Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG) - Istanbul 29 Mayis University

Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG) - Istanbul 29 Mayis University
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Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
Istanbul 29 Mayis University
Political Science and International Relations
Faculty Member
Georgetown University
History
Alumnus
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2018 "Outstanding Young Scientist Award," Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA)
2018 "Promising Scientist Award," 14th Kadir Has Awards
2018 "Scientific Monograph Award," Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA)
2021 Professor / Prof. Dr.
2016 Associate Professor / Doçent Doktor
2012 Ph.D. in History, Early Modern Europe, Georgetown University
Dissertation: ESPIONAGE IN THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MEDITERRANEAN: SECRET DIPLOMACY, MEDITERRANEAN GO-BETWEENS AND THE OTTOMAN HABSBURG RIVALRY, Supervisor: Gábor Ágoston.
2010 M. A. in History, Early Modern Europe, Georgetown University
2006 M.A. in History, Ottoman History, Bilkent University
Master's thesis: OTTOMAN CORSAIRS IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THEIR PLACE IN THE OTTOMAN-HABSBURG RIVALRY, 1505-1535, Supervisor: Halil Inalcik
2003 B. A. in International Relations, Bilkent University
Even though originally trained as an Ottomanist, I am  interested in early modern European and Mediterranean History. My research interests are go-betweens and cultural intermediaries in the Mediterranean, cross-confessional diplomacy, slavery, piracy/privateering, political factions, frontier studies with a special focus on Ottoman North Africa, state formation and information gathering.
Unlike my forefathers who proved themselves rather slow to realize the printing press' potential, I believe in the importance of new media for spreading new knowledge, even in a conservative field such as history. In 2011, in a futile attempt to do something original and catchy, Chris Gratien and I started a podcast project (Ottoman History Podcast - OHP), interviewing doctoral students and professors on a number of historical topics related to the Ottoman Empire. Please click in order to see one of our more than 150 episodes www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com
After finishing my dissertation, I returned to the very city my grandparents left half a century ago. After a brief stint at Bahcesehir University's newly founded Department of History, in March 2013 I joined Istanbul 29 Mayis University, located near the Turkish historians' favourite library in Istanbul, ISAM. I am an associate professor at the department of Political Science and International Relations.
On March 22, 2018,  I have been chosen as the "Promising Scientist of the Year" in the 14th Kadir Has Awards, organized by Kadir Has University, İstanbul. The jury chose me for my "groundbreaking contribution" to Ottoman socio-economic history, accentuating my cross-reading of Ottoman and European archival sources and the comparative approach that seeks to study Ottoman history within the general paradigms of European and Mediterranean history.
The same year, I have received two awards from the most prestigious institution of the country, Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA). While I earned the "Young Outstanding Scientist Award" (GEBIP) with a project entitled Ottoman Corsairs Between Venice and Istanbul, 1574-1645; my first monograph Sultanın Casusları won the "Scientific Monograph Award" (TESEP).
I serve as the academic secretary to International Conference on Ottoman Istanbul which our university organizes every year. Since 2014, I am also the book review editor of Journal of Ottoman Studies.
Linguistic skills:
Native in Turkish
Fluent in English (Read, Speak, Write)
Fluent in Italian (Read, Speak, Write)
Fluent in Spanish (Read, Speak, Write)
Fluent in French (Read, Speak)
Advanced Portuguese (Read, Speak)
Advanced Latin (Read)
Advanced Ottoman (Read)
Intermediate Catalan (Read)
Intermediate Persian (Read)
Intermediate German (Read)
See CV for publications and other information.
Supervisors:
Gabor Agoston and Halil İnalcık
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Journal of Ottoman Studies / Osmanlı Araştırmaları Dergisi
Istanbul 29 Mayis University
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Olmaz Öyle Saçma Tarih
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Papers
Books by Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
NEW BOOK: SPIES FOR THE SULTAN: Ottoman Intelligence in the Great Rivalry with Spain
Georgetown University Press
, 2024
Translated into English for the first time, this is a fascinating history of intelligence practic...
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Translated into English for the first time, this is a fascinating history of intelligence practices and their impact on great power rivalries in the early modern era
In the sixteenth century, an intense rivalry between the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Habsburg Empire and its allies spurred the creation of early modern intelligence. Translated into English for the first time, Emrah Safa Gürkan's Spies for the Sultan reconstructs this history of Ottoman espionage, sabotage, and bribery practices in the Mediterranean world.
Then as now, collecting political, naval, military, and economic information was essential to staying one step ahead of your rivals. Porous and shifting borders, the ability to assume multiple identities, and variable allegiances made conditions in this era ripe for espionage around the Mediterranean. The Ottomans used networks of merchants, corsairs, soldiers, and other travelers to move among their enemies and report intelligence from points far and wide. The Ottoman sultans invested in the novel technologies of cryptography and stenography. Ottoman intelligence operatives not only collected information but also used disinformation, bribery, and sabotage to subvert their enemies.
This history of early modern intelligence is based on extraordinary archival research in Turkey, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Croatia, and it provides important insights into the origins of modern intelligence.
New Book: Ezbere Yaşayanlar (100.000 copies)
“Özgünlük” ve “yeni”nin sürekli övüldüğü bir çağda, detaylarda ne kadar ayrışsak da, temelde birb...
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“Özgünlük” ve “yeni”nin sürekli övüldüğü bir çağda, detaylarda ne kadar ayrışsak da, temelde birbirimize çok benziyoruz. Sadece birbirimize benzemekle kalmıyoruz; bizden önceki nesillerden de o kadar farklı değiliz. Teknolojinin ve modernitenin getirdiği tüm yeni imkânlara rağmen birçok alışkanlığımızdan vazgeçemiyoruz. Benzer durumlarda benzer tepkiler gösteriyor, âdeta ezbere yaşıyoruz. Ve bunu değişmediğimizin pek de farkında olmadan yapıyoruz.
Gözlemlemenin, sorgulamanın, tutarlı fikirler geliştirmenin sancılı sürecine katlanmaktansa reklamvari sloganlarla özgünlüğü yakalayabileceğimizi sanıyoruz. Ve sonunda her tembel öğrenci gibi sınıfta kaldığımızda hocayı suçluyoruz.
İşte Ezbere Yaşayanlar, bir türlü vazgeçemediğimiz alışkanlıklarımızın tarihî arka planıyla birlikte antropolojik, sosyolojik ve psikolojik kökenlerini irdeliyor.
Bizim gibi olmayanlara neden tahammül edemiyor, yabancıdan ve farklıdan neden korkuyoruz? İnsanları niçin konuşma tarzına göre yargılıyor, argo kullananlara ya da aksanlı konuşanlara niçin yukarıdan bakıyoruz? Şu rasyonalite çağında neden hediye alıyoruz ve birbirimize bir şeyler ısmarlıyoruz? Niçin dedikodu yapmaktan vazgeçemiyoruz? Son elli yılda birçok hak edindikleri halde kadınlar neden erkeklerden farklı meslekler tercih etmekte ısrar ediyor? Bunca bilimsel gelişmeye rağmen neden hâlâ fala ve büyüye inanıyoruz?
Yukarıdaki sorulara cevap ararken anekdot denizinde boğulmadan diyardan diyara koşup çağdan çağa savrulacağız. Taş Çağı’ndan modern zamanlara, Kalahari Çölü’nden Trobriand Adaları’na, Güney Sudan’dan Alp Dağları’na, Çin’den Aztek diyarlarına keyifli bir yolculuğa çıkmaya, Evliya Çelebi’den Torquemada’ya, James Cook’tan Şamhat’a, Kraliçe Njinga’dan İmparatoriçe İrene’ye, konuşan şempanzelerden Akıllı At Hans’a, yamyamlardan hadımlara birçok ilginç karakterle tanışmaya hazır mısınız?
Ezbere Yaşayanlar’da iki yüz bin yıllık insanlık mirasının ortaya koyduğu birbirinden değişik toplum ve kültüre yönelerek davranışlarımızı şekillendiren ana etmenleri inceleyecek; kültürle biyoloji, geçmişle gelecek, gelenekle yenilik arasındaki çekişmeyi merkeze alarak, şartların alışkanlıklarımızı ne noktaya kadar değiştirebildiğini tetkik edecek ve doğamıza ne kadar hükmedebildiğimizi göreceğiz.
A szultán kémei: Hungarian Translation of Sultanın Casusları
A Szultán Kémei: Oszmán hírszerzési módszerek és ügynökhálózatok a 16. században, trans. Pál Laur...
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A Szultán Kémei: Oszmán hírszerzési módszerek és ügynökhálózatok a 16. században, trans. Pál Laura (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 2020)
Hungarian translation of Sultanın Casusları: 16. Yüzyılda İstihbarat, Sabotaj ve Rüşvet Ağları (İstanbul: Kronik, 2017)
10th run is out, 28.000 copies, 10. Baskı - Sultanın Casusları (Spies for the Sultan): 16. Yüzyılda İstihbarat, Sabotaj ve Rüşvet Ağları (İçindekiler/Contents, Takdim/Presentation, Kaynakça/Bibliography)
A new book on Ottoman espionage, based on Ottoman, Venetian, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese...
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A new book on Ottoman espionage, based on Ottoman, Venetian, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Latin and German primary sources. This is not my dissertation, which dealt not only with Ottoman espionage, but also that of the Spanish Habsburgs and Venice. This is rather an expanded version of its sixth chapter which dealt with Ottoman spies.
BACKCOVER:
Bazen işleyişi itinayla düzenlenmiş resmi bir teşkilat çerçevesinde, bazen de fırsatçı ve dalavereci casuslar aracılığıyla, devletler ve ordular tarih boyunca istihbarat yapmıştır. Bu istihbarat teşkilat ve elemanlarının tek görevi haber toplamak ve bu haberi şifreleme ve gizlenmiş yazı gibi metotlarla zamanında ve güvenli bir şekilde aktarmak değildir; düşman hükümdar ve komutanlarını bir suikast ile ortadan kaldırmak, askeri hedeflere sabotaj yapmak ve düşman yönetiminden memnun olmayan “beşinci kol”ları kışkırtmak gibi “örtülü operasyon”lara da girişmektedirler.
İşte, Osmanlıca kaynakları Avrupa arşivlerindeki İtalyanca, İspanyolca, Fransızca, Portekizce, Almanca ve Latince binlerce belgeyle harmanlayan elinizdeki bu kitap, Osmanlıların Yeniçağ’daki istihbarat faaliyetlerini, rakipleri Habsburg ve Venediklilerle karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde ele almaktadır. "SULTANIN CASUSLARI: 16. Yüzyılda İstihbarat, Sabotaj ve Rüşvet Ağları," cihanşümul bir imparatorluk olan Osmanlıların Avrupa ve Akdeniz’e yolladığı casusların sahadaki faaliyetlerinin yanı sıra, Osmanlı istihbaratının kurumsal yapısı, Osmanlı karşı istihbaratı (kontrespiyonaj), Osmanlı paşa ve elçilerinin haber alma kaynakları, istihbarî bilginin siyasi fonksiyonu ve Osmanlı karar alma süreci gibi konuları titizlikle irdelemektedir.
İstihbarat, korsanlık, kölelik, ihtida, Osmanlı-Avrupa ilişkileri ve serhad çalışmaları gibi alanlarda araştırmalar yapan Doç. Dr. Emrah Safa Gürkan'ın bu eseri, yıllar süren arşiv çalışmasıyla bir araya getirilmiş tarihi örnekler eşliğinde istihbarat dünyasının gizemli sayfalarını aralıyor. Böylece, hem Osmanlı hem de istihbarat tarihi alanında çok önemli bir boşluğu dolduruyor.
Images - Spies for the Sultan - Sultanın Casusları
Colored images used in my book, Spies for the Sultan: Intelligence, Sabotage and Bribery in the 1...
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Colored images used in my book, Spies for the Sultan: Intelligence, Sabotage and Bribery in the 16th century (İstanbul: Kronik, 2017).
SULTANIN KORSANLARI, Appendix/Zeyl: Sözlük/Dictionary
Dictionary of nautical and other related terms, in my recent book SULTANIN KORSANLARI: Osmanlı Ak...
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Dictionary of nautical and other related terms, in my recent book SULTANIN KORSANLARI: Osmanlı Akdenizi’nde Gazâ, Yağma ve Esaret, 1500-1700 (Corsairs for the Sultan: Slavery, Booty and Holy War in Ottoman Mediterranean, 1500-1700).
5th run is out, 20.000 copies, 5. baskı: SULTANIN KORSANLARI: Osmanlı Akdenizi’nde Gazâ, Yağma ve Esaret, 1500-1700 (Corsairs for the Sultan: Slavery, Booty and Holy War in Ottoman Mediterranean, 1500-1700), Introduction, Selected Pages, Biblio / Giriş, Seçme Sayfalar, Kaynakça
Drawing from a wide range of primary and secondary sources in English, French, Ottoman, Italian, ...
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Drawing from a wide range of primary and secondary sources in English, French, Ottoman, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German and Latin, this new work studies in 12 chapters and 600 pages the activities of Ottoman corsairs from the Adriatic to Iceland, from Baleares to Azores, dealing with several different aspects:
Cultural (religion, superstition, sexuality, daily life aboard corsair ships), economic (division of the booty, piracy’s function in an emerging capitalist world market), social (piracy and banditry) geographical (topography of the North African coasts), political (Maghreb’s relation with Istanbul) and military (ship types, fleet compositions, military strategies employed).
It has 16 colored, 34 black and white pictures, 20 maps and a 12 page glossary at the very end.
You can buy it online at:
“Osmanlı” adını verdiğimiz korsanlar hangi etnik kökenlerden gelmektedir? Bunlar fırsatçı yağmacılar mı, yoksa İslam’ın bayrağını taşıyan nusret-karin din savaşçıları mıdır? Mühtedi ve Hıristiyan denizciler ailelerini, vatanlarını ve reddettikleri inançlarını ne dereceye kadar arkalarında bırakabilmişlerdir? Gemilerde korsanlarımız ne yiyip içmekte, doğal ihtiyaçlarını nasıl karşılamakta ve denizin belirsizliklerine hangi ibadet ve ritüellerle karşı koymaktadır? Bir korsan akınında kullanılan askerî taktikler nelerdir? Korsan akınlarına uygun gemi tipleri nelerdir? Topoğrafik faktörler hangi limanları korsanlığa mahkûm etmiştir? Elde edilen ganimetin korsan limanlarına katkısı ve Avrupa ekonomisine zararı ne boyuttadır? Bu ganimet nasıl elden çıkarılmakta ve paylaşılmaktadır? İnsanları korsanlığa iten sosyo-ekonomik etkenler nelerdir? Korsanlarımızın yavaş yavaş gelişmeye başlayan uluslararası hukuktaki yeri nedir?
İşte daha önce sorulmayan tüm bu suallerin cevabı Osmanlıca, Fransızca, İtalyanca, İspanyolca, İngilizce, Portekizce, Katalanca, Latince ve Almanca kaynakları harmanlayan SULTANIN KORSANLARI: OSMANLI AKDENİZİ’NDE GAZÂ, YAĞMA VE ESARET, 1500-1700’de. Yıllar süren arşiv çalışmasıyla bir araya getirilmiş İzlanda’dan Adriyatik’e, Korsika’dan Azorlar’a uzanan tarihî örnekler; okuyucuyu din değiştiren fırsatçı mühtedilerin, firar etmek için binbir yolu deneyen Cervantes gibi esirlerin, aynı gemide yoldaşlık yapan Hıristiyan ve Müslümanların, sırtında kırbaç güneşin altında terleyen kürekçilerin, hakarete uğradığı, sevdiği kızı alamadığı ya da dolandırıldığı için intikam hırsıyla Mağrib’e gidip korsanları Hıristiyan kıyılarına getiren mürtedlerin, halkın veli mertebesine çıkardığı Hıristiyan doğumlu nev-müslimlerin dünyasına davet ediyor.
Doç. Dr. Emrah Safa Gürkan'ın tarihsel kategorileri altüst eden serhad kahramanlarını incelediği bu ikinci eseri, Osmanlı bahriye tarihinin en gizemli sayfalarını aralamakla kalmıyor; Osmanlı korsanlarını Akdeniz ve dünya tarihindeki iktisadî, siyasî ve teknolojik gelişmelerin ışığında analiz ediyor.
Dissertations and Theses by Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
Espionage in the 16th century Mediterranean: Secret Diplomacy, Mediterranean go-betweens and the Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry - Ph.D. Diss., Georgetown University, 2012
Spies played a crucial role in early modern imperial rivalries. While past scholars have emphasiz...
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Spies played a crucial role in early modern imperial rivalries. While past scholars have emphasized the Islam/Christendom divide in the Mediterranean, these go-betweens, who mastered the codes of both cultures, easily crossed invisible boundaries between civilizations and connected the Ottomans and the Habsburgs, two imperial powers at each other’s throat. Apart from providing both empires with regular information on political and military developments, these entrepreneur information brokers played an active diplomatic role between two capitals and even participated in Ottoman factional politics.
This dissertation compares both empires’ secret services and explains the differences between the two systems of information gathering based on these empires’ differing organizational structures. It argues that the Habsburgs tried to institutionalize and standardize their secret services in accordance with their general efforts of bureaucratization and centralization, even though the effect of such efforts remained rather limited in the Levant. The Ottomans, on the other hand, maintained their longstanding decentralized approach and delegated the responsibility of gathering information to pashas and court favourites who established their own intelligence networks. This created a rather different situation whereby these networks served their masters’s interests rather than that of the state, thus giving the historian ample information on Ottoman factional politics. In relying on oral communication and not following the recent developments in steganography and cryptography, the Ottoman secret service was more personal than institutional.
Still, the Ottoman secret service produced good results. In spite of these differences that could have been otherwise considered shortcomings and contrary to the unwarranted assumptions that prevailed in Western historiography, the Ottomans successfully developed a functional information gathering mechanism which in itself was coherent. The real factor that negatively affected the efficiency of both empires was the lack of direct diplomacy between two capitals. While both empires kept themselves informed of political developments and military preparations, they failed to develop an awareness of each other’s legal, political and economic systems as well as cultural, linguistic and religious particularities.
Ottoman Corsairs in the Western Mediterranean and Their Place in the Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry (1505-1535) - M. A. Thesis, Bilkent University, 2006
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Charles' ascension as Emperor in 1519 recognized the Ottoman threat, prompting both him and François to consider a crusade for electoral support.
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Journal Articles by Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
Hile ü Hu'da: Deception, Dissimulation and Manipulation of Information in Sixteenth Century Ottoman Empire
This paper engages in methods of deception, dissimulation and manipulation that the Ottoman Empir...
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This paper engages in methods of deception, dissimulation and manipulation that the Ottoman Empire employed in the 16th century. It demonstrates how the Ottomans misled their enemies in realms of diplomacy and warfare by feeding them with tailored information. They did not only successfully hide the target of their military preparations from enemy spies and foreign ambassadors, but also resorted to disinformation in order to manipulate diplomatic negotiations. Moreover, Ottoman commanders employed a number of tricks and ruses in order to gain the upper hand on the battlefield.
Key words: information-gathering, intelligence, Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry, disinformation, deception, dissimulation, espionage, decision-making.
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Selim I's rumor spread in 1515 misled Mamluks about Ottoman military intentions, demonstrating effective disinformation strategies.
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Dishonorable Ambassadors: Spies and Secret Diplomacy in Ottoman Istanbul,
“Dishonorable Ambassadors: Spies and Secret Diplomacy in Ottoman Istanbul,” Archivum Ottomanicum ...
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“Dishonorable Ambassadors: Spies and Secret Diplomacy in Ottoman Istanbul,” Archivum Ottomanicum 35 (2018):
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Sixteenth-century diplomats acted as spies, showcasing a deep intertwining of diplomatic and espionage roles.
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I baili veneziani e la diplomazia d’informazione fra Venezia e Istanbul
“I baili veneziani e la diplomazia d’informazione fra Venezia e Istanbul,” Θησαυρίσματα / Thesaur...
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“I baili veneziani e la diplomazia d’informazione fra Venezia e Istanbul,” Θησαυρίσματα / Thesaurismata: Bollettino dell'Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini 46 (2018): 101-116.
L'Idra del Sultano: Lo spionaggio ottomano nel cinquecento - Mediterranea: Ricerche Storiche (AHCI)
ABSTRACT: Relying on documentation from Ottoman, Spanish, Venetian and Florentine archives, this ...
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ABSTRACT: Relying on documentation from Ottoman, Spanish, Venetian and Florentine archives, this article delineates the characteristics of Ottoman espionage in the sixteenth-century. It argues that Ottoman information gathering was different from its contemporaries, namely the Venetian and the Habsburg secret services, in two aspects. First, it was not institutionalized, but rather personal, in harmony with the empire’s patrimonial nature.  Second of all, this lack of institutionalization meant that the central control over espionage was limited and the provincial authorities were given a free hand to develop their own information gathering mechanisms that operated in independence and with little interference from the centre, which was more concerned with the results produced rather than the agents and the methods employed. In spite of this decentralized and non-institutionalized nature, however, as this article will seek to show, the Ottoman secret service did not lag behind its contemporaries in laying its hands on confidential information in a timely fashion and keeping imperial authorities abreast of information even from faraway lands.
SOMMARIO: Sulla base della documentazione proveniente da archivi turchi, spagnoli, veneziani e fiorentini, l’articolo delinea le caratteristiche dello spionaggio ottomano nel XVI secolo. L’Impero Ottomano presenta almeno due aspetti differenti rispetto ai suoi avversari: Venezia e gli Asburgo. L’intelligence turca innanzitutto non è istituzionalizzata, ma legata a relazioni personali proprie di un sistema patrimoniale. In secondo luogo, il controllo degli organi centrali sullo spionaggio è più circoscritto. Le autorità provinciali, infatti, sviluppano meccanismi propri che operano in autonomia e con poca interferenza del centro, più interessato ai risultati che agli agenti e ai mezzi impiegati. Malgrado la struttura decentralizzata, il servizio segreto degli ottomani riesce ad ottenere informazioni riservate in modo tempestivo, cosicché le autorità di Istanbul conoscono le informazioni anche da terre lontane.
His Bailo’s Kapudan: Conversion, Tangled Loyalties and Hasan Veneziano between Istanbul and Venice (1588 – 1591) - Journal of Ottoman Studies (AHCI)
His Bailo’s Kapudan: Conversion, Tangled Loyalties and Hasan Veneziano between Istanbul and Venic...
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His Bailo’s Kapudan: Conversion, Tangled Loyalties and Hasan Veneziano between Istanbul and Venice (1588-1591)
Abstract: This article concentrates on the relationship between the Ottoman Grand Admiral Uluc Hasan Pasha (Hasan Veneziano), a Venetian renegade, and the Venetian ambassadors (baili) in Istanbul. Based on documentation from Venetian and Spanish archives, it analyzes how the two compatriot’s shared background shaped diplomatic negotiations and their personal relationship. First, it scrutinizes several aspects of this mutually beneficent cooperation in the higher echelons of cross-confessional diplomacy. Secondly, it studies Hasan’s vacillation between the Serenissima and the Ottoman Empire, his past and present, his patria and his new homeland. It examines how this Ottoman convert resolved his inner conflicts and what kind of a role his tangled loyalties played in diplomatic negotiations. Finally, by comparing and contrasting a number of similar cross-confessional diplomatic negotiations between Christian rulers and renegade pashas, it aims to analyze the Europeans’ different attitude towards Ottoman renegades and illustrate how divergences in imperial projects and the renegades’ social background led the Habsburgs and the Venetians to employ different arguments and use a different vocabulary while negotiating with their former subjects.
Keywords: Conversion, renegade, identity, subjecthood, belonging, cross-confessional diplomacy, secret diplomacy, Ottoman Grand Admiral, bailo, Ottoman – Venetian relations, Spanish Habsburgs.
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Hasan maintained control over corsairs and shared state secrets to protect Venetian interests, reinforcing mutual cooperation.
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Mediating Boundaries: Mediterranean Go-Betweens and Cross-Confessional Diplomacy in Constantinople, 1560-1600 - Journal of Early Modern History (SSCI & AHCI)
By drawing on documents from European archives, this article addresses everyday aspects of diplom...
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By drawing on documents from European archives, this article addresses everyday aspects of diplomacy in sixteenth-century Constantinople. It focuses on how various go-betweens mediated political, cultural, religious and linguistic boundaries in the encounters between Ottoman grandees and European diplomats. By doing so, it shifts the focus from the office of the ambassador to a large number of informal diplomatic actors (Jewish brokers, dragomans, renegades, go-betweens, etc.) with different areas of competence, functioning in diverse networks of contact and exchange. Moreover, it accentuates the importance of Constantinople as a space of encounter between diverse ethnic and religious communities as well as a Mediterranean-wide center of diplomacy and espionage. The essay calls for a reevaluation of Eurocentric views that associate the birth and development of modern diplomacy only with Christian Europe and revises the historiography on Ottoman diplomacy by concentrating on vernacular diplomacy rather than the rigid theoretical framework drawn by the Islamic Law
Fooling the Sultan: Information, Decision-Making and the “Mediterranean Faction” (1585-1587) - Journal of Ottoman Studies (AHCI)
by
Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
and
Journal of Ottoman Studies / Osmanlı Araştırmaları Dergisi
Journal of Ottoman Studies 45 (2015): 57-96.
This essay aims to show how information was used as a political tool in sixteenth-century Istanbu...
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This essay aims to show how information was used as a political tool in sixteenth-century Istanbul. By concentrating on the “Mediterranean faction”, i.e. Muslim corsairs incorporated into the Ottoman imperial system, it will seek to demonstrate how interest groups tried to manipulate Ottoman decision-making and strategy formulation process in accordance with their corporate interests. The economic rationale behind the cooperation between the Ottoman imperial elites and the corsairs required that Istanbul pursued a belligerent policy in the Western Mediterranean and thus invested in the navy. In order to make sure that this happened, the Mediterranean faction used every means at their disposal. Twisting information was the most efficient one. They fabricated rumors, produced false witnesses, staged mise-en-scènes, withheld relevant information and even detained incoming foreign ambassadors to keep their government in the dark, all in the name of convincing the Ottoman decision-makers of an exaggerated enemy threat in the Mediterranean which merited military investment.
Keywords: Information Gathering, Disinformation, Decision-Making Process, Strategy, Ottoman Naval Policy in the Sixteenth-Century, Factional Politics, Ottoman Corsairs, Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry, Ottoman-Venetian Relations, Ottomans in North Africa.
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The Mediterranean faction markedly influenced imperial policy to benefit their corporate interests, an unprecedented feat compared to European counterparts.
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My Money or Your Life: The Habsburg Hunt for Uluc Ali / La bolsa o la vida: Los Habsburgo a la caza de Uluc Ali - Studia Historica. Historia Moderna
RESUMEN: Este artículo trata de los esfuerzos de los Habsburgo para eliminar la amenaza naval oto...
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RESUMEN: Este artículo trata de los esfuerzos de los Habsburgo para eliminar la amenaza naval otomana a través de medios clandestinos y emprendiendo operaciones secretas. Dándose cuenta del peligro que creaban la flota otomana y los corsarios otomanos en sus defensas, los servicios secretos de los Habsburgo enviaron a unos mediadores para recordar a
Uluc Ali su pasado cristiano y sus obligaciones hacia su verdadero monarca y convencerle de que hiciera alianzas. Los Habsburgo también intentaron organizar el magnicidio de este corsario que llegó al cénit de su poder como el Gran Almirante Otomano. Mientras la eficacia de los servicios secretos de los Habsburgo nos demuestra el poder de los mecanismos y las redes epistolares a la hora de recabar información en el circunmediterráneo, los intentos de magnicidio y de deserción nos sirven para analizar un aspecto poco estudiado de las rivalidades inter-imperiales: la diplomacia secreta.
Palabras clave: Magnicidio, desertor, soborno, conspiración, diplomacia secreta, espionaje, diplomacia interconfesional, corsarios otomanos, rivalidad Otomano-habsburgica.
ABSTRACT: This article deals with Habsburg efforts to eliminate the Ottoman naval threat by employing clandestine measures and undertaking covert operations. Realizing the danger that the Ottoman fleet and corsairs created for their defenses, the Habsburg secret service dispatched a number of go-betweens in order to remind Uluc Ali of his Christian past and obligations to his true monarch and thus convince him to switch allegiances. The Habsburgs also tried to arrange the assassination of this dangerous corsair who reached the zenith of his power as the Ottoman Grand Admiral. While the efficiency of Habsburg secret service demonstrate us the strength of circum-Mediterranean information gathering mechanisms and epistolary networks, the attempts of assassination and defection point to an understudied aspect of inter-imperial rivalries: secret diplomacy.
Key words: Assassination, Defection, Bribery, Conspiracy, Secret Diplomacy, Espionage, Cross-Confessional Diplomacy, Ottoman Corsairs, Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry.
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Despite costly naval operations, the Habsburgs could not effectively prevent Ottoman naval dominance after the Battle of Lepanto.
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Emrah Safa Gürkan - 50 günde devr-i Bahr-ı Sefid: Königsbergli Lubenau’nun kadırgayla imtihanı / Around the Mediterranean in Fifty Days: Reinhold Lubenau’s struggle with the galley - Journal of Ottoman Studies (AHCI)
by
Emrah Safa Gürkan (ESG)
and
Journal of Ottoman Studies / Osmanlı Araştırmaları Dergisi
Journal of Ottoman Studies XLIII
, 2014
Turkish abstract:

Öz: Bu makalede 1587-1588 yıllarında Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nu ziyaret eden ...
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Turkish abstract:
Öz: Bu makalede 1587-1588 yıllarında Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nu ziyaret eden Reinhold Lubenau’nun seyahatnamesindeki Akdeniz yolculuğunun gerçeklere dayanmadığı ve kurgusal olduğu iddia edilmektedir. Makalenin ilk kısmında, 50 günde 6748 deniz mili yol alarak Akdeniz’i baştan sona dolaştığını iddia eden Lubenau’nun yolculuğunun dönemin kadırga teknolojisi, ortalama hızları ve seyrüsefer adetleri gözönüne alındığında gerçek olamayacağı tablo ve harita eşliğinde gösterilmeye çalışılacaktır. Aynı zamanda Lubenau’nun eşlik ettiğini iddia ettiği Osmanlı donanmasının hiç de öyle baştan sona Akdeniz’i dolaşmadığı, aksine Doğu Akdeniz’den ayrılmadan, çok daha kısa bir mesafe katederek İstanbul’a döndüğü arşiv belgeleriyle kanıtlanacaktır. Makalenin ikinci kısmında ise Lubenau’nun seyahatnamesine neden böyle hayali bir yolculuk ekleme ihtiyacı duyduğu hakkında fikir yürütülecektir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Reinhold Lubenau, seyahatname, yalancı seyyahlar, Avrupa ve Doğu, Osmanlı donanması, kadırga, Uluc Hasan Paşa.
English abstract
Around the Mediterranean in Fifty Days: Reinhold Lubenau’s struggle with the galley
Abstract: In this article, we argue that the voyage that Reinhold Lubenau, a visitor to the Ottoman Empire in 1587-1588, claimed to have made with the Ottoman navy across the Mediterranean is fictional. In the first part of the article, we will demonstrate that Lubenau’s account of this voyage that covered 6748 nautical miles in 50 days is inconsistent with the era’s galley technology, average speed and sailing routines. Then, based on archival sources, we will prove that the Ottoman navy on which Lubenau was supposed to have circumnavigated the Mediterranean, did not leave the Eastern Mediterranean and sailed instead a much shorter route. In the second part of the article, we will reflect on the reasons why Lubenau chose to add this immaginary account to his travelogue.
Keywords: Reinhold Lubenau, travelogue, travel liars, Europe and the East, Ottoman navy, galley, Hasan Veneziano.
Fonds for the Sultan: How to use Venetian sources for studying Ottoman history?
This article deals with the potential Venetian sources had for studying Ottoman history, i.e. how...
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This article deals with the potential Venetian sources had for studying Ottoman history, i.e. how Ottomanists could and should use them. In addition to giving a brief outlook of the historiography that already relied on this invaluable source base, it aims to set forth basic guidelines for future researchers and offer alternative venues that these have the potential to open for Ottoman historiography.
Batı Akdeniz'de Osmanlı Korsanlığı ve Gaza Meselesi - Kebikec
Bu makalede Osmanlı korsanlığının, özellikle Türkçe literatürün küffara karşı yapılan basit bir d...
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Bu makalede Osmanlı korsanlığının, özellikle Türkçe literatürün küffara karşı yapılan basit bir din savaşına indirgediği bir gaza kavramı yerine, Akdeniz tarihinin genel ritimleri içerisinde ele almanın önemine dikkat çekmeye calıştım. Akdenizin genelinde görülen bir fenomeni Osmanlı Tarihi’ne has kavramlarla açıklamaktansa, tarihçi Müslüman ve Hristiyan bütün korsan grupları arasındaki benzerlikleri ve Akdeniz’de korsanlığa elverişli şartlar yaratan yapısal faktörleri mercek altına almaya çalışmalıdır. Kısacası, bu korsanların motivasyonlarını, geçmişlerini ve faaliyetlerini titizlikle incelediğimizde, bunların din aşkıyla yanan kutsal savaşçılar olarak yansıtamayacağımızı görmekteyiz. Tam aksine, Osmanlılar, İspanyollar, Müslümanlar ve Hırıstiyanlar’dan çok önceleri de var olan ve ancak Akdeniz’de olgunlaşıp mükemmelleştirildikten sonra Okyanus’lara ithal edilen İç Deniz’in şu kadim mesleği ile uğraşan bu korsanlar her halükarda kendi çıkarlarını gözeten özel girişimçilerden başka bir şey değillerdi.
OTTOMAN CORSO IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE ISSUE OF GHAZA
In this essay, I tried to accentuate the importance of analyzing Ottoman corso in accordance with the general rhythms of the Mediterranean History, rather than within the context of ghaza, a concept that especially Turkish historiography reduced to a Holy War against the infidel. Instead of trying to explain a Mediterranean-wide phenomenon with concepts unique to Ottoman history, the historian should seek to focus on the similarities between different corsair groups on either side of the Mediterranean conflict between Christianity and Islam as well as structural factors that promoted corso throughout the Mediterranean. In short, a thorough analysis of these corsairs’ motivations, background and activities does not justify their presentation as holy warriors driven by religious zeal. Instead, they were private entrepreneurs who sought self betterment at all cost and engaged in this ancient profession of the Mare Nostrum that existed long before the Ottomans, Spaniards, Muslims or Christians, a profession which matured and was perfected in the Mediterranean before having been exported to the oceans.
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