The relations between The Kingdom of Imeret and the Ottoman Empire in the Period of I. Solomon (1752-1784)

Among the important events that took place in the Caucasus geography, the Georgian-Ottoman relations of the 18th century come to the fore. The region to be dealt with in the aforementioned research is the region that is said to be ruled as a khanate⁄malilik in Ottoman sources and is recorded as the Kingdom of Imereti in foreign literature. The aim of the study is to determine the political relations between Georgia and the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 18th century. In this study, Imereti King Ι. Solomon's revolts against the Ottoman Empire and how other Georgian kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire were affected by these rebellions will be revealed. In addition, the causes and consequences of these rebellions will be the subject of the study. In our study, in the period covering the second half of the 18th century, after the death of King V. Alexander of Imereti, his son Ι. Solomon ascended the throne of Imereti in 1752 and the ropes broke with the Ottoman Empire, the unstable process in Western Georgia until 1768, Solomon's futile the search for alliance and dismissal and the effects of the Ottoman Empire on these events will be revealed. Because Ι. Solomon was dismissed in 1766 because he had some problems with the Ottoman Empire. The military expeditions made by the Ottoman Empire to the region several times in order to punish Solomon in the period until 1768 and their results will also be included in our study. Finally, a face-to-face meeting between Ottoman statesmen and rebel Ι. Solomon in 1768 near Bagdatcik Castle is remarkable. Some documents are given to the Ottoman delegation by Solomon. Among them are his own private letters written in Georgian. In this study, both the struggle for domination of Imereti between the Ottoman Empire and Solomon until 1768, the second period from 1768 to the death of Solomon in 1784 will be discussed; Also, with the help of letters and other documents belonging to the meeting in question, it will be tried to point out how the political balances changed in favor of Russia in Western Georgia just before the Ottoman-Russian War. In this study, the collapse of the Ottoman Georgia policy, the minutes of the Ottoman delegation's interview with Ι. Solomon, various considerations on the issue, Solomon's break with the Ottoman Empire and her alliance with Russia will be evaluated.