A Muslim Pasha in the Center of Eastern Question: Muhammed Ali of Egypt

Year 2020, Volume: 37 Issue: 1, 235 - 245, 30.06.2020

Gülay Tulasoğlu

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.649145

Abstract

The Eastern Question of the 19th century is a short-hand for the problems between the Christian subjects of the Sultan and the Sublime Porte as well as the efforts of the European states to mediate between them. In addressing this issue, participants sought to maintain the balance between small and great powers of the Europe, while at the same time trying to satisfy both the Sublime Porte and the Christian subjects of the Sultan. In actual fact, however, the Eastern Question of the 1830s focused on the relationship, or rather the crisis, between the Sublime Porte and its Muslim Pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, who threatened to destroy the Ottoman Empire twice in the third decade of the 19th century. The present study analyses the Eastern Question on the basis of the available literature as well as the testimonies of contemporary witnesses. It argues that the positioning of the great powers not only vis-à-vis the Ottoman reforms themselves, but also their assessment of the Ottomans’ ability and inclination for reform, was the result of their real political considerations about the crisis between the Sultan and Muhammad Ali. Not surprisingly, the support of and even push for reform in the Ottoman Empire which became a fundamental principle of British foreign policy in the 1830s was shaped by the Eastern Question.

Keywords

Eastern Question, Muhammed Ali Pasha, Hünkar Iskelesi, British Foreign Policy in 1830s, Reform in the Ottoman Empire

Ein Muslimischer Pascha im Zentrum der Orientalischen Frage: Muhammed Ali von Ägypten

Abstract

19. yüzyıl Şark Meselesi altında genel olarak Bab-ı Ali ile Hıristiyan tebaası arasındaki sorunları ve bu sorunların çözümünde Batılı güçlerin arabuluculuk yapma stratejileri anlaşılmaktaydı. Bunu yaparken, bir yandan Batılı büyük ve küçük devletlerin mevcut güçler dengesinin bozulmaması diğer taraftan ise Sultan’ın ve Hıristiyan tebaasının memnuniyeti gözetilmeliydi. De facto olarak ama 1830’larda şark meselesinin merkezinde Sultanın Hıristiyan tebaası değil, Sultanın Müslüman bir Paşası, Mısır valisi Mehmed Ali’nin iki defa imparatorluğun varlığını tehdidiyle oluşan kriz bulunmaktaydı. Bu çalışmanın amacı şimdiye kadar yayımlanan araştırma literatürü ve olaylar esnasında ve akabinde yazılan ve yayımlanan rapor ve değerlendirmelerden yola çıkarak 1830’ların Şark Meselesi’ni analiz etmektedir. Bu analizler, Muhammed Ali ile Osmanlı Hükümeti arasında yaşanan kriz, Batılı güçlerin gerek Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda reform yapılmasına gerekse Osmanlıların reform yapabilme potansiyelini değerlendirirken her birinin kendi reel politik zaviyesinden duruşunu şekillendirdiğini göstermektedir. İngiltere’nin Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda reform politikasını desteklemesi 1830’ların Şark Meselesi çerçevesinde şekillenmiştir.

Keywords

Şark Meselesi, Mehmed Ali Paşa, 1830lar İngiliz Dış Politikası, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Reform

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