Secrecy, information control and power building in the Ottoman Empire, 1566--1603

Conventionally, the era that begins after the death of celebrated Ottoman sultan Suleyman I in 1566 is seen as the beginning of Ottoman decline. In line with the decline paradigm, late sixteenth century is also accepted as a time of political turmoil. This period is characterized by constant power struggles among Ottoman ruling elite and the deterioration of the classical Ottoman political order. Concerning the rise of new power elite (favourites) in the court and bureaucracy vis-a-vis the decreasing power of the sultans and grand vezirs, "evil counsellors" and the inaccessibility of the Ottoman sultan were chronic themes in the Ottoman Empire. Yet, at the same time, in most of the Ottoman political treatises access to and privacy with the sultan is restricted to a very limited number of the servants of the court and bureaucracy. Especially the communication between the sultan and the grand vezir is advised to be a secret. In view of this important political dictum, in the present study it is argued that the power also came from and built by the monopoly on information about the matters of state by the least number of people. In accordance with this view, the power politics of the late sixteenth century Ottoman political arena is analyzed as struggles over controlling the flow of information about the matters of state.