Ambassador Imprisoned by Köprülü Mehmet Pasha

The story of Köprülü Mehmet Pasha's imprisonment of the French ambassador and his son whom he caught spying.

Ottoman - French relations

Ottoman - French relations that started with the Crusades changed in 1525. French King Francis, who had been captured by German Emperor Charles Quint, was freed from captivity with the help of Suleiman the Magnificent. Thus, relations took an advanced stage with the capitulations that provided commercial facilities to France. Each time the sultan changed, these commercial capitulations were turned into vested rights by signing new treaties. Moreover, other states, especially England, began to demand the same privileges. These capitulations, which the Ottoman Empire could not overcome, could only be canceled in Lausanne after great debates. Despite the privileges granted to it by the capitulations, France did not hesitate to cooperate with other states against the Ottoman Empire.

Development of the Event

When Köprülü Mehmet Pasha became grand vizier, the Ottoman-Venetian war was still raging, and Louis XIV, the "Sun King" of France, was secretly aiding Venice. Jean de La Haye, appointed as the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, was late in presenting the grand vizier with the gifts traditionally given by ambassadors. He later delivered them to the Grand Vizier, but it was too late. The Grand Vizier was waiting for an opportunity to punish the ambassador appropriately. 

King Louis had given some letters to Vertamont, a former soldier in the Venetian army, to deliver to the French ambassador and the Venetian ambassador. Vertamont said that he wanted to convert to Islam and handed over all the letters to the regent in Istanbul. The regent sent Vertamont with the letters to Edirne to Koprulu Mehmet Pasha. Vertamont explained the French king's relations with Venice and handed over the encrypted letters to the grand vizier. However, the letters could not be decrypted. Thereupon, the Grand Vizier summoned the ambassador to Edirne. Jean de La Haye declared that he was suffering from kidney stones and sent his son Denis de La Haye in his place. When Denis raised his voice to the Grand Vizier, Denis was arrested and imprisoned.

When the French ambassador Jean de La Haye was informed about the incident and his son's imprisonment, he summoned his code interpreter Quiclet to the embassy. They started to talk with Quiclet on the terrace of the embassy. The interpreter said that he did not want to go to the Grand Vizier, that he was too afraid of being beheaded and asked La Haye to hide him. La Haye, who wanted to save his son but did not want the code to be deciphered, pretended to understand this situation. He left the terrace for a while, leaving Quiclet on his own. He then ordered the terrace to be blown up. The terrace was blown up along with the interpreter. However, Quiclet, who survived the explosion, was captured and killed on the spot, buried secretly.

When Quiclet failed to show up, Köprülü Mehmet Pasha brought the ambassador to Edirne, questioned him and asked him to decrypt the letters. La Haye replied that the decryption officer had returned to France and that he did not know how to decrypt. The Grand Vizier had him imprisoned with his son. The Grand Vizier went on a campaign to Erdel. When he returned from the expedition, he mocked the ambassador and his son's pleas for their release by asking them if they were still there. La Haye and his son were forced to buy their freedom and thus were able to return to France.

The new ambassador, Blondel, appointed to replace La Haye, was not recognized by the Grand Vizier. This time his son La Haye was appointed as the Ambassador of France in 1665. Meanwhile, Köprülü Mehmet Pasha had died and his son Fazıl Ahmed Pasha had become Grand Vizier. Fazil Ahmed Pasha was very upset and angry when the French army came to the aid of Austria just when he was about to be victorious in the war against Austria. When his son La Haye came to his presence, he insulted him severely. When La Haye could not stand it and tore the prepared treaty and threw it at the Grand Vizier's feet, the Sergeant in charge slapped La Haye and arrested him. La Haye later repented, apologized to the Grand Vizier and was released.

Conclusion

France continued to repeat the capitulations with new treaties in every change of sultan. In this way, France gained power as a privileged owner in Europe and enriched itself with privileged trade with the Ottoman Empire. However, he never stopped cooperating with other states against the Ottoman Empire. In 1672, the German philosopher Leibniz presented King Louis with a plan to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Based on this plan, Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 with 38,000 soldiers, 1,200 horses, 50 warships carrying 171 cannons and around 500 transport ships. His goal was to take Istanbul from Egypt. When the Ottoman Army under the command of Cezzar Ahmet Pasha stopped Napoleon with the defense of Acre, Napoleon had to return to France empty-handed. 

In World War I, France occupied the Hatay-Urfa area, just like in the First Crusade. 

Today, it continues to irritate us with its contradictory policies against us.

References:

J. Von Hammer, The Great Ottoman History volume 11, pages 38-39. This is the only source of this event today.

İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Ottoman History, C. 3/2, TTK, Ankara, 2011, quoted from Hammer. 

Erhan Afyoncu, Ottoman Slap to France, Yeditepe Yay. Istanbul 2011. He quoted from Hammer and Uzunçarşılı.