The Netherlands is celebrating 400 years of diplomatic relations with Turkey this year. The fact that the Dutch became involved in the politics of the Ottoman Empire is actually thanks to the Spaniards.
Officially, the first Dutch ambassador settled in Istanbul in 1612. But before that, William of Orange had already contacted the Ottoman government several times through an old friend. He could use some help during the Revolt (the Eighty Years' War) against the Spaniards. Unfortunately for Willem, in 1566 and 1569, his representatives returned unfinished business. Despite this, the Dutch insurgents wore Turkish symbols such as the crescent moon, and they used the slogan “Rather Turkish than pope (or pope)”.
Rather Turkish than…
Ottomans, also known as Turks, did not have a good reputation in Europe. The people associated them with cruel and inhuman savages. The advancing Islam was also seen as a threat to Christianity. When the Ottomans lie in front of the walls of Vienna in 1529, Europe trembles to its foundations. Pamphlets with the threatening front news also reached the Netherlands and in them the Turks were portrayed a lot worse than they really were. The fact that the Dutch insurgents would rather come under Turkish rule than under Catholic commanders shows how much they had had it with the Spanish mismanagement and the cruel Inquisition. The looting and massacre of the towns of Naarden and Zutphen in 1572 did not do the Spanish popularity any good. The Turkish symbols used around that time were therefore mainly intended as an insult to the Catholic rulers.
Ottoman merchants in Antwerp
Spain was also the enemy of the Ottoman Empire. So although the sultan William of Orange did not immediately come to the rescue, his government continued to follow the Revolt. After a few years, the Ottomans realized that things were serious in the Netherlands and they decided to invest money in the Revolt, under the motto 'support the enemy of the enemy'.
Between 1579 and 1582, representatives of the grand vizier Sokollu Mehmet Pasha traveled several times from Istanbul to Antwerp. In their wake followed the Turkish traders, i.e. Jewish, Armenian and Greek inhabitants of the immense Ottoman Empire. From 1582, the Turkish staple market was established in Antwerp.
Due to the capture of this city by the Spaniards in 1589 and the subsequent split between the northern and southern Netherlands, the Rebels lost their trade contacts with the Ottomans. Dutch navigators still sailed in the Mediterranean and the Levant, but under the French or English flag. These nations still had trade relations with the sultanate.
The ships suffered greatly from privateering in North Africa, also known as the Barbary piracy. As a result, there were quite a few Dutch prisoners of war in the Moroccan cell. To free them, the States General decided to placate the sultan. After Prince Maurice's victory over Spanish galley ships at Sluis in 1604, the States General released Muslims instead of asking them for ransom. These men should have rowed as slaves on the Spanish ships. They were able to sail on a ship with Dutch envoys to Morocco.
However, this embassy had overestimated the power of the sultan in Morocco because they did not receive any Dutch prisoners of war. But the gesture had not gone unnoticed, and correspondence with the sultanate followed. The Minister of the Navy, Khalil Pasja, saw something in an alliance with the Netherlands against Spain. He, on behalf of the sultan's government, called the Sublime Porte, invited the Republic to send an ambassador to formally settle trade relations and establish friendship.
After months of deliberation – these were expensive times – the influential Levant traders and even Grand Pensionary Johan van Oldenbarneveld got involved in the matter. At their insistence, the States General decided to accept Khalil Pasha's offer. For the time being they would send a party to investigate whether a favorable capitulation for free trade was in it. In such a capitulation, the sultan's government established certain commercial, legal and fiscal privileges of foreign powers.
Johan van Oldenbarneveld drew up the capitulation proposal with his own hands. The States General had high expectations of the visit. The delegation therefore received expensive and strategic gifts such as maps with new sea routes. It was very unfavorable for the Spanish king that this material came into Turkish hands.
Trade interests and infamous parties
The young master of law Cornelis Haga, who had previously proven his diplomatic qualities, was the right person to take on the role of temporary ambassador. After a journey of six months, he arrived in Istanbul with his company in 1612. Khalil Pasha personally saw to it that Haga was familiarized with protocol and diplomatic relations in the center of power in Istanbul.
After three months of negotiations, Haga was allowed an audience with the sultan. This was a kind of humiliating initiation ritual that involved a lot of bling bling and a show of power, but luckily Haga eventually got his favorable capitulation. The only condition was that the new ambassador would remain permanently in Istanbul. This wasn't quite planned, but Haga had no choice. He rented a house with the allure of a palace in the old town of Pera, which, together with the busy commercial center of Galata, formed the rich European part of the city.
Haga could easily afford this with an annual salary of 10,000 guilders, double what Johan van Oldenbarneveld earned. But the States General had to pay him if they wanted Haga to be taken seriously. At the Ottoman court and among the other diplomats, there was a lavish culture and status was important, including a whole host of unnecessary employees. To get things done you needed money and expensive gifts and parties with a lot of alcohol were the way to get information out of people.
To be considered complete, Haga had to participate in this as well. However, the sources do not show that he found this annoying. A young officer, who was lying in the harbor of Istanbul with his warship and attending a party of Haga, was very angry with his immoral way of life. He should spend his money on ransoming prisoners of war instead of whores and cords! The 34-year-old Haga also had to buy off a woman shortly after his arrival in Istanbul to get out of a paternity certificate.
During his ambassadorship, Haga's main task was to promote trade and protect free shipping. But over the years, the States General's attention for Dutch activities in Istanbul has waned. Trade changed and the opening of the Persian Gulf allowed ships to sail directly to Syria to fetch Persian carpets and Indian spices.
From 1621 Haga no longer received any orders from the Republic and he had to figure it out himself. Time to leave and look for a Dutch bride, Haga thought, but alas. Without his presence, the favorable capitulation would also lapse. In order to still be able to find a good wife, he married the gauntlet:without being present himself, he married Aletta Brasser, the daughter of the mayor of Delft in the Netherlands. After her arrival in Istanbul, Haga's life took on calmer waters. However, it would take until 1639 before he could finally return to the Republic.
There were no real replacements for the time being:Haga's work would be overseen by his former assistants. Nevertheless, the Dutch would remain in Istanbul for almost the full 400 years, with brief exceptions during the Batavian Revolution and Napoleon's reign. The Dutch delegation stayed close to the place where Haga once rented his spacious house. The current building of the Consulate General, the Palais de Hollande, was built in 1858 after several wooden predecessors had burned down.