Stratford Canning’in İstanbul Büyükelçiliği (1841-1847)

Abstract

Stratford Canning, a typical nineteenth century British diplomat and lived between 1786 and 1880, spent many of his 94 years in the Ottoman Empire. Not only his service time that he spent in the capital city of the Ottoman Empire was important, but it was crucial because his incumbency overlapped distinct stages of development that the Ottoman Empire went through. Canning himself witnessed pivotal developments in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century such as The Napoleonic Wars, The Treaty of Bucharest with Russia, Mahmud II’s Reforms, The Tanzimat Era, The Rejuvenation Policy of the Ottoman Empire, The Crimean War, and The Preparation Process of the Royal Edict of Reform (1856). He also took part in these developments as a diplomat of the world hegemon. This study focused on Cannings’ incumbency between 1841 and 1847 when he worked as a diplomat under Foreign Secretary Aberdeen. The main focus of the study is the problem of the Rejuvenation of the Ottoman Empire which was a part of the policy of protecting the territorial integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire that we think that it is not a simple matter but a very intricate issue. On the one hand, the study challenges a commonly held assumption that explains the Rejuvenation of the Ottoman Empire that regulated economy, state-individual relationship, the restoration of the army, the reassignment of administrative body in Cebel-i Lübnan, and the entire central administrative body by grounding it on dualisms such as teacher-student, parent-child in the literature. On the other hand, the study argues that the Rejuvenation Process was “interactive” and “reciprocal” and it was comprised of not only partnership but also disagreements and it was based on “collaboration and communication”.