Negotiators, not diplomats: Ambassadors and the notion of friendship in Ottoman- British relations (original) (raw)

The use of the term 'diplomacy' in the early modern relations is perhaps problematic. Rather, following the example of Franç ois de Callières, it is perhaps better to think of these interactions in terms of negotiations and négociateurs. Using the example of Ottoman-British relations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this paper will examine how the key notion of 'friendship' (dostluk in Ottoman Turkish) can be used to examine how relations were formed, formulated, and maintained. The Ottoman court used a variety of practices, from particular phrases in written treaties, to gift-giving, to audience ceremonial, in order to explain and enforce its version of friendship upon foreign states sending ambassadors to the Abode of Felicity. Ottoman attitudes towards friendship and its maintenance can be found in the text of the imperial Capitulations (ahdname-i hü mayun), which provide narratives and explanations for certain practices and ideas, particularly through the use of historical narrative within the text highlighting the events of individual embassies. The British ambassador in Istanbul thus performed a variety of functions, but above all from the Ottoman perspective, he was there to maintain royal friendship through a series of constant negotiations, cultural and performative. His personal skill working within a particular geopolitical context might see new articles added to the Capitulations, but this was only possible through the performance of friendship by gift-giving, participation in formal audiences, and the reading of royal letters. This paper will therefore propose the utility of a comparative assessment of the idea of 'friendship' and the performance of friendship in early modern diplomacy, using specific examples from Ottoman-British relations to consider macro developments in friendly-or less-than-friendly-relations between European and non-European powers. Crucially, the constant negotiation of ideas and rhetoric, spatial barriers, and geopolitical relations were a central part of this performance and this friendship.