THE POL?T?C RELAT?ONS BETWEEN OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ENGLAND
IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
In 1570, Elizabeth I was on the hook. Philip, he inquired for a marriage union with Elizabeth after the passing of Mary because he disposed to take Britain beneath his rule. Elizabeth did not answer in a proper way and was considering other suitors. Philip eventually gave up on the idea and Elizabeth finally became his enemy when English ships plundered Spanish ships coming back from the new world and also attacked a Spanish port. She had been excommunicated by the Pope, and her nation was disregarded by the rest of Europe, to dodge destroy Britain required allies. Elizabeth I had hard days she and her country were under threat. Queen Elizabeth looked for help from the Islamic world.
Ottoman Empire came to Elizabeth’s rescue because according to Ottoman politics, against Catholic Spain Ottoman Empire always had been the protector and defender of the protestant christians. Elizabeth, who received Ottoman support, defeated Spain in the sea battle called “Spain Armadas” in 1588. During the war the Ottoman navy stalled the Spanish ships in the Mediterranean and changed the course of the war and therefore history.
Ottoman Empire did not help England just for defend protestant christians but also for protect its own power because the Spain nation was getting powerful day by day. Ottoman Empire still wanted to be the great in the seas. With the geographical discoveries other nations desired to go beyond the dominion of the Ottoman Empire and hoped to weakening the Ottoman’s might by tending to new trade routes. In return the empire tried to maintain its dominance on existingly trade routes by increasing the number of states in which commercial agreements known as capitulations. As to the Ottoman Empire it is generally accepted that the capitulations consists of three stages. The first of these was obtain political interest by directing European states to make moves against each other; second was to obtain financial benefits by protecting the vitality of Mediterranean trade; the third was to obtain economic benefit within the framework of the general principles of the economy. The fact that the routes at issue did not lose its significance is an indication of the success of this policy.
The most noticeable reason why Ottoman Empire helped and granted privileges to the England is that Ottoman Empire wanted to maintain as the most powerful nation and weaken Spain.
Elizabeth I sent a letter to Ottoman Empire for asking for a hand. This led improvement on relations between the Ottomans and the English. William Harborne, the ambassador and merchant, traveled to Istanbul on July 1, 1578 with a letter written to the ruler of the time, the Murad III, and joined a Turkish caravan and reached the Istanbul on 28 October. When Harborne arrived in Istanbul, there was Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in position of the grand vizier. Sokollu encouraged the ambassador by saying that the doors of the Ottoman State were open to all foreigners who came to be friends. Murad III responded to her by a letter and in letter he wrote that ”you are bounded to the Ottoman Empire with great happiness, do not worry about the rest”. The English ambassador soon began get in return on his efforts. He took a letter addressed to the Queen as well as a permit allowing him to trade in the Ottoman territory, William Harborne returned to London and then came back to Istanbul with the Queen’s new letters and gifts.
In order to please the Ottoman Empire, Queen Elizabeth sent gifts to not only the sultan but also the Sultan’s mother Valide Sultan Nurbanu, his wife Safiye Sultan, his teacher Sadeddin Efendi, the viziers, ”Kaptan-I Derya” K?l?ç Ali Pasha. In her letters, she sought Turkish help against Catholics, who she called idolater. Queen Elizabeth wrote that letters to show herself close to Islam by saying that in Protestantism it was forbidden to worship to idols, icons as if it were in Islam.
Sultan Murad III granted privileges to the English, allowing all British merchants to trade in the Ottoman territory without intermediaries and for free.