The Ottoman Maghrebis formally divide into three regencies—at Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.

After 1565 authority as regent in Tripoli is vested in a pasha appointed by the sultan.

The regency is provided a corps of janissaries, recruited from Turkish peasants who are committed to a lifetime of military service.

The corps is organized into companies, each commanded by a junior officer with the rank of dey (literally, "maternal uncle").

It forms a self-governing military guild, subject to its own laws, whose interests are protected by the Divan, a council of senior officers that also advises the pasha.

In time the pasha's role is reduced to that of ceremonial head of state and figurehead representative of Ottoman suzerainty, as real power comes to rest with the army.

Mutinies and coups are frequent, and generally the janissaries are loyal to whoever pays and feeds them most regularly.

In 1611 the deys stage a successful coup, forcing the pasha to appoint their leader, Suleiman Safar, as head of government—in which capacity he and his successors continue to bear the title dey.

At various times the dey is also pasha-regent.

His succession to office occurs generally amid intrigue and violence.

The regency that he governs is autonomous in internal affairs and, although dependent on the sultan for fresh recruits to the corps of janissaries, his government is left to pursue a virtually independent foreign policy as well.