How was the game of thrones played in the shadows of the 16th-century Mediterranean?

In Spies for the Sultan (Sultanın Casusları), historian Emrah Safa Gürkan unveils the covert machinery behind the Ottoman Empire's power. Beyond the battlefield, a vast network of intelligence, sabotage, and bribery defined the rivalry between the Ottomans, the Habsburgs, and Venice during the Early Modern era.

Drawing on thousands of documents from Ottoman and European archives—including Italian, Spanish, French, and Latin sources—this groundbreaking work explores the "secret wars" of the 16th century. It details not just information gathering, but "covert operations" ranging from political assassinations to the inciting of fifth columns within enemy territory.

Gürkan meticulously reconstructs the institutional structure of Ottoman intelligence, the role of opportunist spies, and the flow of information that shaped imperial decision-making. It is a definitive account of how the Ottomans mastered the art of espionage to maintain their dominance on the world stage.