Özet:

The Crimean War, a turning point in the Ottoman history, was not only fought in military arena. While the war between the Russian Empire and the allied forces (France, Britain and the Ottoman Empire) was going on, a fierce diplomatic struggle took place among the allies. In Istanbul, the French and British diplomats exerted pressure on the Porte in order to encourage it to implement some reforms. Actually, these reforms were not only designed to improve the conditions of the Empire but also to increase their influence over the Porte for their own interests. Great Britain already had been carrying out an effective policy through its long-standing representative of Istanbul: Lord Stratford. For the French government, the Crimean War provided a chance for renewing its old friendship with the Ottoman Empire, weakened since the diplomatic crisis and rupture at the time of Bonaparte. Clash of interests and a diplomatic crisis between France and Britain, was, therefore, inevitable. This study focuses on this particular issue and tries to follow the complicated diplomatic maneuvers in the 1855, when it became obvious that the allied forces would defeat Russia. Although the diplomatic struggle took place between Thouvenel, the French ambassador, and Stratford, the British ambassador, the Porte was not very passive either. On the contrary, Sultan Abdulmecid and his ministers, Ali Pasha and Fuad Pasha, were following the diplomatic maneuvers of these diplomats and sometimes even directing them. In the end, the French became the winners of the diplomatic struggle as the Porte wished.

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