Ahmed III

Born in Dobruja on 30 December 1673, the son of Mehmed IV and a Greek-born mother named Evmania Voria, Ahmed took the throne in 1703 when his brother Mustafa II abdicated. Early on he leaned hard on Grand Vizier Çorlulu Ali Pasha to stabilize the treasury and manage the janissaries who had put him in power — efforts that bought time but never full control. From 1718 to 1730, his daughter Fatma Sultan and her husband Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha effectively ran the government, steering the empire through what became known as the Tulip Era. Ahmed himself spent his reign reading, practicing cal…