Porte

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Porte

Ottoman Porte (also Sublime Porte, High Porte, or, in Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman Turkish language

Ottoman Turkish is the variety of the Turkish language that was used as the administrative and literary language of the Ottoman Empire. It contains extensive borrowings from Arabic language and Persian language languages and was written in a variant of the Arabic script....
, Bab-i Ali) used to refer to the Divan

Divan

Divan or diwan was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official ....
(court) of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
where government policies were established.

Terminology
The particular term was used in the context of diplomacy

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture....
by the western states, as their diplomats were received at "porte" (meaning gate).

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Encyclopedia

Ottoman Porte (also Sublime Porte, High Porte, or, in Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman Turkish language

Divan

Divan or diwan was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official ....
(court) of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

Terminology

The particular term was used in the context of diplomacy

Diplomacy

Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Sultan Abd?lhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution....
(see Young Turk Revolution

Young Turk Revolution

The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman Empire parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era ....
) the functions of the Divan were replaced by the imperial government

Imperial Government of the Ottoman Empire

The Imperial Government of the Ottoman Empire was the government structure added to the State organisation of the Ottoman Empire during the Second Constitutional Era ....
, and "porte" came to refer to the Foreign Ministry. During this period Grand vizier

Grand Vizier

Grand Vizier, in Turkish language Sadr-i Azam or Serdar-i Ekrem , deriving from the Arabic language word wazir 'vizier' , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself....
came to refer to the position of a president

President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
and viziers became the Ottoman Senate.

The Sublime Porte was the name of the open court of the sultan

Sultan

Sultan is an Islamic honorifics, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ???? sulah, meaning "authority" or "power"....
, led by the Grand Vizier

Grand Vizier

Topkapi Palace

The Topkapi Palace or in Ottoman Turkish language: ?????? ?????, usually spelled "Topkapi" in English)is a palace in Istanbul, Turkey, which was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans, from 1465 to 1853....
in Istanbul, where the sultan held the greeting ceremony for foreign ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a Sovereignty or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
s. It was an ancient Oriental

Oriental

Oriental means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Eastern world or "East" , and especially of its Eastern culture to include the peoples....
practice to make the gates of cities and kings' palaces places of assembly.

Later the name came to refer to the Foreign Ministry and in contemporary times the office of the governor (Vali) of Istanbul Province

Istanbul Province

Istanbul Province is a Provinces of Turkey located in north-west Turkey. It has an area of 5,196 km? and a population of 12,573,836 . The population was 10,018,735 in 2000....
. This name has also been interpreted as referring to the Empire's position as gateway between Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
.

The High Porte, in contrast, referred to the private court of the sultan

Sultan

Macaronic language

Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages, sometimes including bilingual puns, particularly when the languages are used in the same context ....
of English High and French Porte that is equivalent to Bab-i Ali.