Among Ottoman attitudes to the idea of the frontier, a number of aspects can be distinguished:
- in theory, as a universal sovereign, the Ottoman sultan respected no foreign sovereignty; while all the world's Muslims had to follow his orders, infidels had to be subdued by treaty ('ahd) or war(harb or jihad); nevertheless, the title of the "fortunate padichah of the inhabited part of the earth"(sa'adetlü padişah-i rub'-i meskun) suggested that the Ottomans did not aspire to control of uninhabitable regions, such as deserts, high mountains, or oceans, except for a few seas deemed controllable, such as the Black Sea, the Red Sea and, at least partially, the Mediterranean ;
- in truth, for reasons of pragmatism, the Ottomans often negotiated and delimited their borders with their neighbors, for example with Venice or Poland, long before the Treaty of Karlowitz;
- finally, it should be noted that even in regions already conquered and controlled, such as Hungary or Yemen, the Ottomans often felt insecure and "not at home"; numerous Turkish baths(hammams) or mosques in the Stamboulian style, built between Pécs and Sanaa, and between Tunis and Kamianets Podilskyï, bear witness to the efforts made to domesticate space regarded as inhospitable and even hostile.
