Mehmed Ali’s Syria invasion combined sincere reformism with insoluble Ottoman loyalty tensions

Evidence

Seen in this light, the Syrian campaign, therefore, while highlighting the inefficiency and cumbersome nature of Ottoman reform to date, pointed out the way as shown by Mehmed Ali of how affairs of state could be better organized. It is in this respect that Mehmed Ali could have been sincere (as sincere as he could be, that is) in saying that he was interested in reforming and rejuvenating the Ottoman Empire. He had done it in Egypt, so why should not his reforms be copied in the central lands of the Empire? Yet the manner he chose to show the Ottoman officials the folly of their ways, namely by going to war with them, underscores the problems he had in justifying his own actions while still remaining within the Ottoman fold. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1545