This article analyzes how the Ottoman ruling elite attempted to maintain their traditional policy of neutrality during the Hundred Days Crisis, which occurred between Napoleon Bonaparte’s escape from Elba and his second abdication following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. During this volatile period, the Ottomans found themselves caught between the Allied powers, which demanded Ottoman alignment with the coalition formed against Napoleon, and Napoleon himself, who sent an envoy to the Porte to secure Ottoman recognition of his emperorship. Furthermore, the demonstrations and symbolic actions of Bonapartist French diplomats in the Ottoman capital and its periphery, such as displaying Bonaparte’s flag and wearing his imperial decorations and symbols on their clothing and diplomatic premises, led to diplomatic crises between the Ottomans and the French embassy, involving other diplomatic representations of the concerned European states. This article demonstrates that the Ottoman administration utilized its traditional policy of neutrality in European crises as a strategy to navigate these diplomatic incidents. Similar to the declaration of a republic in France after the Revolution (1792) and Napoleon’s assumption of the title of Emperor (1804), during the Hundred Days Crisis, the Ottoman administration initially adopted a wait-and-see approach and then emphasized neutrality to avoid entanglement in intra-European conflicts. Drawing on Ottoman archival documents and biographical works on Pierre Ruffin, the capable chargé d’affaires of the French Embassy, the article argues that the Ottoman policy of neutrality aimed to achieve two objectives: (1) refraining from antagonizing Bonaparte by maintaining diplomatic contact with the existing staff of the French embassy, and (2) preventing any incidents that could jeopardize Ottoman relations with the anti-Bonapartist coalition. Both objectives appeared to be met thanks to the skillful diplomatic handling of the incidents.

Des que les Turques eurent mis les pieds sur la terre d'Europe, même sur celle d'Anatolie, comme disait un historien, naquit la question d'Orient, d'ou furent elabores plus de cent projets de partage de l'Empire ottoman. Ceux-ci furent en general mis a jour pour deux raisons: Restituer les lieux saints du Christianisme qu'avaient conquis les Turcs a la suite des croisades; repousser les Turcs de l'Europe dont ils occupent une partie. Parmi ces projets, plans, elabores par les papes, papes-rois, commandants, ministres, penseurs ou Etats, six seulement, d'apres ce que nous avons pu fixer, ont ete mis a jour directement par les Français et plusieurs autres en collaboration avec eux qui ont pris part. Les projets importants qu'avaient elabores les Français sont les suivants: 1 - celui du roi de France, Charles VIII, date de 1495, 2 - celui du roi de France, François Ier, date dans des annees 1515-1517, 3 - celui de Savary de Breves, date de 1620, 4 - un projet français de 1660, 5 - celui du Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres Français, Talleyrand, date de 1805 et enfin, 6 - celui de l'Empereur Napoleon Ier des annees 1807-1809. Nous allons passer en revue ici que les deux derniers, specialement le sixieme projet dont le metteur en scene n'est autre que Napoleon Bonaparte.

Tarihlerde görüldüğü üzere Napoleon Bonaparte tarafından 1213 (1789)da Mısır'ın işgali esnasında burasını geri almak için kara ordusundan başka deniz yoluyle sevkedilen kuvvetler arasında Kavala'dan da buranın çorbacı yani yeniçeri bölük kumandanı Hüseyin Ağa'nın oğlu Halil kumandasiyle bir miktar kuvvet yollanmıştı, bunlar arasında Hüseyin Ağa'nın yeğeni Mehmed Ali de vardı. Mısır'ın kurtuluşundan sonra Arnavutluk'tan v.b. taraflardan giden başı bozuk kuvvetlerle beraber Mehmed Ali de Kavala'ya dönmeyerek yanındaki bir kısım gönüllü ile beraber Mısır'da kalmıştı. Zeki ve faal ve aynı zamanda haris olan bu kimse durumu kendisinin yükselmesi için uygun görerek türlü entrikalarla Mısır'a tayin edilen valileri buradan atlatarak nihayet 1220 Rebiü'l-evvel (1805 Haziran)de vezirlikle Mısır valiliğine tayin edildi.