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France/ Turkey: Ottoman ambassador Mehmet Efendi presents his credentials to King Louis XV at Versailles in 1721. French Foreign Minister Guillaume Dubois is depicted standing on the left.

France/ Turkey: Ottoman ambassador Mehmet Efendi presents his credentials to King Louis XV at Versailles in 1721. French Foreign Minister Guillaume Dubois is depicted standing on the left.

Yirmisekiz Celebi Mehmet Efendi was a military inspector in the Ottoman armies who rose to be a diplomat and was selected by Sultan Ahmed III to be the empire’s first ambassador to Loius XV’s France. He was also a poet writing under the pen name ‘Faizi’. He wrote a compelling record of his experiences in France in the Turkish book of diplomatic travels, ‘Sefaretname’.

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