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A document testifying that the bearer enjoys the diplomatic and consular protection of the issuing authority, normally a foreign state. Letters of this kind have played a significant role in modern history and, not surprisingly, have proved controversial. The berãt of the Ottoman Empire, which was commonly sold to a subject of the sultan by an embassy in Istanbul, is a notable example. Originally deriving from the exequaturs issued by the Ottoman authorities through the embassies in the city and intended for the protection of consuls and dragomans, these documents came to be the object of serious abuse in the eighteenth century. Among others who had not the remotest connection with diplomatic or consular work, non-Muslim merchants, such as Armenians and Greeks, were especially attracted by the berãt because it exempted them from Ottoman taxes, the discriminatory practices of the sultan\'s courts, and the non-Muslim dress code, which advertised their minority status in a crowd and thus sometimes put their safety at risk. For their part, the ambassadors saw the berãts as an important source of income, selling them for substantial sums and expecting presents from their berãtli (holders of berãts) when newly arrived in the city. In the eighteenth century Istanbul and cities such as Aleppo were awash with holders of berãts, the market prices of which were an accurate barometer of the degree of respect in which the Sublime Porte held the issuing embassy. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Russian berãts were the most expensive. The Ottoman government hated the system, as did some ambassadors, and it was finally abolished in the early nineteenth century. Another notable letter of protection was the schutzbrief, over 50,000 of which were famously issued to Jews by Carl Lutz, Swiss Consul in Budapest during the last years of the Second World War. They provided a guarantee that the bearer was under the protection of Switzerland until he or she was able to leave Hungary. Diplomats of many other nationalities resident in Nazi-occupied Europe also issued, without authority from home, thousands of visas to Jews threatened with the death camps, at considerable risk to their careers and in some cases their lives. See also protecting power; safe-conduct.
A letter that confirmed that all of the lands and possessions of an envoy were under the special protection of his monarch while he was absent on diplomatic business. Issued to envoys prior to their departure, these were no doubt designed to reduce resistance to this kind of employment. Such letters were a particular feature of the medieval period. |
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