In 1563 the Kingdom of Aceh sent an envoy to Turkey to ask for help expelling the Portuguese in the Malacca Strait. The Aceh delegation had convinced the Turks of the benefits to be gained if the Portuguese could be expelled from Malacca.
H Yule in the book On Northen Sumatra and Especially Achin, wrote that the mission of the Kingdom of Aceh was successful. Turkey is willing to send military assistance to Aceh. This assistance is in the form of two warships and 500 Turkish personnel to manage the ships.
Salahaddin grave yard one of the grave complexes of the Turkish army in Aceh [foto: private doc]
They consist of military experts who can also build warships of various sizes and large cannons. In addition, Turkey also provided a number of cannons and military equipment to Aceh.
The Turkish fleet arrived in Bandar Aceh Darussalam, the capital of the Kingdom of Aceh in 1566/1567. In addition to military assistance from Turkey, Aceh also used a number of mercenaries consisting of, apart from Turks, Gujerat, Malabar and Abessinia people.
Painting of the Turkish fleet arriving in Aceh [foto: Tarikh Aceh]
In 1568 the Kingdom of Aceh attacked the Portuguese in Malacca. This attack was the most severe ever carried out by Sultan Alaudin Riayat Shah al Kahhar. In this attack, Aceh had a strength of 15,000 Acehnese, 400 Turks including hired soldiers and used 200 large and small cannons made of copper. This attack was led directly by Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah Al Kahar. However, in this attack, Aceh has not succeeded in expelling the Portuguese from the city of Malacca.
To defend Malacca from Aceh attacks, in 1568 the Portuguese asked for help from their government in Lisbon to send a war fleet. Macgregor in the book A Portuguese Sea Fight Near of Singapore, explains, on January 1, 1577 Aceh again attacked Malacca when the Portuguese were gathering their forces. However, the attack also failed to expel the Portuguese from Malacca.
When the Kingdom of Aceh was led by Sultan Iskandar Muda, in 1613 Aceh attacked Johor, because the Kingdom of Johor had betrayed Aceh and cooperated with the Portuguese. Aceh then controlled trade in the Malacca Strait, also closed all spice trading ports in Sumatra to the Portuguese.
Turkish cannon in Aceh [Foto: Tropenmuseum]