The "Pastille Affair" in Ottoman-Safavid Relations, ۱۷۰۵-۱۷۰۹

This article presents documents on the aftermath of a diplomatic affair from ۱۷۰۵, which was ‎engineered by Safavid Iran’s grand vizier Muhammad Mumin Shamlu and which was the last of ‎his undertakings to reorient relations with the Ottoman Empire. It was a part of his policy played ‎out as several faitsThis article presents documents on the aftermath of a diplomatic affair from ۱۷۰۵, which was engineered by Safavid Iran’s grand vizier Muhammad Mumin Shamlu and which was the last of his undertakings to reorient relations with the Ottoman Empire. It was a part of his policy played out as several faits accomplis unfolding at the same time and aiming to embitter Ottoman-Safavid relations, which had reached a formal alliance over the last decade. Starting out under the guise of a religious gift-giving, this initiative from the Iranian capital Isfahan to Prophet Muhammad’s shrine in Ottoman-controlled Medina first slighted the Ottomans’ lordship rights in the Hejaz and therefore became blocked by the Ottoman authorities in Medina as well as the digninaties in Constantinople. But soon, it grew into a subject of diplomatic correspondenceand thenbecame entangled in a robbery reaching out to Mecca and Baghdad, whose prosecution spread further to Constantinople, Cairo, Damascus, and the eastern Mediterranean waters. Even after the affair was put to rest, Ottoman-Safavid dealings did not heal from the harm done by Muhammad Mumin Shamlu’s succesive thrusts to undermine the cooperation of the ۱۶۹۰s.The peace outlived Beygdilli-Shamlu’s term as grand vizier, but he succeeded in downgrading it from an official brotherhood to a bare state of nonaggression.accomplis unfolding at the same time and aiming to embitter Ottoman-‎Safavid relations, which had reached a formal alliance over the last decade. Starting out under ‎the guise of a religious gift-giving, this initiative from the Iranian capital Isfahan to Prophet ‎Muhammad’s shrine in Ottoman-controlled Medina first slighted the Ottomans’ lordship rights in ‎the Hejaz and therefore became blocked by the Ottoman authorities in Medina as well as the ‎digninaties in Constantinople. But soon, it grew into a subject of diplomatic correspondenceand ‎thenbecame entangled in a robbery reaching out to Mecca and Baghdad, whose prosecution ‎spread further to Constantinople, Cairo, Damascus, and the eastern Mediterranean waters. Even ‎after the affair was put to rest, Ottoman-Safavid dealings did not heal from the harm done by ‎Muhammad Mumin Shamlu’s succesive thrusts to undermine the cooperation of the ۱۶۹۰s.The ‎peace outlived Beygdilli-Shamlu’s term as grand vizier, but he succeeded in downgrading it from ‎an official brotherhood to a bare state of nonaggression.‎

Keywords:

Ottoman-Safavid relations , Muhammad Mumin Xan Beygdili-Shamlu , Medina , Hajj , Shah Sultan-Husayn