The relationship between the Ottomans and the Safavids during the reign of Sulṭân Süleymân (1494-1566) and Şâh Ṭahmâsb I (1514 –1576) is deemed a turning point in the history of the region in terms of peace treaties and the establishment of borders between the two empires. In this period, the Âmasiye Peace Agreement was finally reached in 1555 between the two states. The Ottoman-Safavid correspondence was published in the Ferîdûn’s Mecmûʿa-i Münşeʾât üs-Selâṭîn two times (1848-49 and 1858). However, it should be noted that some modifications infiltrated these letters during the redaction, as in the documents of the 17th century.
This dissertation attempts to study the correspondence between the Ottoman and Iranian rulers in accordance with a manuscript titled Münşeʾât ve Bażı Veḳâyiʿ-i Sulṭân Süleymân Ḫân, which contains 32 letters and one campaign diary preserved in the Austrian National Library. This manuscript was compared to three other manuscripts: Münşeʾât üs-Selâṭîn, Muḫâberat Mecmûʿası, and Düstûru’l-İnşâ.
First, this study focuses on the correspondence in manuscripts and the printed edition. Second, it endeavors to detect similarities and differences between them. Third, it investigates the way in which the Ottoman-Safavid diplomatic relation can be presented based on the analyzed material. As a result, there is no significant difference between the Ferîdûn’s Münşeʾât, Baʿżî Vekâyiʿ-i Sulṭân Süleymân Ḫân and Muhâberât Mecmûʿası; however, the text of Düstûru’l-İnşâ is different from all of them. It can be confidently stated, as another result too, that the printed version of Münşe’ât üs-Selâṭîn had not been modified; the text stayed identical to the original for the most part. To put it another way, the printed version is as valuable as the early manuscripts for historical research. This dissertation contains the Iranian-Ottoman correspondence in Arabic transliteration, and it also presents detailed summaries of the aforesaid correspondence.