turkish historical review 9 (2018) 151-197 © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/18775462-00902002 brill.com/thr Fundamentals of Ottoman-Safavid Peacetime Relations, 1639–1722 Selim Güngörürler Boğaziçi University selim.gungorurler@gmail.com Abstract This article establishes the overarching principles of Iranian-Ottoman peacetime relations from the Treaty of Zuhab to the collapse of the Safavid rule. Based on previ- ously untapped sources, it illustrates the hierarchical foundation of relations marked by the principle of seniority-juniority on every platform, explores the concepts of legal personality, actors, representation, and delegation in diplomacy, and delineates the various capacities of diplomatic missions. After discussing the conduct of diplomatic business and ceremonial protocol, the article addresses the phenomena of language and arts in official contacts. The later part thematizes foreign policy, status-quos, com- mon frontier, balance of power, harmony, and strife, and thus shows how active and dynamic post-Zuhab relations between Istanbul and Isfahan were. Keywords Ottoman-Safavid relations – Early Modern diplomacy – international hierarchy – Middle Eastern diplomacy The present study is a treatise on the essentials and overarching themes that defined Ottoman-Safavid relations after the peace of Zuhab. It takes as its sub- ject not the occurrences, which I do and will address elsewhere, but the long- term processes that rather accommodated these individual occurrences. Here, I treat the examined period in its entirety rather than discussing the events that took place within its scope. First, I establish the principles of the post-Zuhab Ottoman-Safavid diplomacy. This starts with defining the official identity of the entities that