Phanariot Greeks remained loyal to the Ottoman state despite Greek independence

Evidence

On the Ottoman side, the end came with the Greek war of independence. The last of the Greek grand dragomans, Stavraki Aristarchi, was hanged in 1821 on suspicion of complicity with the rebels. I have no idea whether the suspicion was well grounded or not; I am inclined to think not. The Phanariot bureaucratic families showed very little sympathy with the rebels; they had a long record of attachment to the Ottoman state which continued even after these events. Indeed, as late as 1840, the first Ottoman envoy to independent Athens was a Phanariot Greek, Kostaki Musurus, later Ottoman ambassador in London. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 186

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Counterintuitive loyalty of an ethnic group to an imperial master echoes themes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and draws a parallel to how colonial intermediaries chose loyalty amid nationalist revolutions.

Related

• The Greek dragoman elite remained loyal to the Ottoman state (similarity 0.95)