Another ‘tuğra’ dated 1789, calligraphed for Selim III (1789-1807),
standing on top of a ‘ferman’ (= Ottoman imperial decree) written in Ottoman turkish, but using the Arabic script (which is to be read from right to left).

(For the meaning of ‘tuğra’: see some previous pictures).

The use of Arabic script to write turkish was a complicated matter, since that script is not fit to reproduce the turkish language and his sounds. (Turkish is an Central Asian language, profundly different from Arabic.)
This difficulty was one of the reasons Atatürk introduced the current system of writing, with Latin alphabet and phonetic rendering.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.