The reign of Ahmed I was an age of "harem" strife in the palace of the House of Osman.. and he was an idiot.. so the Ottoman Empire began to lose its lands and its territory shrank more and more.

In his reign the influence of his wife "Mahpeyker".. or Sultana "Kösem", grew, after everyone now knew her name.. and he appointed her deputy to the throne of the sultanate.. so her influence grew.. and she seized power from behind the scenes.. and she in turn began selling posts to whoever paid most.. so men of no worth reached the leadership of the army.. they lured the Safavids into attacking the Ottoman Empire, so they attacked it.. and they took "Tabriz".. and entered Anatolia.. and then marched to the borders of Iraq and occupied it.. so the Ottoman army moved against them.. but suffered crushing defeats.. and Sultan "Ahmed" was forced to conclude a peace with them.. in return for ceding to them the lands they had entered.. including the Iraqi lands themselves.. this peace took the form of a humiliating treaty.. history has preserved it for us under the name of the Grand Vizier whom "Ahmed" sent to sign it.. "Nasuh Pasha".. so it came to be called the "Treaty of Nasuh Pasha".

In general, search for any date of any occupation by foreign powers that struck the Middle East in these centuries and you will find it in the era of the Ottomans.. the Safavids occupied the Iraqi lands.. the Jews occupied Palestine.. France occupied Algeria.. the English occupied Egypt.. the fall of Andalusia.. etc.. you will not be able to count them.

After Europe used to be defeated in every crusading campaign it launched in the East.. and all its campaigns were broken in Egypt.. the region became a barnyard in the era of the Ottoman invaders.. and it emboldened any dog to attack it.

Prostitution in Morocco.. Tunisia.. Algeria.. the Levant.. and Turkey and Egypt.. was not regulated except at the hands of the Ottomans.. in Tunisia they opened "houses of prostitution".. and the prostitute became an employee of the Sublime Porte.. and in Egypt "Selim I" licensed brothels.. and created two guilds for prostitution.. and the prostitute walked with a special licence.. and paid a tax to the Ottoman sultan.. even in Istanbul the situation became like that.. put this information in the eye of any buffalo who tells you "the Ottomans came to spread Islam".

In the reign of Ahmed I, Spain issued a special decree, in the name of King "Philip II", under which every Muslim present within the Spanish lands had to leave within three days.. otherwise their fate was torture until death.. of course the deadline was very short for people who had homes and trade and a life.. so most of them could not make it.. and those of them who tried to flee could not even cross the Spanish lands.. and the horrific torture sessions began.. and appeals for help reached the Ottoman Empire from Spain.. so Sultan "Ahmed" moved.. and decided to build a mosque in Istanbul.. for the souls of these martyrs.. and he built the "Sultan Ahmed" Mosque...!

In general.. the Ottoman Empire never once responded to any appeal for help from Andalusia, before its fall.. nor after the fall of Granada.

In the reign of Ahmed I, envoys came to him from Europe.. with ready-made treaties.. and ordered him to sign them.. these treaties were unfair and harsh.. granting them commercial privileges and exempting them from customs and the like.. so he signed them humiliated.. after that.. Holland sent, for the first time.. a ship loaded with tobacco.. and the sultan tried it and liked it.. and gave some of it to the soldiers.. and then a fatwa was issued by the judge of Istanbul forbidding it.. so the soldiers besieged his house.. and threatened him with death.. so he retracted his fatwa.. and issued a new fatwa.. that smoking tobacco is lawful.

As for Austria, matters developed further.. Austria recovered Hungary and the region of Transylvania.. and declared its suzerainty over them.. and when Sultan "Ahmed" wrote to the emperor of Austria.. with a letter he began with "His Majesty the King".. the emperor of Austria rejected his letter.. and told him "do not address me again except with the title of emperor".

This move had a political significance.. because this title meant that he was the heir of the Roman Empire.. and had authority over its lands.. including Istanbul itself.. and nevertheless "Ahmed" was forced to address him with this title.

The era of "Ahmed" reached such a level of collapse.. that a group of Russian mercenaries attacked the Ottoman coastal city of "Sinop" on the Black Sea.. and killed the Ottoman garrison in it.. and plundered the entire city and burned the port in the year 1614.

And here Sultan Ahmed decided to do something important.. so he hanged the Grand Vizier "Nasuh Pasha".. considering him the cause of the "Sinop" raid.

And then Sultan "Ahmed" found that the whole world was piled on his head.. and no one respected him at home or abroad.. so he wanted to lend himself some sanctity.. so he went and stole from the mosque of Sultan al-Ashraf "Qaitbay".. a historical relic, said to be the footprint of the Prophet, peace be upon him.. in order to place it in his mosque.. this move increased his problems and caused a violent rebellion in Egypt.. and people began attacking Ottoman soldiers in the streets.. and they refused to buy goods coming from Istanbul at all.. even if they were dying of hunger.. and news of the matter reached the sultan.. so he told his followers that he "had a vision in which the Prophet asked him to return the relic to its place".. and he indeed returned it to Egypt.. so as to rest from the door he had opened upon himself.

And at the same time Sultana "Kösem".. was filling her pockets with gold from the posts she sold.. so she spread bribery and favouritism through the country.. and the people rose up in Istanbul several times.. so she began suppressing their revolt through the Janissaries.

On 22 November 1617 AD.. Sultan "Ahmed" died.. and he was in fact the first one of this family not to be a drunkard.. in fact he was religious and hated alcohol.. but he died of typhus.. and he left two wives.. "Kösem" and "Khadija".. or according to the pet name "Mahfiruz".. and the latter had borne him a son named "Osman".

Of course "Osman" was the crown prince.. but "Ahmed" established a new rule.. instead of the terrifying rule of killing practised in the House of Osman.. he decided that rule would be by seniority and age.. the eldest would rule after his death.

Here they were forced to bring out from "Safiye's cages" his brother Sultan "Mustafa".. and he had sat in the cage for over 13 years.. so he came out nearly mad.. and he would walk talking to himself in the palace.. and talk to the walls and suddenly weep without reason.. and address the spirit of his father.. and then he issued a set of decisions that only a deranged madman would issue.. so when they found him completely idiotic they decided to depose him.. after he had sat on the throne only 90 days.. and they appointed the son of "Ahmed".. "Osman II"... the son of "Mahfiruz".. the co-wife of "Kösem" and her bitter enemy.

But the emergence of "Mustafa" and his assumption of power for those three months granted influence to his mother "Halime Sultan".. so she in turn joined the "harem war".

"Osman" then wanted to build prestige and a legend for himself.. so he went and invaded Poland.. but the Ottoman army was defeated there and returned empty-handed.. and the opposite.. Poland imposed its conditions on him.. and took from him the right of passage for Polish forces through the lands of the Ottoman Empire without restriction or condition in the event of war with any other state against the Poles.. and by a miracle he wrested from them the condition of reciprocity.. and he returned to Istanbul empty-handed.

And "Kösem"'s influence had greatly diminished with the death of her husband.. so she waited for the opportunity of "Osman" announcing that he had decided to perform the pilgrimage.. and this, by the way, was the first sultan of the House of Osman to decide to perform this duty.. and shortly before his departure.. she paid the Agha of the Janissaries a purse of gold.. in return for its like if "Osman" did not live to see the day.

And without hesitation the Janissary forces stormed the palace.. and they killed the Grand Vizier.. and then they found the sultan in the mosque.. so they took him to the tower prison.. and strangled him.. and the Agha of the Janissaries went to "Kösem".. to collect the rest of the payment.. but "Kösem" could not place her son "Murad" on the throne.. because the vizier "Davud Pasha" allied with "Halime Sultan".. and they brought back the mad "Mustafa" as sultan a second time.. and they obtained from him a firman appointing "Davud Pasha" grand vizier.

But "Kösem" did not stay silent.. and kept inciting against "Mustafa".. so they besieged him and his mother "Halime" after a year and a half.. and deposed him.. and she agreed to his deposition on condition of safety.. so they were given a wing in "Topkapı" to live in.. and the son of "Kösem" sat on the throne.. "Murad IV".

At the beginning of "Murad"'s rule the Safavids entered Baghdad.. and the governor of Lebanese Tripoli declared his independence from the Ottoman Empire.. and "Abaza Pasha" the governor of Ankara seized it and became independent.. and a revolt took place led by the Lebanese prince "Fakhr al-Din II Ma'n".. and he made Lebanon independent.

And here "Murad" decided to attack.. so he marched against the Safavids and occupied Hamadan.. but he was defeated at Baghdad and could not enter it.. so he sent to the prince of Damascus.. and asked him to attack "Fakhr al-Din" in Lebanon.. so he marched against him with an army far superior to his.. and indeed defeated him.. and recovered Lebanon.

After that "Murad" recovered his confidence.. and began organizing the ranks of his armies.. and strengthening his authority.. and he indeed succeeded.. and recovered Ankara.. and marched to Baghdad on 15 November 1638 AD.. and besieged it.. and recovered it from the Safavids.. and began inflicting heavy losses on them.. so they raised the white flag.. and asked to conclude a peace with the Ottoman Empire.. and indeed the peace was concluded.. and the Safavids gave up the Iraqi lands.. in return for "Murad" leaving them the city of "Yerevan".. and the two sides signed a peace agreement on 19 September 1639 AD.

In fact "Murad" put an end to the influence of the "harem" in the palace.. and he was a seasoned military man of sharp mind.. and he controlled the Janissaries and subjugated them.. and he restored the organization of the army and strengthened it.. and opened trade routes and struck corruption with an iron hand.. so he revived the treasury of the Ottoman Empire after it had come close to begging.. and unemployment in Turkey fell to its lowest level in his reign.. and he issued a decision to close the wine houses and the coffee houses and to arrest any idler who did not want to work and attach him to the army.. he could not close the brothels in Istanbul but confined them to specific districts.. and then when "Kösem" kicked up a fuss and objected to his actions that had deprived her of profit.. he decided to exile her.

And one night.. "Murad" entered his chamber exhausted.. after a successful military campaign to suppress a revolt on the Iranian border.. and he found that his mother had prepared assassins with swords for him.. they tore him to pieces.. before he even understood what was happening.. and she placed on the throne in his place his brother "Ibrahim".

And "Ibrahim" had seen all his brothers being killed and slaughtered.. so he became waiting for his turn.. and he suffered a mental breakdown.. and became paranoid and suspicious.. and every so often he ordered the killing of a grand vizier because he suspected he was plotting against him.. and he feared his mother "Kösem".. so he gave her free rein.. so her influence returned stronger than before.. history has preserved this phase for us in the history of the sultanate of the insane under the name of the era of the "Sultanate of Women".

Despite the problems the palace was in.. "Murad IV" had left behind a strong army.. the Grand Vizier went with it and occupied "Crete" in the reign of "Ibrahim".. this victory delighted the people in the Ottoman Empire and they felt that "Ibrahim" could be like "Murad".. and this popularity of his did not please his mother.. so she set the Agha of the Janissaries on him.. so they attacked him and strangled him.. and with his death.. Greece recovered "Crete" by force.. and the state returned to what it had been before him.

And "Kösem" raised to the throne.. the son of "Ibrahim".. "Mehmed IV".. the one in this picture.. and he at the time - the time he took the throne, not the time of the painting - was six years old.. but the mother of "Mehmed IV".. "Khadija".. was worried about the black fate awaiting her son.. so she bribed some people.. so they entered upon "Kösem" in her bed.. and killed her by strangling... and the mother of "Mehmed IV" took over the sultanate in her place.. "Khadija Turhan" as deputy.. because the sultan was still a little boy who had not reached puberty.. until he grew up and became a groom.. and took charge of the affairs of the state.

And the story of Sister Umm Quwaiq, whose name is "Kösem", ends with her black record in which she killed her sons.. and with her filthy name.. after she had ruled the Ottoman Empire for 37 years.

And the story of "Mehmed IV" and his throne and the wars that took place in his reign is long.. so we will continue our talk about it later.....

And there remains for the talk.. a remainder.

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Previous posts in the first comment.

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