The position of Ahmad Khan Donboli Khoie in Ottoman Government’s policy of Pan-Islamism in the Caucasus

Pan-Islamism was the Ottoman Empire’s plan to limit and contain Russia’s expansionism. Their purpose was to bring the local Khans under one banner in the name of Islamic Unity to resist against Russia’s colonial policies. Ahmad Khan Donboli (1176-1200AH/1786-1762AD), the ruler of Khoy, in the Azerbaijan region, was an influential and powerful figure. Despite being a Shiite, the Ottoman government saw him as a valuable asset for the purposes of the Pan-Islamism and thus approached him. This study aimed to unravel Ahmad Khan’s position and role in Ottoman government’s regional policy and shed light on the dimensions of their collaboration. The present study also intended to answer the following questions: How much did Ahmad Khan cooperate with the Ottomans? What was the ruler of  Khoy’s purpose from collaborating with the Ottomans on their Pan-Islamism policy? Using historical Persian manuscripts, documents printed in the Ottoman Empire, and Ottoman historiographical resources, this study attempted to answer the above-mentioned questions by an analytic-descriptive method. The findings indicate that the cooperation between them was beyond mere exchange of ambassadors and correspondence and had move to a whole new level of joint military and intelligence collaboration against Islam’s enemies. Also, it was found that Ahmad Khan intended to upgrade his status from a local ruler to a claimant to the throne and to establish himself as an independent ruler in the absence of a powerful central government.