What miracle led József Bem to become Governor of Syria?

by FarkasNemet

All I can find is that he adopted Islam and ended up becoming the governor of Syria in the Ottoman Empire after being exiled after the 1848 Hungarian revolution. Throughout reading history this apparently isn't an uncommon occurrence, for a diplomat or a military leader to wind up in Ottoman hands and either enjoy a comfortable life in government (Bem) or live a fairly comfortable existence in quasi-exile... How was this received in the Empire, if it was even considered something to worry about?

How could someone like József Bem, a Polish general who spoke zero Arabic (not to mention Turkish) but converted to Islam, end up a governor in the Ottoman Empire? Do we know the circumstance behind his ascension?

Zooasaurus

Although some sources claimed that Bem was appointed governor to Aleppo, this was very unlikely. However, he's still treated with respect, as most Ottomans had already knows his fame and unquestioning loyalty to the Ottoman Empire after his escape. Repeatedly Bem petitioned the Porte to employ him to active service in the Crimean War so he could fight the Russians again, but the Porte refused due to Austrian and Russian pressure and promised to employ him after 'things quietened down'. He however, was appointed as the Ferik (Army Commander) in Aleppo and plied the Porte with building projects like a gunpowder works in Aleppo. In his service he defended the city against revolts and Druze attacks, where he died fighting the latter

Most Ottoman higher-ups in that era (mid 19th century) actually received European refugees well, as one of the main aims of the Ottoman state after the Tanzimat reforms was to appear as a member of the "civilized powers”, and one way to appear so is to accept romantic refugees, even more so as the refugees were supported by Britain and France. Most of these refugees were later converted without pressure, as the public treaty with Austria and Russia requires refugees to convert to Islam lest they will be returned. Ottoman officials at first feared that fights will broke out between the converted migrants and Ottoman citizens, but as far as i know, no such fights occured

Sources are from The Ottoman Crimean War and Conversion and Apostasy in Late Ottoman Empire