Who is Ottoman Sultan The Magnificent and why Saudi Arabia removed his name from street sign

The Riyadh Municipality has removed a street sign bearing the name of the renowned Ottoman Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent from one of its streets, local media reported.

The Riyadh Municipality did not give a reason for the move, however social media users believe strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey could be the trigger.

Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent, is the tenth of the Ottoman Sultans, the Caliph of the Eighty Muslims, and the second to carry the title of “Commander of the Faithful” from the Othman family. He was born on November 6, 1494, in the Turkish city of Trabzon, and died on September 7, 1566, in the city of Siktwar in Hungary.

During his reign, the Islamic state reached its greatest extent until it became the most powerful country in the world at the time, and he is considered to have the longest rule in the Ottoman Empire, where he led the state for about 46 years – from November 6, 1520AD until his death on September 7, 1566AD – succeeding his father, Sultan Salim Khan I And was succeeded by his son Sultan Selim II.

The Ottoman Sultan, who was known to the West as Suleiman The Great, and in the East as Suleiman The Magnificent, and in Turkey as the Sultani Suleiman, was able to introduce judicial reforms that concerned society, education, collection, and criminal law.

Some historians consider Sultan Suleiman one of the greatest kings because the scope of his rule included many other capitals of civilizations such as Athens, Sofia, Baghdad, Damascus, Istanbul, Budapest, Belgrade, Cairo, Bucharest, Tabriz, Algeria, and others.

Suleiman Al-Qanuni spoke four languages: Arabic, Persian, Serbian, and Jaghiyah. He was not only a poet and jeweler, but also became a great patron of culture and a supervisor of the development of arts, literature and architecture in the golden age of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey-Saudi strained relation 

Over the past few years, relations between Saudi and Turkey have been increasingly strained by diplomatic differences and by each other’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, especially by Turkey’s support of Qatar following the ongoing blockade imposed on it by the kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt in 2017.

Relations reached breaking point with the murder of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year.

Following months of investigations into the murder and a UN report concluding that Saudi agents killed Khashoggi under the direct command of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Turkey has repeatedly called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Consequently, the Kingdom has been pushing a campaign to encourage its tourists to boycott Turkey through all possible means, including the purchase of products, consumption of foods, sale of properties, dealings with Turkish companies, and especially tourism to the country. The campaign has garnered support amongst Saudi royals and figures, a famous case being when Riyadh’s influential governor Faisal Bin Bandar declined an offer of Turkish coffee, triggering a call for a boycott of Turkish products.

In August last year, Saudi’s Ministry of Education made a series of modifications to its history books, altering the legacy of the Ottoman Empire and referring to it as an “occupation”.

Source: …. with additional information from Middle East Monitor (MEMO) and EG24News