Murad IV was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Until he assumed absolute power on 18 May 1632, the empire was ruled by his mother, Kösem Sultan, as regent. Murad IV banned alcohol, tobacco, and coffee in Constantinople.^[39] He ordered execution for breaking this ban. He restored the judicial regulations by very strict punishments, including execution; he once strangled a grand vizier for the reason that the official had beaten his mother-in-law.

His reign is most notable for the Ottoman–Safavid War, of which the outcome would partition the Caucasus between the two Imperial powers for around two centuries. The Ottoman forces managed to conquer Azerbaijan, occupying Tabriz, Hamadan, and capturing Baghdad in 1638. The Treaty of Zuhab that followed the war generally reconfirmed the borders as agreed by the Peace of Amasya, with Eastern Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Dagestan staying Persian, Western Georgia stayed Ottoman. Mesopotamia was irrevocably lost for the Persians.^[40] The borders fixed as a result of the war, are more or less the same as the present border line between Iraq and Iran. Murad IV himself commanded the Ottoman Army in the last years of the war.