The United States' efforts at being a great power and its effects on Ottoman-United States relations at the end of the nineteenth century

Abstract

The history of the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the United States has roots in the beginning of the nineteenth century. This relationship which was officially recognized in 1830, become problematic after the 1870s. Missionary activities and educative studies of American citizens in the Ottoman lands were carried out from the beginning of the relations. But, the break out of nationalist problems and Americans' relative support to the favor of Bulgarian and Armenian uprisings carried Ottoman-American relations to a different dimension. This thesis discusses those changes and transformations in Ottoman-American relations. Revision parameters in the relations are investigated without ignoring Ottoman foreign policy, the balance of power of the nineteenth century and Empire's relations with the other Great Powers. The most important result achieved in the research is that Ottoman-American relations were directly connected to American foreign policy preferences. Until the Civil War in America, they adopted a relatively isolationist policy and relations with the Ottomans mainly were executed free of problems. However, after the 1880s, especially after the changing conjuncture with the Berlin Treaty of 1878, interventionist inclinations in Washington gained power. Itaffected Ottoman-American relations in the case of the nationalistic uprisings and missionary activities. Furthermore, American policies for the sake of being a great power arealso evaluated in the thesis by drawing attention to the embassy debates. The United States' desire to upgrade the rank of its diplomatic representative in Istanbul from the ministry to embassy and the Ottoman's resistance to this promotion was an explanative and typical example of Ottoman-American relations at the end of the nineteenth century.