Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

=== Russo-Turkish War ===
{{Main|Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570)}}

In 1568, Grand Vizier [[Sokollu Mehmed Pasha]], who was the real power in the administration of the [[Ottoman Empire]] under [[Selim II|Sultan Selim]], initiated the first encounter between the Ottoman Empire and its future northern rival. The results presaged the many disasters to come. A plan to unite the Volga and Don by a canal was detailed in Constantinople. In the summer of 1569, a large force under Kasim Pasha of 1,500 [[Janissaries]], 2,000 [[Sipahi]]s and a few thousand [[Azap]]s and [[Akıncıs]] were sent to lay siege to Astrakhan and to begin the canal works while an Ottoman fleet besieged [[Azov]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In early 1570, Ivan's ambassadors concluded a treaty at Constantinople that restored friendly relations between the sultan and the tsar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garvin |first1=James Louis |last2=Hooper |first2=Franklin Henry |last3=Cox |first3=Warren E. |title=The Encyclopedia Britannica |date=1929 |publisher=Encyclopedia britannica Company, Limited |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38J1JzYsy1oC |language=en}}</ref> The envoys were directed to tell to the sultan: "My Tsar is not an enemy of the Moslem faith. His servant Sain Bulat rules the Khanate of Kassimov; Prince Kaibula in Yuriev, Ibak in Suroshsk, and the Nogai Princes in Romanov.”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prawdin |first1=Michael |title=The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy |date=29 September 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-47929-5 |page=517 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_m5QDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>