Sultan Murad IV. in the Ottoman State and his period the reforms: 1623 - 1640

When Sultan Murad IV. (10.09.1623-09.02.1640) ascended the Ottoman throne as the seventeenth sultan, the state order had a significant blow for the first time since Ankara War. This critical situation emerged from descending Sultan Osman II. from the throne and being killed. In accordance with the fundamentals of the laws of the Ottomans, the ongoing authority of the Ottoman Sultans was deeply shaken due to the effect and movement of the irresponsible forces in this scope, and such a development led bullies dominate the state at times. Janisarries got spoilt a lot, the commanders in chief of the janisarries and the janisarry cooks entered as far as the_presence of the sultan and they even killed some of the sultan's men. Bribe and abuse went up to an extreme level. Bribe and abuse went ab to an extreme level. Credibility and political situation of the state were not very good., eiter. Erzurum governor of the time, Abaza Mehmed Pasha rose against the state, and started to kill the janisarries he could capture. Iran too got a rebel started in Baghdad and took over the ruling of this city. In short, Jalali rebels in the country and Iranians abroad shook the Ottoman State. The fact that the misuse of the tasks by the gran viziers and the statesmen of the period and their inability and intrigues created a significant problem for the state. Sultan Murad IV. was not able to take over the ruling personally yet. The empire was ruled by the high officials and his mother Kösem Sultan. By the year 1632. Sultan Murad IV. trained himself and got mature amongst the painful and critical events and consequently, he was later able to eliminate all the difficulties. In a period when Sultan Murad IV. freed himself or the influenceof his mother, the high afficials and deterriorated statsmen and got the authority of the state personally, Koçi Bey to a great extent, and realized how the state institutions could attain their previous funtionality and started to take action accordingly. The first activity he conducted was to eliminate the main instigators one by one, who broke peace in the country. He established his own authority absoltely, which meant the authority of the state, remedied202 4he financial situation, which was upset, eliminated the bullies in the janisary and cavalier corps and got them under discipline in full scale, and rose their power of fighting to a very high level, and when he went to an important war to ıran, he conquered the Revan Castle ruled by the Safevids; and thus, he proved that the military power of the Ottoman State was much more higher than that state, and this resulted in decreasing willingness and courage of Iranians to attack the Ottoman land again, For the same reasons, the State of Poland, against which Sultan II. Osman fought but could not subdue them, had to accept peace under heavy conditions Upon a big fire occured in Istanbul in the year 1043/1633, he got a from the Sheikhulislam and banned smoking, and started to get those who had violated this practice killed as if tehy had rebelled the state, He closed the the coffe-houses and sentenced those who went outside without a lantern at nigt, accordingly. One of pratices Sultan Murad IV. Did, different than the previous Ottoman Sultans was to get some of the people from the theological scholars killed. Up to that time, there was a ban to get such people killed based on the principle of "They can be dismissed and exiled but not got killed". Sultan Murad IV., whom we know as areformer sultan of this period, and Koçi Bey, who was also known to be an outstanding reformer and who presented reform proposals to Sultan Murad IV., and a number of authors with some reformist approaches, were distinguished personalities who marked the period of the first half of 17th centryin a unique way. We can argue that through the reforms of Sultan Murad IV., which covered o portion of the period when the development of the countr stopped, the state attained its previous grandeur to a certain extent. If these reforms in question could go deeper of the problems, the could last longer. The intelligentsia of the period determined the reason r»f lieterionation Jaecause _of adverse attitudes -and behaviours towards the canonical and old codes and defended the idea that the solution was to return to them. All the reforms in that century followed a traditional attitude, and this led only a temporary solition of the problems.These reforms colud be valid only for the period of a specific ruler203 or grand vizier. But still, they could support the state to protect its existence for a long time, and made the life of the satate longer and prepared a base for the radical reforms ahead. Reforms, mostly made in the military, financial, administrative and social fields strengthened the central authority and led the state enjoy credibility both in the country and abroad. Reforms of this preiod were, in general, made by means of the methods of constrint and violence. But it is a fact that the reason why the Ottoman rulers resorted to such an approach emerged from the situation in which the state was experiencing. Jf th& cases such as straying and rambling, disorder, lack of proper administration, bribe and favouring certain people, intrigues of the bureacrats, poor military discipline, rebellious-like behaviours of the governos etc. Are taken into consideration, to prevent these through the measures of constraint and violence is normal. These refoms served as a model to put emphasis on the military reforms in the subsequent years. ^jSSS^