Azerbaijanis consider Sara Khatun the 'first Azerbaijani female diplomat in East,' but historical evidence suggest otherwise

2025-02-11

Sara Khatun was the daughter of Pir Ali Bayandur, the leader of the Aq Qoyunlu, and the granddaughter of the Byzantine princess Maria Comnena. She was the mother of Uzun Hasan, the most powerful ruler of the Turkmen Aq Qoyunlu state, during whose reign she carried out diplomatic missions to various countries. Sara Khatun had a great influence on her son.

Thanks to her brilliant diplomatic skills, Sara Khatun was also well-known in the West. She personally negotiated with the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II.

These historical facts have no connection to the state of Azerbaijan or Azerbaijanis. A woman of Turkmen and Byzantine origin could never have imagined that she would have been proclaimed as the “first female representative” of Azerbaijani diplomacy that did not exist in the 15th century.

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