The Ottoman delegation in Egypt 7- 19 October 1881

The study explores the circumstances during which the Ottoman Empire sent an official delegation to Egypt following the Egyptian army’s demonstration in Abdeen on September 9, 1881. The army’s demonstration sought to liberate Egypt from European surveillance under the slogan:“Egypt for the Egyptians.” The research investigates the Ottoman Sultan’s implicit and explicit motives for sending the delegation, which caused doubts and suspicions amongst the Khedive, the Egyptian government, and the English and French circles. Consequently, the Ottoman intervention of sending a military delegation as well as military forces was canceled. The Othman ended up sending a civilian Ottoman delegation, albeit with a military background and close to Sultan Abdul Hamid II personally. The study focuses on the period of the Ottoman delegation’s presence and its meetings while considering the position of the Egyptian ruler, the Egyptian government, and European powers, especially Britain and France, as well as the public opinion in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Europe, through reading British documents and contemporary newspapers and magazines in Arabic, English, and French. The study has concluded that the Egyptian, British, and French powers had imposed strict control on the movements of the Ottoman delegation so that it would not be able to obtain information that would affect the interests of these parties. Thus, Britain succeeded in eliminating the Ottoman military intervention and placed France in a clashing course with Istanbul and Cairo.  Britain finally seized the opportunity to intervene militarily in Egypt in 1882 AD, less than a year after the Ottoman delegation departed Egypt.