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Peculiar to Turkey, and to the Ottoman Empire, is the calligraphy of the tuğra - a sort of royal signature or cipher. The very decorative Arabic writing containing the name of the Sultan worked into an elaborately beautiful design.

Tuğras were initially found only on documents - orders and rulings from the Sultan. But over time they were used for everything ranging from coins to flags and from monuments to merchant ships- anything relating to the big guy himself.