Fooling the Sultan: Information, Decision-Making and the “Mediterranean Faction” (1585-1587)
Keywords:
Information Gathering, Disinformation, Decision-Making Process, Strategy, Ottoman Naval Policy in the Sixteenth-Century, Factional Politics, Ottoman Corsairs, Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry, Ottoman-Venetian Relations, Ottomans in North AfricaAbstract
This essay aims to show how information was used as a political tool
in sixteenth-century Istanbul. By concentrating on the “Mediterranean faction”, i.e. Muslim corsairs incorporated into the Ottoman imperial system, it will seek to demonstrate how interest groups tried to manipulate Ottoman decision-making and strategy formulation process in accordance with their corporate interests. The economic rationale behind the cooperation between the Ottoman imperial elites and the corsairs required that Istanbul pursued a belligerent policy in the Western Medi- terranean and thus invested in the navy. In order to make sure that this happened, the Mediterranean faction used every means at their disposal. Twisting information was the most efficient one. They fabricated rumors, produced false witnesses, staged mise-en-scènes, withheld relevant information and even detained incoming foreign ambassadors to keep their government in the dark, all in the name of convincing the Ottoman decision-makers of an exaggerated enemy threat in the Mediterranean which merited military investment.
