Deconstructing the Ottoman State

with Emrah Safa Gürkan

hosted by Chris Gratien

Although it is not uncommon when reading about the Ottoman Empire to see it portrayed as a monolithic, rational state apparatus serving a purported state interest, factions with their own interests and agendas played a major role in Ottoman decision-making. In this episode, Dr. Emrah Safa Gürkan explains the importance of disconglomerating state interests and examining factionalism when approaching politics in the Ottoman Empire.

Emrah Safa Gürkan is a recent PhD from the department of history at Georgetown University currently teaching at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul (see academia.edu)

Chris Gratien is a PhD candidate studying the history of the modern Middle East at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)

Select Bibliography

Tezcan, Baki. The Second Ottoman Empire: Political and Social Transformation in the Early Modern World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Börekçi, Günhan. “Factions and Favorites at the Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-1617) and His Immediate Predecessors.” Ph.D. Diss., Ohio State University, 2011.
Tezcan, Baki. “Searching for Osman: A Reassessment of the Deposition of Sultan Osman II (r. 1618-1622)”. Ph.D. Diss., Princeton University, 2001.
Gürkan, Emrah Safa. “Espionage in the 16th Century Mediterranean: Secret Diplomacy, Mediterranean Go-Betweens and the Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry.” Ph.D. Diss., Georgetown University, 2012.