The transition to permanent diplomacy in Iran–Ottoman relations and the establishment of the Embassy in Istanbul

Various studies on the history of Iranian diplomacy have been conducted by many researchers. However, this study focuses on a topic that has not been sufficiently addressed in the existing research on Iranian diplomacy, with a special focus on the Istanbul Embassy. The study is based on the documents in the archives of Iran and Turkey and the main sources of the period. The archival documents analysed consist of official correspondence between Iran and the Ottoman Empire. These documents reflect the course of diplomatic relations between the two countries, mutual diplomatic representation processes and embassy activities in detail. In this respect, the study aims to reveal the institutional dimension of Iranian-Ottoman diplomatic relations and to analyse the historical development of the embassy based on documents. The development of Iran's diplomatic missions established in foreign countries has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive study in the academic literature. For this reason, this study focuses on the transition to permanent diplomacy in Iranian-Ottoman relations and the establishment and institutionalisation of the Iranian Embassy in Istanbul in this context. Iran and the Ottoman Empire have frequently interacted throughout history due to their neighbouring borders. However, this situation was found to be a disadvantage rather than an advantage for the ambassadors sent. The problems that emerged between the two states caused diplomatic relations to become compulsory. In particular, the activities of merchants trading between Iran and the Ottoman Empire, fugitives who rebelled against the state to which they belonged and took refuge in the other state, fugitives and tribes who entered the border without permission, and frequent border violations by state officials in the border regions led to the need for Iran to appoint envoys to the Ottoman Empire. In this context, the difficulties encountered by the appointed envoys in the process of establishing the Embassy in Istanbul and the stages of determining the diplomatic hierarchy reveal the importance of the issue. This situation clearly reveals the sensitivity of Iranian-Ottoman relations and the structural problems in the functioning of the diplomatic mechanism.