The Ottomans prioritized nearby Cyprus over the distant Morisco revolt

Evidence

The crucial decision not to give further Turkish military support to Granada came in 1570. The moment of greatest need for the Granadans coincided with a pressing call for all available Ottoman military forces to be assigned to the capture and occupation of Cyprus. The Morisco cause did not lack advocates at Court, the most highly placed individual to speak for them was probably the powerful Sokollu Mehmet Pasha, a Bosnian by origin. Viewed from the perspective of Istanbul, however, the choice between Cyprus and Spain can surely never have been in doubt: a rich and strategically important prize near at hand and easily taken against an expensive and hazardous distant enterprise almost certainly doomed to failure. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1570

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the strategic-prioritization logic seen in the pre-state trade and trust material — distant commitments abandoned when nearer, richer ones appear.