History often reminds us that the seas connecting Asia were never barriers; they were bridges. Centuries before modern diplomacy, long before Jakarta and Ankara ever exchanged embassies, the Javanese courts and the Ottoman Empire shared ties rooted in faith, power and a shared struggle against European colonial expansion. The history of Javaβs connection to the Ottoman Empire, often overshadowed by the better-known Aceh-Ottoman alliance, is a story that reveals how global the Islamic world once was, and how deep Indonesiaβs links to the wider Muslim world truly ran.
The relationship between Java and the Ottoman Empire goes beyond trade or military cooperation. It was also a matter of legitimacy and identity. According to accounts preserved in Javanese royal chronicles and historical studies, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire once recognized Raden
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