1.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
2.
Turkish people
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Turkish people, or the Turks, also known as Anatolian Turks, are a Turkic ethnic group and nation living mainly in Turkey and speaking Turkish, the most widely spoken Turkic language. They are the largest ethnic group in Turkey, as well as by far the largest ethnic group among the speakers of Turkic languages, ethnic Turkish minorities exist in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, a Turkish diaspora has been established with modern migration, the ethnonym Turk may be first discerned in Herodotus reference to Targitas, first king of the Scythians, furthermore, during the first century AD. Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the north of the Sea of Azov. The first definite references to the Turks come mainly from Chinese sources in the sixth century, in these sources, Turk appears as Tujue, which referred to the Göktürks. Although Turk refers to Turkish people, it may sometimes refer to the wider language group of Turkic peoples. In the 19th century, the word Türk only referred to Anatolian villagers, the Ottoman ruling class identified themselves as Ottomans, not usually as Turks. In the late 19th century, as the Ottoman upper classes adopted European ideas of nationalism the term Türk took on a more positive connotation. The Turkish-speakers of Anatolia were the most loyal supporters of Ottoman rule, Turkish Jews, Christians, or even Alevis may be considered non-Turks. On the other hand, Kurdish Arab followers of the Sunni branch of Islam who live in eastern Anatolia are sometimes considered Turks, article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship. Anatolia was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic era, most of the Turkic peoples were followers of Tengriism, sharing the cult of the sky god Tengri, although there were also adherents of Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism. However, during the Muslim conquests, the Turks entered the Muslim world proper as servants, during the booty of Arab raids, the Turks began converting to Islam after Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian, under the Umayyads, most were domestic servants, whilst under the Abbasids, increasing numbers were trained as soldiers. By the ninth century, Turkish commanders were leading the caliphs’ Turkish troops into battle, as the Abbasid caliphate declined, Turkish officers assumed more military and political power taking over or establishing provincial dynasties with their own corps of Turkish troops. During the 11th century the Seljuk Turks who were admirers of the Persian civilization grew in number and were able to occupy the province of the Abbasid Empire. By 1055, the Seljuk Empire captured Baghdad and began to make their first incursions into the edges of Anatolia, when the Seljuk Turks won the Battle of Manzikert against the Byzantine Empire in 1071, it opened the gates of Anatolia to them. Although ethnically Turkish, the Seljuk Turks appreciated and became the purveyors of the Persian culture rather than the Turkish culture, in dire straits, the Byzantine Empire turned to the West for help setting in motion the pleas that led to the First Crusade. Once the Crusaders took Iznik, the Seljuk Turks established the Sultanate of Rum from their new capital, Konya, by the 12th century the Europeans had begun to call the Anatolian region Turchia or Turkey, meaning the land of the Turks
3.
Osman I
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Osman Gazi, sometimes transliterated archaically as Othman, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks and the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. He and the dynasty bearing his name later established and ruled the nascent Ottoman Empire, the state, while only a small principality during Osmans lifetime, transformed into a world empire in the centuries after his death. It existed until the abolition of the sultanate in 1922, or alternatively the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 or the abolition of the caliphate in 1924, due to the scarcity of historical sources dating from his lifetime, very little factual information is known about him. Not a single written source survives from Osmans reign, the Ottomans did not record the history of Osmans life until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after his death. Because of this, it is challenging for historians to differentiate between fact and myth in the many stories told about him. One historian has gone so far as to declare it impossible. According to later Ottoman tradition, Osmans ancestors were descendants of the Kayı tribe of Oğuz Turks, the Ottoman principality was just one of many Anatolian beyliks that emerged in the second half of the thirteenth century. Situated in the region of Bithynia, Osmans principality was particularly well-placed to launch attacks on the vulnerable Byzantine Empire, some scholars have argued that Osmans original name was Turkish, probably Atman or Ataman, and was only later changed to the Arabic ʿOsmān. An early Arabic source mentioning him also writes ط rather than ث in one instance, Osman may thus have adopted the more prestigious Muslim name later in his life. He was most likely born around the middle of the century, possibly in 1254/5. According to Ottoman tradition, Osmans father Ertuğrul led the Turkic Kayı tribe west from Central Asia into Anatolia and he then pledged allegiance to the Sultan of the Anatolian Seljuks, who granted him dominion over the town of Söğüt on the Byzantine frontier. This connection between Ertuğrul and the Seljuks, however, was invented by court chroniclers a century later. Osman became chief, or Bey, upon his father’s death, nothing is known for certain about Osmans early activities, except that he controlled the region around the town of Söğüt and from there launched raids against the neighboring Byzantine Empire. The first datable event in Osmans life is the Battle of Bapheus in 1301 or 1302, Osman appears to have followed the strategy of increasing his territories at the expense of the Byzantines while avoiding conflict with his more powerful Turkish neighbors. These early victories and exploits are favorite subjects of Ottoman writers and these legends have been romanticized by the poetical pens which recorded them in later years. The Ottoman writers attached great importance to this legendary, dreamlike conception of the founder of their empire, Osman I had a close relationship with a local religious leader of dervishes named Sheikh Edebali, whose daughter he married. A story emerged among later Ottoman writers to explain the relationship between the two men, in which Osman had a dream while staying in the Sheikhs house. The story appears in the late fifteenth-century chronicle of Aşıkpaşazade as follows, He saw that a moon arose from the holy mans breast, a tree then sprouted from his navel and its shade compassed the world
4.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
5.
Ottoman family tree
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This is a male family tree for all the Ottoman Sultans and their mothers. Burke’s Royal Families of the World, volume II, Africa & the Middle East. Archived from the original on September 26,2006, between Two Worlds, The Construction of the Ottoman State. Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, toynbee, Arnold J. Karpat, Kemal H. eds. The Ottoman Empires Place in World History, the Ottoman State and Its Place in World History. The Imperial Harem, Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, new York, Oxford University Press US. Sugar, Peter F. ed. Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, who is the Next Ottoman Sultan. Attempts to Change the Rule of Succession during the Nineteenth Century, Ottoman Reform and Muslim Regeneration, Studies in Honour of Butrus Abu-Manneb. Sirkeci, Istanbul, Association of Historical Research and Istanbul Research Centre, new York, Oxford University Press US. Glazer, Steven A. ed.1, Historical Setting, federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. The Legacy of Sultan Abdulhamid II, Memoirs and Biography of Sultan Selim bin Hamid Han, the Sultan of Vezirs, The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelović. Toprak, Binnaz, ed. Islam and Political Development in Turkey, bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, Publisher, Oxford University Press, USA, 3rd edition, Paperback,568 pages, ISBN0195134605, ISBN 978-0195134605 Ottoman Sultâns. Ottoman Sultâns Padişah Portreleri / Portraits of Ottoman Sultâns, the Association of Historical Research and Istanbul Research Centre with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. TURKEY, The Genealogy of the Imperial House of Osman, Publisher, The Royal Ark
6.
Ottoman dynasty
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The Ottoman dynasty was made up of the members of the imperial House of Osman. According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, the Ottoman dynasty, named after Osman I, ruled the Ottoman Empire from c.1299 to 1922. During much of the Empires history, the sultan was the regent, head of state. The imperial family was deposed from power and the sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922 after the Turkish War of Independence, the Republic of Turkey was declared the following year. The living members of the dynasty were sent into exile as persona non gratae, though some have been allowed to return. In its current form, the family is known as the Osmanoğlu family, before Orhans proclamation of the dynasty, the tribe was known as the Bilecik Söğüt Beylik or Beys but was renamed Osmanlı in honor of Osman. The Ottoman dynasty is known in modern Turkish as Osmanlı Hanedanı, meaning House of Osman, in Ottoman Turkish it was known as Hanedan-ı Âl-i Osman, thus they still formally acknowledged the sovereignty of the Seljuk Empire and its successor, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. The first Ottoman ruler to claim the title of Sultan was Murad I. The holder of the title Sultan was in Arabic-Islamic dynasties originally the power behind the throne of the Caliph in Bagdad, the Ottoman sultans also claimed the title of Caliph starting with Murad I, who transformed the Ottoman state into a transcontinental empire. With the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih claimed the title Kaysar-i-Rûm Emperor of Rome and he appointed the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadius Scholarius, whom he protected and whose status he elevated into leader of all the Eastern Orthodox Christians. As Emperor of Rome he laid claim to all Roman territories, Sultan Mehmed II also took the title of Padishah, a Persian title meaning Master of Kings and ranking as Emperor, claiming superiority among the other kings. He was the first Ottoman ruler to adopt the title of Padishah. The Ottoman claim to caliphate was strengthened when they defeated the Mamluks in 1517, as the empire grew, sultans adopted secondary titles expressing the empires claim to be the legitimate successor of the absorbed states. Furthermore, they tended to enumerate even regular provinces, not unlike the long lists of -mainly inherited- feudal titles in the style of many Christian European monarchs. Some early Ottoman Sultans even had to accept the status in the eyes of a foreign overlord. However, the Ottoman Caliphate too was abolished soon afterwards, and Abdulmecid II was utterly deposed and expelled from Turkey with the rest of the Ottoman dynasty on 3 March 1924
7.
Hurrem Sultan
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She was one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history and a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women. She was Haseki Sultan when her husband, Suleiman I, reigned as the Ottoman sultan and she achieved power and influenced the politics of the Ottoman Empire through her husband and played an active role in state affairs of the Empire. According to some historians, Roxelana was born as Aleksandra Ruslana Lisowska, or Anastasja Lisowska while her childhood nickname was Nastia. Among the Ottomans, she was mainly as Haseki Hürrem Sultan or Hürrem Haseki Sultan, also known as Roxolena, Roxolana, Roxelane, Rossa, Ružica, in Turkish as Hürrem. Roxelana might be not a name but a nickname, referring to her Rusyn heritage, Roxolany or Roxelany was one of the names of Rusyns, up to the 15th century. Thus her nickname would literally mean The Ruthenian One, Hürrem Sultan was a native of Polish Ruthenia and was of either Western Slavic or Eastern Slavic ancestry. She was born in the town of Rohatyn,68 km south-east of Lwów, in the 1520s Crimean Tatars captured her during one of their frequent raids into this region, took her as a slave and selected her for Suleimans harem. Roxelana probably entered the harem around fifteen years of age, sometime between 1517 and 1520, but certainly before Suleiman became sultan in 1520 and she quickly came to the attention of her master and attracted the jealousy of rivals. She soon became Suleimans most prominent consort beside Gülfem and Mahidevran and her joyful spirit and playful temperament earned her a new name, Hürrem, from Persian Khorram, the cheerful one. In the Istanbul harem, Hürrem became a rival to Mahidevran and she was to bear the majority of Suleimans children. Hürrem gave birth to her first son Mehmed in 1521 and then to four more sons, Suleimans mother, Hafsa, partially suppressed the rivalry between the two women. As a result of the rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran beating Hürrem, which angered Suleiman. Never before was a former slave elevated to the status of the sultans lawful spouse, much to the astonishment of observers in the palace, Hürrem also received the title Haseki Sultan and became the first consort to hold this title. Hürrems salary was 2,000 aspers a day, making her one of the highest paid haseki, later, Hürrem became the first woman to remain in the Sultans court for the duration of her life. This tradition was called Sanjak Beyliği, the consorts were never to return to Istanbul unless their sons succeeded to the throne. In defiance of this custom, Hürrem stayed behind in the harem with her hunchback son Cihangir. Moreover, she moved out of the located in the Old Palace to Suleimans quarters located in the New Palace after a fire destroyed the old palace. Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hürrem Sultan, Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love and my most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love
8.
Nurbanu Sultan
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Afife Nurbanu Sultan was Haseki Sultan of Ottoman as principal consort and legal wife of Sultan Selim II and Valide Sultan of Ottoman as mother of Sultan Murad III. Conflicting theories ascribe her a Venetian, Jewish or Greek origin and her birth name may have been Cecilia Venier-Baffo, Rachel or Kalē Kartanou. Nurbanu was one of the prominent figure during the era known as Sultanate of Women, the Venetian claimed she was a daughter of Nicolò Venier and Violanta Baffo, abducted in Paros island when it was captured by Hayreddin Barbarossa. In 1992, B. Arbel challenged the view that she was really of Venetian descent, for him the most plausible theory is that she was a Greek from Corfou named Kale Kartanou. Nurbanu became the most favored consort of Ottoman Sultan Selim II, who was put on the throne in 1566, while her spouse Selim still a şehzade, Nurbanu had been the head of his princely harem at Manisa. However, when Selim ascended to the throne, she was not head of the imperial harem, even after Selim as a sultan began to take other concubines, she persisted as a favorite for her beauty and intelligence. As mother of the heir-apparent, she acted as an advisor to her husband, although it was far from normal at the time, Selim II would often ask Nurbanu for her advice on various subjects because of his respect for her good judgment. Jacopo Soranzo, Venetian Ambassador reported, The Haseki is said to be well loved and honored by His Majesty both for her great beauty and for being unusually intelligent. She was a wife and a very loyal mother as later events would prove. The Ottoman Empire was far from being very stable at the top and it was also not uncommon for the loser to have his entire family massacred along with him to prevent any future challenge. Nurbanu Sultan was determined, however, that when the time came for her son to succeed his father, nothing would interfere with that. At the end of Selim IIs reign, the haseki Nurbanu received 1,000 aspers a day, while Selims other consorts, each the mother of son, received only 40 aspers. Şehzade Murad had been sent to serve as Governor of Manisa on the Aegean coast and was there when Sultan Selim II died in 1574 and this would have been the perfect opportunity for someone to seize power with the Sultan dead and his son away from the capital. Nurbanu realized this as much, if not more, than anyone, security and privacy in the harem were the most strict anywhere and no one knew when Selim II had actually died. Nurbanu told no one and hid the body of her husband in an icebox. All the while no one was the wiser that Sultan Selim II had actually departed this life and it was not made known publicly until twelve days later when Murad arrived and Nurbanu delivered up the body of her late husband. Her son became Sultan Murad III and Nurbanu became Valide Sultan, unlike her predecessor Hürrem Sultan, Nurbanu outlived her husband and enjoyed absolute power between 1574 and 1583, although she was apparently not resident in the Palace after Selim IIs death. Nurbanu had ultimate power, and she became a figure with far-reaching influence
9.
Safiye Sultan
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Safiye Sultan, was the consort of Murad III and Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as mother of Mehmed III. Safiye was also one of the eminent figures during the era known as the Sultanate of Women. She lived in the Ottoman Empire during the reigns of seven sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, Murad III, Mehmed III, Ahmed I, Mustafa I, and Osman II. The identity of Safiye has often confused with that of her Venetian mother-in-law, Nurbanu. However, Safiye was of Albanian origin, born in the Dukagjin highlands, in 1563, at the age of 13, she was presented as a slave to the future Murad III by Hümaşah Sultan, daughter of Şehzade Mehmed, son of Suleiman the Magnificent and Hürrem Sultan. Given the name Safiye, she became a concubine of Murad, in 26 May 1566, she gave birth to Murads son, the future Mehmed III, same year when Suleiman the Magnificent died. Safiye had been Murads only concubine prior to his accession, and his mother Nurbanu advised him to take other concubines for the good of the dynasty, which by 1581 had only one surviving heir, Murad and Safiyes son Mehmed. In 1583, Nurbanu accused Safiye of using witches and sorcerers to render Murad impotent and prevent him from taking new concubines and this resulted in the imprisonment and torture of Safiyes servants. Murads sister Esmehan presented him with two beautiful concubines, which he accepted, cured of his impotence, he went on to father twenty sons and twenty-seven daughters. Venetian reports state that after an initial bitterness, Safiye kept her dignity and she even procured more for him, earning the gratitude of the Sultan, who continued to value her and consult her on political matters, especially after the death of Nurbanu. During Murads latter years, Safiye returned to being his only companion, however, it is unlikely that Safiye ever became Murads wife—though the Ottoman historian Mustafa Ali refers to her as such, he is contradicted by reports from the Venetian and English ambassadors. She was influential as a Haseki, a rank bestowed on her less than a year after Murad ascended the throne. When Murad died in 1595, Safiye arranged for her son Mehmed to succeed as sultan, until her sons death in 1603, Ottoman politics were determined by a party headed by herself and Gazanfer Ağa, chief of the white eunuchs and head of the enderun. Safiye eventually enjoyed an enormous stipend of 3,000 aspers a day during the part of her sons reign. When Mehmed III went on the Eger campaign in Hungary in 1596, he gave his great power over the empire. During her interim rule she persuaded her son to revoke a political appointment of the judgeship of Istanbul and to reassign to the grand vizierate to Damat Ibrahim Pasha, her son-in-law. During this period, the secretary of the English ambassador reported that while in the palace, the Queen Mother sent to enquire of the matter was told that the Vizier did justice upon certain chabies, that is, whores. The greatest crisis Safiye endured as valide sultan stemmed from her reliance on her kira, a kira was a non-Muslim woman who acted as an intermediary between a secluded woman of the harem and the outside world, serving as a business agent and secretary
10.
Turhan Hatice Sultan
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Turhan Hatice Sultan, was Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim and Valide Sultan as mother of Mehmed IV. Turhan Hatice was prominent for the regency of her young son and she and her mother-in-law, Kösem Sultan, are the only two women in Ottoman history to be regarded as official regents and had supreme control over the Ottoman Empire. As a result, Turhan became one of the prominent figures during the era known as Sultanate of Women, Turhan Hatice, whose original name is unknown, was considered to be of East Slavic origin, either Russian or Ukrainian. She was captured during one of the raids by Tatars and sold into slavery, when she was about 12 years old, Turhan was sent to the Topkapı Palace as a gift, from the Khan of Crimea, to the mother of Sultan Ibrahim, Kösem Sultan. It was probably Kösem Sultan who gave Hatice to Ibrahim as a concubine, on January 2,1642 Turhan gave birth to a son, the future sultan Mehmed IV. Turhan Hatice was one of the eight Haseki Sultans of Ibrahim I, however, she was not his legal wife. She was ranked in the Harem as Dördüncü Haseki Sultan, which literally means fourth sultana consort, ibrahims behaviour sparked talks of deposing the sultan. On August 8,1648, Ibrahim was dethroned and several days later he was strangled, at the head of the Ottoman Empire stood the child sultan, Mehmed IV. With Mehmeds ascendancy, the position of Valide Sultan should have gone to Turhan, however, Turhan was overlooked due to her youth and inexperience. Instead, the grandmother and the previous Valide Sultan, Kösem Sultan, was reinstated to this high position. Kösem Sultan was a Valide under two sons, thus having the experience of the two women. However, Turhan turned out to be too ambitious a woman to lose such a position without a fight. In her struggle to become Valide Sultan, Turhan was supported by the black eunuch in her household. Although, Kösem’s position as Valide was seen as the best for the government, in this power struggle, Kösem planned to dethrone Mehmed and replace him with another young grandson. According to one historian, this switching had more to do with replacing an ambitious daughter-in-law with one who was easily controlled. The plan was unsuccessful as it was reported to Turhan by Meleki Hatun, whether Turhan sanctioned it or not, Kösem Sultan was murdered three years after becoming regent for her young grandson. With the death of her rival, Turhan became the Valide Sultan, as a regent, Turhan wielded great power. She accompanied her son the sultan to important meetings and on several occasions spoke from behind her curtained sitting place and she was deeply loved and respected by her son, the sultan
