Ottoman Navy Expedition To Sumatra Vs Portugese Influnece

One Dinar One Nusantara and One Ummah: Admiral Kurtoglu Hizir Reis 1568

In 1565, Sultan Alaaddin of Aceh declared allegiance to the Ottoman Empire^{[citation needed]} and sent a request for assistance to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (which was received by the Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmet Pasha due to the absence of Suleiman who was heading for the Battle of Szigetvár, his final military campaign) for defending his land from Portuguese aggression. Due to Suleiman's death in 1566, the Ottoman naval expedition to Sumatra was sent by his son, Selim II, who appointed Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis with the mission.

Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis was the Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet based in Suez, with other homeports in Aden and Basra. In 1568 he set sail with a force of 22 ships carrying soldiers, military equipment and other supplies, and visited Aden, Djibouti, Muscat, Hormuz, Debal, Surat, Janjira, Lanka (Sri Lanka) and then arrived at Aceh in 1569, an event which effectively marked the easternmost territorial expansion of the Ottoman Empire, was noted by his Portuguese rival Fernão Mendes Pinto. Simultaneously, the Ottoman Empire informed Portugal that Aceh was from that time on an Ottoman territory and any attack against Aceh would be perceived as an attack against the Ottoman Empire, and the Portuguese fleet stopped its activities in the areas surrounding Aceh.

Aceh effectively remained as an Ottoman protectorate until the late 18th century, and an ally of the Ottoman Empire until 1904, when it largely went under Dutch control. The bells of several Dutch churches in Aceh are made from melted Ottoman cannons, and some of them still carry the Ottoman crest which were originally on these cannons.