Protection of the straits in the Ottoman Empire

This study is particularly concerned with understanding the Ottoman understanding and method of protecting the Straits from the beginning of the 18th century, when Russia began to emerge in the Black Sea, until the London Straits Convention of 1841. In the face of the threat to the capital city from both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean straits, the Empire quickly equipped the straits with defensive fortifications such as fortresses and forts. However, it can be said that these measures taken and the policy followed for the protection of the straits were not within the framework of a long-term plan and program. Rather, when the Empire encountered a calamity, it put the protection of the straits and the capital city on its agenda with what can be called one-day measures. Although the 1768- 1774 Ottoman-Russian War seems to undermine this claim, the effort of the Payitaht and the failure to find a full response in the field to what was implemented and what was intended to be implemented prevented this program from maturing. At the same time, the importance of the Ottomans being in a geographically strategic space in this transformation, when the expansion of the borders of the Empire stopped and concerns about the protection of the capital city and the straits began to increase, is emphasized. The feature of not being able to share the space was evaluated as an important privilege that made the Ottomans' hand strong in protecting the straits. In this context, even though the Ottomans made very skillful political moves and alliances against a threat, in the eyes of other leading European states, the sovereignty of the straits and the capital city was not worthless enough to be left to another state and it was not a situation to remain silent. Naturally, in this process where many variables and acts of preservation came to the fore, our study tried to portray the Ottomans' preservation of the straits.