A New Perspective on the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi-Mahmud II’s Use of International Diplomacy to Resolve the Mehmet Ali Problem

While some historians see the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi as a diplomatic victory for the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I, others consider the same treaty indicative of Mahmud II’s desperation in the face of his rebel governor, Mehmet Ali Pasha. Nevertheless, none of them have evaluated this treaty as being part of Mahmud II’s ongoing endeavour to solve the Mehmet Ali problem with diplomacy. Accordingly, this article aims to look at the Treaty of Unkiar Sklessi from a new perspective by using the Ottoman documents, and uncover some hitherto-overlooked details of the Ottoman diplomatic struggle during the Mehmet Ali Problem.

While some historians see the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi as a diplomatic victory for the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I, others con-sider the same treaty indicative of Mahmud II’s desperation in the face of his rebel governor, Mehmet Ali Pasha. Nevertheless, none of them have evaluated this treaty as being part of Mahmud II’s ongoing endeavour to solve the Mehmet Ali problem with diplomacy. Accordingly, this article aims to look at the Treaty of Unkiar Sklessi from a new perspective by using the Ottoman documents, and uncover some hitherto-overlooked details of the Ottoman diplomatic struggle during the Mehmet Ali Problem.