İbrahim Müteferrika

▪ Ottoman diplomat

born c. 1670, , Kolozsvár, Transylvania [now Cluj-Napoca, Rom.]

died 1745, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Tur.]

      Ottoman diplomat known for his contributions to the 18th-century reform movement in the Ottoman Empire; he sponsored the introduction of printing into the Turkish domains.

      A Hungarian by origin, İbrahim converted to Islām and entered the Ottoman diplomatic service. He took part in negotiations with Austria and Russia and was active in promoting the Ottoman-French alliance (1737–39) against Austria and Russia and Ottoman-Swedish action against Russia.

      In 1727 İbrahim established a printing press on which he printed works on language, history, geography, and the natural and physical sciences. In 1731 he wrote a treatise that showed the causes of Ottoman decline, described European forms of government and military organization, and proposed reforms in the Ottoman system.

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