User:AbGha/Morocco - Ottoman Relations

Morocco- Ottoman Relations between the kingdoms of Morocco and the Ottoman Empire started in the sixteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century in a series of conflicts. As a result of the Ottoman interventions in the internal affairs of the Wattasids and then the Saadians during the sixteenth century, the Ottomans wanted to force their control over Morocco and end the existing border disputes.

During the sixteenth century, the Ottomans intervened militarily and many times in Morocco by supporting several claimants vying for the throne. The ottomans then planned for the assassination of Sultan Al-Saadi Muhammad Al-Sheikh, also they launched many military campaigns and raids toward Moroccan territories. However, Moroccans succeeded in maintaining their independence and tried to annex Oran to Morocco.

The previous conflict abated at the end of the sixteenth century, and then was revived between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This started when the Alaouite dynasty, the successors of the Saadians, stated their goal regarding the restoration and annexation of Oran. Nevertheless, they failed achieving their goal.

The Ottoman - Wattasid Alliance
During the first half of the sixteenth century, the Wattasids and the Ottomans maintained good relations, with the former supporting the latter militarily during their conquest of the Zayyanid kingdom of Tlemcen, and the latter’s large number of Janissaries serving the Wattasid sultans in Fez. However, these relations were suspended due to the dispute over Tlemcen and the asylum granted by the Wattasids to the planners of the anti-Ottoman revolts.

The Ottoman support for the Wattasids against Saadians
The Ottoman supported Wattasids again in 1545 upon the latter request from the Ottoman government. The Wattasids wanted the latter to provide them with military support to stay in power and in their remaining territories as they had lost a territory in a war against the Saadians. Hence, the Wattasid Prince Abu Hassoun, who is the guardian of the young Sultan Muhammad al-Qasri, recognized the Ottoman Caliph as the Commander of the Faithful. A recognition that took place in in exchange for the requested military support.

Despite this support, the Ottomans did not intervene militarily in the 1540s due to the turmoil that marked the end of the Zayyanid period in Tlemcen. In addition, they granted asylum to Abu Hassoun in 1549, after the Saadians conquered Fez.

Failure of Saadian- Ottoman Agreement
When the Saadians held power in Morocco in 1549, the Ottomans became troubled of losing the support they have from the Sufis side in western Oran. Thus, an agreement was made between the Ottomans and Saadians stipulating the division of the territories of the former Kingdom of Tlemcen. According to the agreement, the Moroccans would retrieve Tlemcen, except for Oran, that would remain under Ottoman rule. However, the agreement wasn’t fulfilled, due to the Ottomans conspiracies with princes of Debdou, who are the allies of Wattasids.

As a result of these conspiracies, Sultan Muhammad Al-Sheikh launched an attack against Ottomans in western Algeria in 1550. Saadians took over Tlemcen in June 9-1550, but they failed entering Mostaganem and retreated due to raids by the Prince of Banu Rashid, who are the allies of Spaniards in Oran, against them. The Saadians lost Tlemcen in January 1551 to the Ottomans, and Tlemcen became part of the Ottomans property in Algeria. Nevertheless, armed conflict between Saadians and Ottomans didn’t stop in the Chellif Valley.

Tensions increased between the Saadians and the Ottomans in 1552, when Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent tried to diplomatically build relations with the Saadians. The Magnificent blamed Hasan Pasha for the conflict between the ottomans and Saadians, expelled him from his position in Algeria, and replaced him with Saleh Rayes as the ruler of Algeria. The Magnificent sent a delegation to Saadians’ sultan requesting to pledge allegiance to him as the Commander of the Faithful, but the Saadian sultan Mohammed Sheikh responded with the following:

“Send my greetings to your sultan, the captain of boats, and tell him that the sultan of the West shall be battling you over Egypt, and he will come to battle there, God willing, and peace.”

This led the Ottomans to launch an attack on Fez, in October 1553, that was led by the Pasha of Algeria Saleh Rayes. The ottomans took over Fez, and after 4 months they brought Hassoun Al-Wattasi to power again. Al-Wattasi in return recognized the authority of the Ottomans over Fez by issuing a sermon in the name of the Ottoman Sultan, that pledged allegiance to him as the Commander of the Faithful.

In September 1554, Muhammad Al-Sheikh Al-Saadi succeeded in retrieving Fez and expelled Abu Hassoun and the Ottomans. This took place before Al-Sheikh Al-Saadi made alliance with the Spaniards against the Ottomans in Oran.

The Assassination of Muhammed Al-Sheikh
Muhammed Al-Sheikh refused again to pledge allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan as the Commander of the Faithful in June 1557. As a result, the Ottomans plotted to assassinate him in October 1557. The Ottomans sent Turkish guards to serve him by pretending they were deserters from the Ottoman army. They took advantage when Al-Sheikh left on a hunting trip with only a few of his guards, they beheaded him insidiously, and took his head to Constantinople, where Suleiman the Magnificent celebrated his victory.

After the assassination of Muhammad al-Sheikh, the Ottomans retrieved Tlemcen, which had been in control of Saadians (Moroccans) since 1556. In 1558, the Battle of Wadi Al-Laban took place between the Saadians and Turkish-Algerian forces in north Fez, and the Saadians were victorious after the Ottomans withdrew from Moroccan territories without battling them. The Ottomans didn’t move on with their attack on the territories as they weren’t able to face the Saadi army led by Abdullah Al-Ghaleb.

The Succession of Abdullah Al-Ghaleb
The death of Sultan Abdullah Al-Ghaleb in 1574, gave the opportunity for the Ottomans to intervene again in Morocco. The Ottomans supported Abdul-Malik and Ahmed Al-Mansur, who were the two major claimants vying for the throne against the 10th Abbasid caliph Muhammad Al-Mutawakkil.

The Overthrow of Muhammed Al-Mutawakkil
The Ottomans favored Al-Mutawakkil’s uncle Abdul Malik Saadi and offered him asylum in 1574. In 1576, they provided him with a legion of 10000 men, mostly of Janissaries, to retrieve Fez and overthrow his nephew Caliph Muhammed Al-Mutawakkil. Abdul Malik defeated Al-Mutawakkil at the Battle of Al-Rukn and took over Fez and other Moroccan cities.

During his rule, Abdul Malik kept the Ottoman military garrison besides his army following the Ottoman military organization. The Ottoman garrison left Morocco after Abdul Malik Settled down.

Abdul Malik maintained good relations with the Ottoman government, however he kept Morocco independent from the Ottomans control, and maintained diplomatic relations with the Spaniards to ensure this independence.

The Moroccan-Ottoman rapprochement posed a threat to Portugal due to its properties on the Moroccan coasts of Mazighen (Al-Jadida), Tangier, and Ceuta. The Portuguese King Sebastian I decided to support the deposed Caliph Al-Mutawakkil militarily upon the latter request, to reclaim his throne in Fez.

Battle of Three Kings
In summer 1578, a Portuguese campaign led by Sebastian I and accompanied by Al-Mutawakkil began to invade northern Morocco toward the capital then, Fez. On August 4- 1578, Abdul Malik's army and the Ottoman garrison battled the Portuguese and Al-Mutawakkil’s army in a battle called Wadi al-Makhāzin or Battle of Three Kings. The battle ended with the defeat of Portuguese army, and the death of three kings: Al-Mutawakkil, Abdul Malik and Sebastian I.

Ahmad Abu Al-Abbas Al-Mansur
The Moroccan Emir Al-Mansur was aware of the Ottoman policy towards Morocco as he had witnessed the Ottomans assassinating his father, Muhammed Al-Sheikh Al-Mahdi, and the Ottoman repeated attempts to intervene in Moroccan affairs. Al-Mansur also witnessed the brilliance of his father and his father’s advisors in exploiting favorable international contexts to preserve Morocco independence, and the Ottoman help to his brother Abdul Malik in taking over the throne of Fez. The first touch between the Ottomans and Al-Mansur was after the Battle of Three Kings, and it didn’t go well. The Ottoman sultan Murad III sent a letter to Al-Mansur describing him as the "trivial" ruler, and followed the letter up with a delegation to Marrakesh in September 1579. The delegation demanded Al-Mansur to relinquish some Moroccan ports, and above all port of Larache, and delivered gifts that despised him. The Ottomans sought to overthrow Al-Mansur since his early ruling, to replace him with his nephew Ismail Bin Abdul-Malik, whose mother was Ottoman and married Pasha of Algeria in the revolution of 1578. The Ottoman also supported the rebellion of Prince Moulay Daoud in 1579.

The changing of Ottoman policy towards Al-Mansur started at early 1580. Some historians referred this changing to the outbreak of the fourth Ottoman Safavid war, and the destabilization of the Ottoman Empire after the assassination of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. The Ottoman Empire feared a new war and as a result Murad III sent Al-Mansur a letter in 1580 asking him for alliance to retrieve Andalusia. Murad III also offered, in the letter, Al-Mansur three hundred ships, thousands of elite fighters, and one of his daughters for marriage. However, there is no information on Al-Mansur response to these offers.

Tensions between Murad III and Al-Mansur increased in 1581, when the first ordered Ali Pasha, who was known as the Lion of Yannina, to command a fleet of sixty ships and eight thousand men to settle the situation down in Algeria, and cause harm to Al-Mansur’s interests. Ali Pasha arrived in Algiers in June 1581, and Sultan Al-Mansur fortified and surrounded himself with his army in Fez, fortified ports, and handed the leadership of the port of Larache over to his closest companion, Ibrahim Al-Sufyani. Moroccan diplomacy helped ending the conflict by reaching an agreement to an armistice despite the pressure exerted by Ali Pasha on the Moroccan delegations on their way to Istanbul. Several factors contributed in the reaching for this armistice, including the deadly epidemic, the political instability in Algeria, and the revolution in the Arabian Peninsula that Ali Pasha succeeded to end it with the help of Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha and returned to Morocco after that. Murad III ordered his representatives in Tripoli and Algeria to meet Al-Mansur’s ambassadors with respect and appreciation. And since 1583, Al-Mansur was referred to as the Imam, the Sultan, and the Caliph in the correspondence between him and the Ottoman government.

The quarrels between Morocco and the Ottoman Empire was revived again in 1583, when Al-Mansur invaded the palaces in southern desert of Algeria and controlled the caravan trade. The Ottoman Empire was mired in wars in Persia, the Balkans, the Hijaz, and the Indian Ocean, and Murad III was not able to take any actions against Al-Mansur. However, Murad III contacted his representative who was the governor of Algeria, and entrusted him with dealing with the quarrel. The representative launched a military campaign against Moroccans in south Algeria and headed towards Figuig to cut the Moroccan presence there, but he failed. Al-Mansur built new fortifications in Figuig main oases and surrounded them by a garrison, and exempted Figuig people from taxes and honored them to win their loyalty. Al-Mansur also established relations with the Ottoman authorities in Algeria and Istanbul, and was able to bribe a large number of dignitaries who became ambassadors for the Moroccan cause. The quarrels and disputes ended after the death of Ali Pasha when Sultan Murad III had changed the ruling system of Algeria from Beylerbay to Pasha. Pasha ruled for only three years, which is a short period that prevents governors from drew any effective policy in the long term. Hence, Sultans were no longer fears the Ottoman government (Sublime Porte then), that was gradually disappeared and replaced. Relations went back to normal during the last five years of Murad III rule, and have improved significantly during the reign of Sultan Mehmed III. This can be seen through the exchange of a large number of ambassadors and from the official fraternal relations between Ottomans and Moroccans. Some attribute this improvement to the political conditions that the Ottoman Empire was going through including The Thirteen Years’ War, the Ottoman-Safavid War, the Janissaries and Sipahi rebellions, and revolutions of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldova. All these conditions were in Al-Mansur’s favour. In Al-Mansur first letter to the Ottoman authorities due to rise of Mehmed III to power, he used all Caliph titles related to sovereignty to describe his position, while he only used Sultan to talk about the Ottoman monarch. Al-Mansur considered the Ottoman Empire a province that can only rule itself.

At the end of Al-Mansur's reign, the Ottoman governor of Tlemcen attacked the oasis of Figuig and tried to impose taxes on close areas there. As a result, the Ottoman Sultan sent a letter to the Pasha of Algeria to remind him that the oasis belonged to the honorable Sultanate in accordance with the agreements with sultans Murad III and Mehmed III. He alerted him from any move that could lead to dire consequences.

During the Saadian Rule
After the death of Ahmad Al-Mansur in 1603, Morocco was in a state of war for succession that lasted for more than 30 years. During that period of time, Saadians’ power turned to be weak against their contenders and lost control of large parts of their territories.

After several military setbacks, Al-Mansur’s son, Moulay Zidan Abu Maali, escaped from Fez to Tlemcen where he asked for asylum and for the Ottoman support to seize power. However, Moulay Zidan didn’t get what he asked for, but he was able to seize power by himself and without the Ottoman support in 1608. Thus, he ruled Morocco without becoming an ally of the Ottomans.

Nonetheless, Moulay Zidan victory did not last for long, since the center of power in Marrakesh weakened causing the loss of large parts of territories. During the following decades, Ottomans were able to make a series of Ottoman interventions, mainly by supporting different contenders.

During the Early Alaouite Rule
When Alawites came to power, the Saadian Ahmad Al-Khadir Ibn Ali Ghaylan, who was known as Guyland, was controlling parts of Northern Morocco including the North-West territories, Loukkos River, Jbala region, and Fahs-Anjra province. The Alawites defeated Guyland when Moulay Rashid besieged the tribe of Bni Zeroual in Fahs-Anjra province in 1666. Guyland fled from Fahs-Anjra to Asilah.

Guyland and his allies Al-Naqsis family launched an attack on Qasr Al-Kabir near Tangier, after the death of Moulay Rashid in 1673. The attack was supported militarily and logistically by the Ottoman. However, it failed against the Alaouite army, and Guyland was killed.

The Ottoman Support for Dila'ites
During the first half of the seventeenth century and at the beginning of the Alawites rule in Morocco, the Ottoman Empire was the major religious, political, and military force. The Dila'ites then was controlling parts of northern Morocco, until they were expelled from Morocco in 1668. The Dila'ites won the Ottomans’ sympathy and stayed in their empire.

The end of Dila'ites was in 1677, after they launched their final attack against Alawites in the Middle Atlas region. The attack was supported militarily by the Ottoman, but it failed.

The Alaouite- Ottoman Border Dispute
The end of Beylerbay rank in Algeria caused it the loss of its political power and control that it had before. This led to direct border dispute and many confrontations between Morocco and Ottomans over the Ottoman ruled territories in North Africa, and mainly for the control of Oujda.

In 1641, Alaouite Emir Muhammed Bin Sharif took over Oujda, which was under the Ottoman control. He also invaded Tlemcen to push the Ottoman forces out of it. The Ottoman forces were forced out to Laghouat, and then to Wadi Tafna, where they stayed there under a treaty signed in 1647. According to the treaty, the Ottoman forces were not allowed to go any further than Wadi Tafna. As a result, Oran, which was Moroccan territory then, faced coup attempts.

In 1651, Emir Muhammed Bin Sharif entered Tlemcen, which was under Ottoman control then, before returning to Oujda. Despite the border disputes between Moroccans and Ottomans, Wadi Tafna remained a borderline between Moroccan and Ottoman territories.

In 1978, the Alawi sultan Ismail Bin Sharif tried to penetrate into Wadi Tafna in order to reach Amour Range. However, he failed against the Ottoman military forces, and Wadi Tafna borderline was recognized by Alawites again under a new treaty between the two sides. The borderline struggle didn’t end, nor Moroccans committed to the treaty, and as a result, a new struggle began. This struggle ended with Wadi Moulouya as the new borderline between Moroccan and Ottoman territories.

After the death of Sultan Yazid Bin Muhammed in 1792, the governor of Oran Muhammed Al-Kabir planned for an invasion of northeastern Morocco, where he took control of Oujda and the eastern part of the Rif. After Sultan Yazid invasion, another one took place by Sultan Mawla Yazid in 1795. Sultan Mawla’s invasion ended successfully and northeastern territories were under Moroccan control. Borderlines were drawn once and for all in Kouba, in center Algeria.

Meanwhile, between 1792 - 1830 and during the end and collapse of the Ottoman trusteeship on Algeria, the Alaouite sultans wearied governors of Oran to let their army in. No sooner than the recognition of Moroccan sultan Abdul-Rahman Bin Hisham as Moulay of North-West Algeria, Moroccans withdrew permanently from there as a result of the French colonization on Algeria (1830 - 1962) and the French threat to Moroccan sultans. Algerians then asked Emir Abdul- Qadir to take control of Middle and North-West Algeria and be their leader, and the request was accepted in 1832.