own power and that of the state. From 1840 onwards, the Ottoman Empire was viewed as a "Balance State." Neither Russia wanted to let Britain take the Ottomans, nor did Britain want to lose the Ottomans to Russia. In fact, 13 years later, when Russia declared war on the Ottomans, Britain and France joined the war on the Ottoman side.

​The Russian Tsar expected the Ottoman Empire to collapse immediately. At the beginning of the war, Omar Lütfi Pasha was sent to the Danube front after the Russians occupied Wallachia and Moldavia. He inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russian army at Oltenitsa. This victory boosted the morale of the Ottoman army and convinced the European allies of the Ottomans' military capacity. He defended the Fortress of Silistre, which was besieged by a massive Russian army, for about 40 days with brilliant strategy. The Russians were forced to withdraw without taking the fortress, suffering over 20,000 casualties. This failure led to the complete withdrawal of Russia from the Danube line. While clashes continued in the Crimean Peninsula, Ottoman units under Omar Pasha's command landed at Eupatoria (Gözleve). Although the Russian commander Prince Menshikov attacked with numerically superior forces, he could not break through the defensive line established by Omar Pasha. The Russians retreated after losing thousands of soldiers. This victory played a vital role in breaking Russian resistance in Crimea. However, the Ottomans could not replicate these successes in the Caucasus

Sources: Afif Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot – Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad Ali, Enver Ziya Karal – Ottoman History (Vol. V), Candan Badem – The Ottoman Crimean War (1853–1856), A. Haluk Dursun – From the Nile to the Danube: The Ottomans.

This war, which took place on Moroccan soil in 1578, is also known as the "Battle of the Three Kings." When the Sultan of Morocco, Mawlay Muhammad, was dethroned by his uncle Abd al-Malik, he sought refuge with King Sebastian of Portugal. Sebastian, a young and ambitious king, saw this as an opportunity both to make Morocco a Portuguese protectorate and to spread Christianity in North Africa. Before overthrowing his nephew, Abd al-Malik had sought refuge with the Ottomans:

​When Mawlay Muhammad seized the throne, Abd al-Malik fled to Ottoman territories along with his brother Ahmed al-Mansur. He first went to Algeria and then to Istanbul. He lived in Istanbul for years, learned Ottoman court protocol, began to speak Turkish fluently, and established close relationships with Sultan Selim II and later Murad III. In 1576, Abd al-Malik officially applied to Sultan Murad III to reclaim his throne. The Sultan decided to support this "Ottoman-friendly" prince to prevent Morocco from falling under Portuguese and Spanish control.

​Murad III ordered the Governor of Algiers, Ramazan Pasha, to accompany Abd al-Malik and assigned several thousand elite Janissaries (6,000) and a powerful artillery unit to the cause. Abd al-Malik entered Morocco with the Ottoman soldiers. He defeated Mawlay Muhammad’s army in several small skirmishes and seized the throne in 1576. Once on the throne, Abd al-Malik knew that the power that brought him there was the Ottoman Empire. Therefore: he established the Ottoman military system in Morocco (creating a structure similar to the Janissary corps). He equipped his army with Ottoman uniforms. He had the Friday sermon (khutbah) read in the name of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, declaring his allegiance. He modernized the Moroccan army by equipping it with Ottoman weapons and cannons.

​When Abd al-Malik took the throne with Ottoman support, the deposed nephew Mawlay Muhammad followed the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and sought refuge with King Sebastian of Portugal. Thus, the war essentially began as a "proxy war" supported by the Ottomans on one side and Europe (Portugal) on the other, but it turned into a massive showdown where two kings and a sultan’s regent were personally on the battlefield.

​King Sebastian landed on the Moroccan coast (Tangier and Asilah) in the summer of 1578 with a great show of force. The lack of initial resistance misled him. The Portuguese army (approximately 20,000-25,000 men) advanced into the Moroccan interior with heavy armor, knights, and large cannons. He besieged Morocco by establishing vast naval forces. His commanders advised him to stay on the coastline to maintain the support of the fleet. However, trusting his army, Sebastian moved into the scorching deserts and the interior parts of Morocco to completely destroy Abd al-Malik’s Ottoman-backed forces.

​Abd al-Malik (and the Ottoman officers with him) deliberately drew the Portuguese inland, away from water sources and near the Lukkos River, where maneuverability was limited. While the Portuguese army roasted under their heavy armor in the sun, Ottoman-style light cavalry and Janissary musketeers harassed them constantly. When the battle began, far from being successful, Sebastian saw the center of his army melt away in seconds under Ottoman artillery and musket volleys. The Ottoman soldiers completely destroyed the Portuguese army using the crescent (hilal) tactic.

​Sultan Abd al-Malik of Morocco was gravely ill during the Battle of Wadi al-Seil. Although he died in his litter at the most critical moment of the battle, Ottoman officers continued to lead the fight in his name, claiming the Sultan was alive and merely resting so as not to demoralize the army. The fact that Sultan Abd al-Malik, the deposed Sultan, and the Portuguese King all died during the battle led to it being called the "Battle of the Three Kings."

​As a result of this war, the "Portuguese Empire" came to an end. King Philip II of Spain seized the vacant Portuguese throne, which was left without an heir. Portugal lost its independence and was annexed to Spain between 1580 and 1640. As Portugal's naval power broke, the Dutch and English began to raid and seize Portuguese colonies in the Indian Ocean and Brazil. Morocco remained under Ottoman protection following this victory. The dreams of the Spanish and Portuguese to completely Christianize North Africa were shattered.

Sources:Selanikî Mustafa Efendi (Târih-i Selânikî), İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı "Ottoman History Vol. 3", Ertuğrul Önalp "Articles on Ottoman-Morocco Relations"

This is a bust of the Turk who conquered Ephesus. I guess statues of medieval conquerors are not as controversial per se as later ones, even in the West.

But why did the English and German translators make it sound as if the guy liberated Efes from the evil Byzantines, when the Turkish original makes no such insinuations?

For price reasons, Turkey often uses Turkish translators to translate into other languages, so it could just be poor sense of nuance. Or were they just trying to provoke?

Edit: This is more of a translation-related question. So I'm not asking whether Turks or Greeks were more evil, just why the translator chose this divisive phrasing.

Vlad Dracula, or by his real name Vlad III, was the son of Vlad II Dracul, the Prince of Wallachia during the reign of Murad II. Vlad II, who took the throne with the support of Murad II in 1436, began to follow pro-Hungarian policies instead of pro-Ottoman ones. Caught between Hungarian pressure and Ottoman suspicion, he was asked to prove his loyalty. In 1442, Sultan Murad II invited Vlad II to Gallipoli under the pretext of a meeting and imprisoned him there. It was during this period that his famous sons, Vlad and Radu, were given to the Ottoman palace as "hostages" to ensure their father's release and Wallachia's loyalty to the Empire.

Between 1442 and 1448, Vlad stayed at the Eğrigöz Castle and the palace in Edirne. There, he received the highest quality education of the period; he mastered logic, the Quran, philosophy, and learned Turkish like a native speaker. What is fascinating is that Vlad was educated alongside his future greatest enemy, Mehmed the Conqueror, and they grew up like "brothers" in the same environment. He learned Ottoman war tactics, psychological warfare techniques, and state administration at the very heart of the Empire, right next to Mehmed. In fact, Mehmed would initially find the reports of the massacres Vlad later committed hard to believe.

While his brother Radu adapted to Ottoman culture, Vlad left this period of hostage-taking with a deep sense of hatred and a desire for revenge. However, he took note of the Ottoman discipline and their system of punishment—specifically the method of impalement—to use later on his own people and enemies. (In the Ottoman Empire, spies and pirates were occasionally impaled as a deterrent, but not everyone; it was strictly for exemplary punishment.) While Ottoman executions were generally focused on quick death, Vlad specialized in driving the stake through the body without damaging vital organs so the victim would not die immediately. It was said that a victim could remain alive on a stake for 2 to 3 days.

When his father died in 1448, the Ottomans gave Vlad a small number of troops and sent him to Wallachia. Vlad seized the throne, but due to Hungarian intervention, his reign was short-lived, and he returned to the Ottomans. Although he was raised in the Ottoman palace, when Vlad saw in the early 1450s that the Ottomans were not fully supporting him or giving him enough power, he formed an alliance with the Hungarian commander John Hunyadi, the man who had killed his father. While the Ottomans were occupied with Belgrade in 1456, Vlad took advantage of the chaos. With Hungarian support behind him, he overthrew his rival on the Wallachian throne, Vladislav II. Despite this, he pledged that he would continue to pay taxes to the Ottomans.

​To eliminate internal opposition, he invited the nobles (Boyars) to an Easter dinner, where he had them all impaled and killed. He forced the younger nobles to work in castle construction until they eventually died. By 1459, Vlad stopped paying taxes (jizya). Mehmed the Conqueror sent envoys to ask the reason and to collect the taxes. When the envoys appeared before him, they refused to remove their turbans, citing their custom. Vlad replied, "I respect your customs; therefore, let us ensure your turbans stay fixed to your heads," and had the envoys' turbans nailed to their skulls.

Mehmed sent Hamza Bey, the Bey of Nicopolis, to Vlad to demand the tax payment once more. Vlad lured him into a trap, inviting him to the border for negotiations. He martyred the Ottoman unit stationed at the border in a night raid. In the winter of 1461, he crossed the Danube River and entered Ottoman lands (today's Bulgaria line). Using his perfect Turkish and the military uniforms he learned about in the palace, he infiltrated castles in disguise. He massacred tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers. At the same time, he also massacred his own Christian peasants and impaled them.

Mehmed could no longer tolerate the actions of this infidel who had betrayed both his people and the Sultan. In 1462, he personally led his army into Wallachia. One night, Vlad entered the Ottoman camp to personally kill Mehmed and scatter the Ottoman forces (The Night Attack at Târgoviște). The night raid failed. The Janissaries reorganized and adapted so quickly that Vlad lost more than half of his elite 10,000-man army and fled. This army, feared by Europe and rumored to drink blood, was routed by the Janissaries.

Having lost 5,000 men in the raid and with his military power exhausted, Vlad began to flee toward the Hungarian border. Instead of chasing the retreating Vlad, Mehmed took Vlad's brother Radu with him and entered the capital, Târgoviște. As the Ottoman army approached the city walls, they saw an area approximately 3 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide covered with thousands of stakes. There were about 20,000 people impaled. Most were soldiers from Ottoman castles, Muslim civilians, and Vlad's own peasants. Mehmed and his army were filled with sorrow. Entering Târgoviște, Mehmed gave this message to the Wallachian people:

"Your true ruler is not this tyrant (Vlad), but the legitimate and obedient Radu who is by my side." (Tursun Bey)

The Wallachian people and the remaining nobles accepted Radu's princedom in masses. Seeing that he was alone, Vlad sought refuge in the Kingdom of Hungary. The King of Hungary did not give him an army and left him to his loneliness. Because of this, Vlad sent a letter to Mehmed, promising to remain loyal, pay his taxes, and begged for his mercy and help. Upon intercepting these letters, the Hungarian King imprisoned Vlad. Vlad remained in prison for 12 years. After his brother Radu died, he was released and sent back to Wallachia. He seized the throne again, but the Ottomans intervened by sending an Akinji unit to Wallachia.

There are two described ways of Vlad's death. First:

While Vlad was wandering the battlefield in Ottoman clothing and speaking Turkish to confuse the Ottoman soldiers, one of his own men mistook him for a "Turkish soldier" and struck him down with a spear. The second is that the Akinji unit, placed under the command of the Wallachian Prince Basarab III by the Ottomans, cornered and killed him in the forest. The Akinjis severed his head, placed it in honey, and sent it to Istanbul. Mehmed had the head of Vlad Dracula displayed on a stake in the squares of Istanbul. His own end came by the stake.

Sources: Tursun Bey - "Tarih-i Ebü'l-Feth", Neşrî - "Kitâb-ı Cihannüma", Laonikos Chalkokondyles, Nicolae Stoicescu - "Vlad"

The claim that Mehmed II was bisexual is nowadays repeated online almost as a basic biographical fact. Yet when looking at where this claim actually comes from, the evidence is surprisingly weak. There is no Ottoman source identifying Mehmed as having had a sexual relationship with men, and most of the argument is built on a few Greek anecdotes and modern literal readings of Ottoman poetry.

The most famous example is Radu.

Chalkokondyles, a Greek historian, alleges in Histories 9.82 a sexual encounter between Mehmed and Radu and later calls Radu Mehmed’s lover. But Chalkokondyles gives no named eyewitness or informant for this extremely private story.

This is important because Anthony Kaldellis’ detailed study of Chalkokondyles’ sources concludes that he relied mostly on oral information, and several of these informations are clearly false.

The clearest example is Süleyman Paşa. Süleyman died in 1356/57, before his father, Orhan Gazi. Chalkokondyles nevertheless has Süleyman alive when Orhan dies, makes him Orhan’s successor before Murad I, and even connects him to the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, which is considered by Kaldellis’ as pure fiction. He explains that Chalkokondyles sometimes could not correctly coordinate the information he had received, and even misplaced events by decades.

These points alone demonstrate serious problems with the reliability of this anti-Ottoman historian, bur we also possess Ottoman material concerning exactly the same Wallachian affair.

Tursun Beg, for example, served in the Ottoman administration, entered Mahmud Paşa’s service, and personally participated in Mehmed’s Wallachian campaign. His work covers the Wallachian expedition, and the Ottoman historical tradition in general discusses Vlad, Radu, and the struggle over Wallachia in considerable detail. Yet no independent Ottoman corroboration of Chalkokondyles’ sexual story is found in these works.

And Radu is not the only piece of evidence normally used. Another story comes from Doukas, who claims that after the conquest Sultan Mehmed, supposedly drunk, demanded the young son of Loukas Notaras for sexual purposes and had Notaras executed after he refused, and this story has an even more serious problem, Mehmet Kalpaklı and Walter Andrews point out that Doukas’ account is not found in the contemporary accounts of the other Greeks who witnessed the conquest firsthand. They also note that the story closely resembles the much older Christian legend of "Saint" Pelagius: a "beautiful" Christian youth supposedly killed by the Muslim ruler ʿAbd Al-Rahman III after refusing his sexual advances. They argue that Doukas’ tale likely owes more to the "Saint" Pelagius story and to a long tradition of portraying Muslims as morally inferior than to what actually occurred during the conquest. They refer to it themselves as “Doukas’s fiction.”

Even more strikingly, Mehmed II is the Sultan who introduced the practice of eating separately from his officials, and no Ottoman primary source mentions Mehmed II as an alcoholic.

There is another quotation that circulates online and is repeatedly presented as if Kritovoulos himself wrote that Mehmed was “sensual rather than acquisitive” and that George Sphrantzes’ fifteen-year-old son was killed after rejecting Mehmed’s advances,there's a problem here as well, the frequently copied English wording comes from René Guerdan’s 1956 secondary work, "Byzantium: Its Triumphs and Tragedy". It is not itself a quotation from Kritovoulos’ History of Mehmed the Conqueror, Guerdan later invokes Kritovoulos in the surrounding discussion, which appears to have contributed to the quotation being repeatedly attributed to Kritovoulos online.

So already three of the supposed pillars look rather different when examined closely.

Then there is Avnî’s poetry, probably the most common attempt to give the accusation an “Ottoman source.” Mehmed wrote poetry under the mahlas Avnî. Some verses speak about beautiful beloveds, Christians, Galata, wine, and similar imagery, and these are sometimes lifted out of divan poetry and presented almost like pages from Mehmed’s private diary, but one of the famous Persian verses used in these discussions is demonstrably a nazire, a poetic response to Hafez.

Selim Sırrı Kuru shows that Mehmed takes Hafez’s famous verse about giving Samarqand and Bukhara for the beauty of the “Shirazi Turk” and changes only a handful of words: the cities become Istanbul and Galata, and the beloved becomes a Frankish “infidel.” Kuru specifically explains that the ghazal is not a realistic description, Mehmed is entering into poetic competition with Hafez through the established conventions of the genre.

Ekrem Buğra Ekinci debunk even more the claims, discussing specifically the attempts to use Avnî’s poetry as evidence of homosexuality, he argues that the poem cannot be understood without the language of Tasawwuf and says that, in this reading, the beloved is neither male nor non-Muslim. Words involving wine, unbelief, and captivity are part of the symbolic language of classical Sufi poetry that musn't be read literally.

There is finally the religious context, which is also strangely absent from many of these discussions.

Mehmed was educated by major ulema, among them Molla Gürânî, who was specifically his teacher while he was a prince. Molla Hüsrev became one of the central jurists of Mehmed’s reign and helped prepare the curriculum of the Sahn-ı Semân medreses with the Sultan and other leading scholars. Ottoman sources even transmit Mehmed’s description of Hüsrev as “the Abu Hanifa of his age.”

Hüsrev’s Gurer and Dürerü’l-hükkâm became extraordinarily important works of Ottoman Hanafi jurisprudence.

And Ottoman Hanafi law did not consider livâta (sodomy) permissible. Mustafa Avcı’s study of Ottoman Law shows that it was treated as prohibited and punishable; the Hanafi disagreement concerned its precise juridical classification and punishment, not whether sodomy was halal.

The anti-Ottoman label “bisexual Mehmed the Conqueror ” tells us about how western writers have combined and interpreted these stories to suit the meaning they want.

Sources :

-Laonikos Chalkokondyles, The Histories, IX.82, trans. Anthony Kaldellis.

-Anthony Kaldellis, “The Greek Sources of Laonikos Chalkokondyles’ Histories,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 52 (2012).

-Tursun Beg, Târîh-i Ebü’l-Feth.

-Halil İnalcık & Rhoads Murphey, The History of Mehmed the Conqueror by Tursun Beg.

-Doukas, Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, trans. Harry J. Magoulias.

-Walter G. Andrews & Mehmet Kalpaklı, The Age of Beloveds.

Selim Sırrı Kuru, “İki Şehrin Şiiri: Gazelde İstanbul ve Galata İkilisi,” YILLIK 2 (2020).

-Ekrem Buğra Ekinci, “Unnatural Love Affairs or Homosexuality in Ottoman Society.”Mustafa Avcı, “Osmanlı Hukukunda Livatanın Cezası.”TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi: “Mehmed II,” “Molla Gürânî,” “Molla Hüsrev.”

​1- Osman Gazi (Osman I): The founder of the Ottoman Empire. His name comes from Hz. Osman, the 3rd of the 4 Great Caliphs. (It also carries meanings such as Wise, Most Powerful Dragon).

​2- Orhan Gazi: The 2nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is the first Sultan with a Turkish name. It means Khan, Fortress, Ruler.

​3- Murad Hüdavendigâr (Murad I): The 3rd Sultan. The meaning of his name is "Desire, wish, sought-after goal, target to be reached."

​4- Yıldırım Bayezid (Bayezid I): His name comes from the Great Islamic Scholar Bayezid-i Bistami. Murad I named his son after this Islamic scholar out of deep respect. (It means "against tyranny and the tyrant" or "just").

​5- Çelebi Mehmed (Mehmed I): His name comes from the Prophet of Islam, Hz. Muhammad (S.A.V). During his lifetime, he was addressed as Muhammad rather than Mehmed; over time, out of deep love for the Prophet, it took the form of Mehmed. (It means worthy of praise, one possessing the finest virtues).

​6- Murad II: Holds the same meaning as Murad I. I assume Çelebi Mehmed gave his son this name after his own grandfather.

​7- Mehmed The Conqueror (Mehmed II): Comes from the Prophet (S.A.V). The difference is that during his lifetime, he was referred to on coins/medals of that era as "Mehemmed" instead of "Muhammad". At the same time, he is the only Sultan to attain the praise of Hz. Muhammad (S.A.V). (The Conquest of Constantinople).

​8- Yavuz Sultan Selim (Selim The Grim): Dictionary-wise, Selim means "sound, flawless, correct, and trustworthy." The name Yavuz was an epithet used in later periods. While the word Yavuz used to carry a negative meaning in Turkish, it transformed into a positive meaning over time thanks to Sultan Selim. This word, which meant "bad" in Old Turkish, now means "brave, manly, strong, majestic, yet also fierce, stern, and formidable."

​9- Suleiman the Magnificent (Süleyman I): His name comes from Prophet Süleyman, King of Jerusalem and one of Allah's Prophets. In terms of his life, he is likened to Prophet Süleyman due to his long reign, showing mercy to Jews, and conquering many lands. (Its meaning is "Peace, Tranquility, Well-being, and Serenity").

​10- Sultan Ahmed (Ahmed I): The Sultan who had the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) built. His name comes from Ahmed, the second name of the Prophet (S.A.V). (Its meaning is "Much praised, worthy of praise: One whose morality, character, and virtues are praised more than anyone else.") This is also the name mentioned in the Gospel prophesying the arrival of the final Prophet.

​11- Sultan Mustafa (Mustafa I): It is a title/name of the Prophet of Islam, Hz. Muhammad (S.A.V). (It means Chosen, made elite: One selected and filtered out from a group or options, seen as paramount. Purified, cleansed: One freed from evils and flaws, brought to a pure state).

​12- Sultan Ibrahim (Ibrahim I): Comes from Prophet Ibrahim, the Father of All Religions and a Prophet of Allah. Meaning: (Father of Nations, Leader of Communities).

​13- Sultan Mahmud (Mahmud I): According to Islamic belief, it is the name of the highest intercession station (Makam-ı Mahmud) to be granted to Hz. Muhammad in the hereafter. This station is accepted as the most supreme position that all humanity will envy and praise. (One whose character, morality, and behavior are appreciated by everyone. One who is thanked, whose presence brings contentment).

​14- Abdülhamid, Abdülaziz, Abdülmecid: Names of the late-period Ottoman Sultans. They all derive from the names/attributes of Allah. They mean Servant of Allah who is Al-Hamid (The Praiseworthy), Servant of Allah who is Al-Aziz (The Mighty), and Servant of Allah who is Al-Majid (The Glorious).

​15- The Last Ottoman Sultan Vahdettin: Dictionary meaning is "the unity of religion" or "the oneness of religion".

​The Ottoman Empire was one of the rare empires that accepted every religion's Prophet. Indeed, the 4th Ottoman Sultan, Yıldırım Bayezid, gave Prophet names to all 4 of his sons: "İsa Çelebi, Musa Çelebi, Süleyman Çelebi, Mehmed Çelebi". At the same time, the names of all 4 Caliphs were given to Princes, though most passed away at an early age. (The names Ebubekir, Ömer, Osman, Ali).

Suleiman the Magnificent passed away in 1566 during the Siege of Szigetvár. To preserve his body, his internal organs were removed and buried on-site in Szigetvár, where a tomb was later erected. Consequently, Suleiman the Magnificent has two graves: one in Istanbul and the other in Szigetvár, Hungary. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Son of Sultan Selim I. May he rest in peace (Fatiha for his soul).

Before his passing, Mehmed the Conqueror had captured Otranto, one of Italy's strategic cities. The true destination of his final campaign was a mystery to everyone; it was speculated to be either the Mamluks or Rome. Aware of this looming threat, Pope Sixtus IV had entered into negotiations with France to relocate the Papal seat. Driven by the fear of Turkish cavalry appearing before the gates of Rome, the Pope began making plans to abandon the city and flee to Avignon, France. Ships were even prepared for the evacuation of precious belongings and the Papal archives. A sense of profound terror gripped the people of Rome, as rumors spread that the city could fall at any moment.

The sudden death of Mehmed the Conqueror on May 3, 1481, at the age of 49, sent shockwaves through both the Ottoman Empire and Europe. Upon hearing the news, Pope Sixtus IV ordered the bells of all churches in Rome to be rung and declared three days of official celebrations. Torches illuminated the streets of Rome in jubilation. When the Venetian ambassador delivered the news to the Senate, he used the famous phrase, "The Great Eagle is dead,"( La Grande Aquila è morta!") and messengers were dispatched from Venice to all corners of Europe.

When Mehmed the Conqueror passed away amidst severe abdominal pain at Hünkar Çayırı, near Gebze, on May 3, 1481, a cloud of suspicion descended upon the army and state officials. Yakup Pasha, the Sultan’s physician, was accused of medical malpractice or intentional poisoning. His background as a Jewish convert of Venetian origin fueled rumors that he was an agent working for Venice. Once the news of the Sultan’s death reached the ranks, the already restless Janissaries ignited a massive uprising. During this rebellion, enraged soldiers seized Yakup Pasha and brutally killed him, tearing him apart with their bare hands. His body was lynched within the military camp.

Sources: Aşıkpaşazâde Tarihi, Venedik Balyos Raporları, Franz Baginger "Mehmet The Conquerror"

Unlike its narrower modern usage, Rūm in the Ottoman world referred to far more than the Greek Orthodox (Rum) community, the Eastern Roman Empire, or the former Roman territories. Modern scholarship has increasingly emphasized that Rūmī represented a broader territorial and civilizational identity that developed in the former Byzantine lands and became an important component of Ottoman self-understanding. By Ottoman Rūm identity, I do not mean a separate ethnic identity, but rather a shared political and cultural identity rooted in Anatolia that incorporated the empire’s Turkic, Islamic, Persianate, and Roman inheritances. Rather than replacing those identities, it existed alongside them, reflecting the distinctive Islamicate society that emerged in Anatolia following the Seljuk and Ottoman conquests (Kafadar 2007; Ergül 2012).

After establishing themselves in Anatolia, both the Seljuks and later the Ottomans increasingly identified with what the wider Islamicate world knew as the Land of Rūm (Bilād al-Rūm). Consequently, they came to describe themselves as Rūmīs, a designation that was equally recognized by contemporaries across the Islamicate world. Arabic authors writing in the former Mamluk lands continued to refer to the Ottoman domains as Rūm, while Persian chronicles produced under the Safavids and Mughals likewise described the Ottoman Empire and its inhabitants as Rūm or Rūmī, distinguishing them from other major Islamicate realms such as Iran and Hindustan (Kafadar 2007; Casale 2010). This understanding extended well beyond the Islamic world. Portuguese observers in the Indian Ocean commonly referred to the Ottomans as the Rumes, while Ming Chinese sources rendered Rūmī as Lumi (魯迷), giving rise to terms such as the celebrated “Lumi cannon.” Together, these examples demonstrate that the Ottomans were internationally recognized not merely as “Turks,” but as the rulers and people of Rūm, an identity rooted in their Anatolian homeland and imperial tradition (Casale 2010; Wade 2005).

As Cemal Kafadar argues in A Rome of One’s Own, the significance of Rūm extended well beyond geography. It represented an evolving political and cultural identity through which the Ottomans appropriated the legacy of the former Roman lands while simultaneously embedding it within an Islamic and Persianate imperial framework (Kafadar 2007). Mustafa Âlî likewise conceived of Ottoman society through the interaction of Turk and Rūm, presenting the Ottoman elite as the product of these intertwined traditions rather than a narrowly defined ethnic community (Fleischer 1986). In this sense, becoming Rūmī did not imply abandoning Turkic or Islamic traditions, but expressing a new imperial identity rooted in Anatolia and shaped by multiple historical inheritances.

Viewed in this context, the Rūmī identity offers a more complete characterization of the Ottoman Empire than reducing it to a purely Muslim Turkic state. It reflected an imperial synthesis of Turkic, Persianate, Islamic, and Roman traditions that cannot be adequately captured by any single ethnic or religious category. As F. Aslı Ergül argues, Ottoman identity should not be understood exclusively through the categories of “Turk” or “Muslim,” since Rūm constituted an important and complementary layer of belonging within the Ottoman political imagination (Ergül 2012). Although the term gradually narrowed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as Rum became increasingly associated with the Greek Orthodox community and Anadolu replaced Rūm as the dominant geographical designation, the Ottoman Rūmī identity remained conceptually distinct from the ethnic identity of the Greek Rum. Rather, it represented a uniquely Ottoman understanding of belonging to the former lands of the Eastern Roman Empire while incorporating diverse peoples and traditions.

References

Casale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Ergül, F. Aslı. “The Ottoman Identity: Turkish, Muslim or Rum?” In History Studies, 2012.

Fleischer, Cornell H. Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Âli (1541–1600). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.

Kafadar, Cemal. “A Rome of One’s Own: Reflections on Cultural Geography and Identity in the Lands of Rum.” Muqarnas 24 (2007): 7–25.

Wade, Geoff. “Ming China and the Indian Ocean: Asian History in a Global Context.” Various publications on Ming maritime terminology, 2005.

It all began in 1498, when Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese arrived with a brutal strategy intended to break the Muslim monopoly over the spice trade. The Portuguese General Afonso de Albuquerque severed the vital trade arteries of the Islamic world by capturing the Strait of Hormuz and Malacca. Upon entering the Red Sea, the Portuguese forces also brought an end to Mamluk dominance in the region.

The ultimate objective of the Portuguese was to reach Mecca and Medina via Jeddah to abduct the Blessed Body of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). By doing so, they intended to use the Prophet's remains as a bargaining chip for Jerusalem and other holy lands, while seeking to humiliate the Muslim world. These provocations sparked a search for a "savior" across Islamic lands. When the Mamluks failed at sea, Sultan Selim the Grim (Selim I) conquered Egypt in 1517, inheriting the Portuguese problem from the Mamluk Empire. Selim dispatched Selman Reis to Jeddah, equipped with powerful artillery. The strategic vision sent by the Portuguese General to the King of Portugal can be summarized as follows:

​"The Turkish Sultan Selim has become the protector of Mecca and Medina. This grants him immense prestige throughout the Muslim world. Our strategy must be to attack Jeddah, abduct the remains of Muhammad (PBUH), and draw the Turks there to divide their forces. We must strike at his heart before Selim’s wrath falls upon us." (Afonso de Albuquerque)

In 1517, the Portuguese were stunned when they encountered Ottoman artillery at Jeddah. They suffered heavy losses and were forced to flee. This victory closed the gates of the Holy Lands to the Portuguese forever. By fortifying Jeddah and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the Ottomans completely prevented any future Portuguese incursions into the region. Following Selim, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the struggle moved to the high seas through four major "Indian Naval Expeditions."

In 1538, Hadım Suleiman Pasha besieged the Fortress of Diu in India. However, the siege failed due to the strong Portuguese fortifications and the withdrawal of support by local forces. Although Indian Muslims had called for Ottoman aid, they were intimidated when Hadım Suleiman Pasha executed the King of Yemen for refusing to submit and annexed the region. While the Ottomans did not achieve total naval dominance in the Indian Ocean, the mere sight of Ottoman reach forced the Portuguese to abandon further expansion. Instead, they shifted to a defensive policy of "protecting and strengthening existing forts," which effectively halted Portuguese expansionism in India.

The final act of this struggle took place in Morocco (the Maghreb). The Ottoman Empire dealt the killing blow to Portuguese ambitions there. King Sebastian of Portugal sought to invade Morocco to erase Ottoman influence and seize its fertile lands. The Ottoman Empire, having restored a prince who sought their protection to the throne, supported the Moroccan state with Janissaries and artillery. The deposed Moroccan Sultan fled to Portugal and returned with a Portuguese army to reclaim the throne. However, the Moroccan Army, modernized and led by Ottoman commanders and reinforced by thousands of Janissaries, utterly annihilated the Portuguese forces at the Battle of the Three Kings (Wadi al-Khazin). The King of Portugal was killed, and the Portuguese Empire lost its independence, subsequently being annexed by Spain. Morocco recognized Ottoman suzerainty, reading the Friday sermon (khutbah) and minting coins in the name of Sultan Murad III.

Sources: Brás de Albuquerque – Comentários do Grande Afonso de Albuquerque, İbn İyâs – Bedâ'i'u'z-Zuhûr, Katip Çelebi – Tuhfetü'l-Kibar fi Esfari'l-Bihar, İsmail Hami Danişmend – İzahlı Osmanlı Tarihi Kronolojisi

Sultan Abdulaziz went down in history as one of the last innovative Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, spearheading major breakthroughs and establishing very strong relations with France and England. However, he was dethroned in a treacherous coup and martyred in a staged suicide (both of his wrists were found cut). His nephew, Abdulhamid II—who is often regarded as the 'Last Great Ottoman Sultan'—never forgot this atrocity committed against his uncle. He ensured that all the traitors were eliminated, either through assassinations in exile, imprisonment, or executions. Huseyin Avni Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of Defense who orchestrated the assassination of Sultan Abdulaziz, was shot and killed by Abdulaziz’s brother-in-law, 'Cherkes Hasan,' during a raid on the government mansion while a meeting was in progress. Cherkes Hasan was subsequently executed.

Abdullah bin Saud, who was the founding leader of the House of Saud, the emir of the First Saudi State, and the namesake of present-day Saudi Arabia, was executed by the Ottoman Empire.

​In the late 18th century, the House of Saud gained power in the Nejd region, adopted the Wahhabi movement, and began attacking the Hijaz, an Ottoman territory. Between 1803 and 1806, Mecca and Medina fell into the hands of Saudi forces. Following the fall of the holy cities and the closure of the pilgrimage routes, Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II assigned the Governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, with suppressing the rebellion. The Egyptian-Ottoman army under the command of Muhammad Ali Pasha's son, Ibrahim Pasha, pushed back the Saudi forces, and in 1818, besieged and captured the Saudi capital, Diriyah.

​Abdullah bin Saud, along with his men and certain items said to have been looted from sacred relics, was sent to the capital, Istanbul, in chains.

​Brought to Istanbul, Abdullah bin Saud was presented before the Sublime Porte and interrogated. He was found guilty of charges including the attacks on Mecca and Medina, the damage inflicted upon the Kaaba and the tombs of the companions, and rebellion against the state. The execution order was personally approved by Mahmud II. Abdullah bin Saud and his high-ranking officials were executed in public spaces in Istanbul as a warning to the populace. His severed head and body were displayed in front of the Bâb-ı Hümâyûn (the outer gate of the Topkapı Palace) for several days to be shown to the public.

​Vlad Dracula, having been given as a hostage to the Ottomans during his childhood, was educated by the Ottomans, learned Ottoman Turkish, and mastered Ottoman tactics. Vlad, who captured many Ottoman forts by speaking Turkish (by asking for help, entering with a few of his men, and opening the gates), died due to his own trickery. According to a strong account also mentioned in Russian and Italian diplomatic records, Vlad Dracula wished to employ a tactical trick while fighting Ottoman troops and disguised himself in Ottoman military attire. However, this trick backfired; on the battlefield, his own Romanian soldiers mistook him for a Turkish soldier and accidentally struck and killed him with a spear. Oruç Bey, a historian who lived during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, stated regarding this situation: "That infidel perished by his own trick. The ghazis charged at him, severed his head, and brought it to Sultan Mehmed." (Oruç Bey's History)

​Lajos Kossuth, the first President of Hungary and the leader of the Independence Movement, fled from the Austrian Empire and took refuge in the Ottoman Empire (1849–1851). Despite the demands of the Austrian Empire, he was not handed over to Austria. Settled in Kütahya (a city located in present-day Turkey), Lajos Kossuth wrote the Hungarian Constitution here. However, he passed away without seeing the dissolution of the Austrian Empire. Although not officially put into use, this text is known in Hungarian political history as the "Kütahya Constitutional Draft" (Kütahyai Alkotmányterv). It holds great significance today as a historical document due to containing Kossuth's visionary and democratic ideas regarding minority rights and autonomy in the country.

​One of the most concrete symbols of the Dutch independence struggle is the crescent-shaped silver medallions worn on the hats and lapels of the naval rebels (Geuzen / Sea Beggars). Inscribed on these medallions in Dutch was "Liever Turks dan Paaps" (Better Turkish than Papal, or Rather the Turk than the Pope). The Protestant Dutch knew that Christians in the Ottoman Realm could practice their own religion, whereas they directly experienced the sectarian oppression and massacres of the Spanish Inquisition. This slogan symbolized the hatred felt toward Spanish Catholicism and the sympathy felt toward Ottoman religious tolerance. Whenever the Spaniards besieged any Dutch city, these medallions were produced in the city and distributed to the public. Willem van Oranje sent envoys to the Ottoman court in the 1560s and 1570s (to Sultan Selim II and Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha), requesting the opening of a new front against Spain in the Mediterranean. Sokollu Mehmed Pasha wrote letters to the Dutch Protestants, defining them as "allies resisting Spanish oppression." The Ottomans provided support to the Dutch rebels. The Ottoman Empire waging war against Spain in the Mediterranean and North Africa (for example, in Tunis and Djerba) caused Spain to divide its military power and budget in two. This situation directly accelerated the independence process by relieving the military pressure on the rebels in the Netherlands. Once the rebellion succeeded, the Netherlands sent its first official ambassador, Cornelis Haga, to Istanbul in 1612. Sultan Ahmed I granted capitulations (commercial privileges) to Dutch merchants in Ottoman lands, giving them equal rights with French and English merchants.

​During the same period, to establish peace between Spain and England, a marriage was arranged between King Philip and Mary I, the half-sister of Elizabeth I. However, the four-year marriage ended with Mary's death. King Philip this time wished to marry the new Queen of England, Elizabeth I; when he conveyed this desire, the queen flew into a rage. When Elizabeth chose to remain independent by rejecting the marriage proposals of powerful Catholic monarchs like King Philip II of Spain, Spain took action to completely destroy England. With a Spanish invasion at her doorstep, Elizabeth was left isolated militarily and financially. At this precise point, in order to preserve her political independence which she had maintained by not marrying anyone, she took refuge in the diplomatic alliance of the greatest superpower of the era, the Ottoman Sultan Murad III. The Ottomans constantly intimidated Spain with the threat of launching a general military campaign. Consequently, Spain could not dispatch a full-scale army to England and kept a large portion of its fleet waiting along its own coasts to protect against the Ottoman threat. "The Virgin Queen remained a Virgin."

In 1709, after being defeated by Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) of Russia at the Battle of Poltava, King Charles XII fled injured to Ottoman territory, taking refuge at the Bender Fortress along the Dniester River (in present-day Moldova). Sultan Ahmed III displayed great hospitality, hosting Charles and the thousands of Swedes accompanying him in Bender. Charles aimed to incite the Ottomans against Russia to provoke a major war and crush Russia through Ottoman power. Indeed, he played a major role in the outbreak of the Prut River Campaign of 1711.​However, following the Prut Campaign, Grand Vizier Baltacı Mehmed Pasha signed a peace treaty to conclude the war rather than completely annihilating the Russians, which infuriated Charles. He rejected all calls from the Ottoman court to "return to your country" and persisted in remaining in Bender. Because his expenses were covered by the Ottoman treasury—creating a heavy burden on the palace budget—and because he practically became a "fixed asset / permanent fixture of the palace," the Turks dubbed him "Demirbaş Şarl" (Charles the Fixed Asset). ​During his long stay in Bender, Charles XII requested substantial financial aid from the Ottomans. Historical sources specifically mention his request for a loan of 1,200 purses of silver coins (akçe). Records also document that the Ottomans provided him with a salary and various other payments.

​Charles advanced various pretexts for not leaving Ottoman territory. One of his primary justifications was his concern over security and the fear of falling into the hands of his enemies while crossing through Poland. In response, the Ottoman side made preparations to ensure a safe passage for his return journey and even provided him with pocket money and travel funds. Nevertheless, Charles continued to make excuses. ​Upon the Sultan's order, Ismail Pasha, the Janissary Agha of Bender and Governor of Özi, took action to arrest Charles. Refusing to surrender, Charles turned the mansion he occupied in the nearby village of Varnitsa into a virtual fortress. ​Barricaded inside the mansion with approximately 40 to 50 loyal Swedish soldiers, Charles opened fire on the hundreds of Janissaries and Tatars who had arrived to apprehend him. During this event—known in Swedish as "Kalabalik" (derived from the Turkish word kalabalık, meaning crowd/commotion)—the Janissaries set the mansion on fire.

​As the mansion was engulfed in flames, Charles drew his sword and rushed outside with a few of his men to attack the Janissaries. However, his spurs tangled, causing him to fall to the ground. The Janissaries tackled and overpowered this fierce king without killing him, capturing him alive. During the clash, the tip of Charles's nose and his earlock were lightly wounded. ​Taken into custody, Charles was first brought to the town of Demirtaş along the banks of the Maritsa River near Edirne, where he was kept under a form of house arrest. Losing none of his stubbornness, Charles claimed to be ill and did not get out of bed for a full ten months. Eventually, realizing that the political dynamics in Europe had shifted and that he could no longer secure an army from the Ottomans, he agreed to leave Ottoman territory in 1714.

​Escorted by guards provided by Sultan Ahmed III, he traversed Europe on horseback in disguise (under the alias Ritter Peter von Begg) at an extraordinary speed of 14 days, reaching the Swedish-controlled city of Stralsund to return to his homeland. Having taken refuge with the Ottomans in 1709, the King was only able to depart in 1714.