July 21, 1774

Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca

Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca

The treaty made the Crimean Tatars politically independent while leaving the Ottoman sultan a religious role as caliph — a deliberately split sovereignty.

21 July 1774 at Küçük Kaynarca

At Küçük Kaynarca in Dobruja on 21 July 1774, Russian and Ottoman representatives concluded a peace treaty ending the six-year Russo-Ottoman War of 1768–1774. Article I declared an end to hostilities, a general amnesty and perpetual peace between the two empires.

Pyotr Rumyantsev, the field marshal who had commanded the victorious Russian army, represented Russia. Ahmed Resmî Efendi led the Ottoman delegation with İbrahim Münib Efendi, and the grand vizier Muhsinzade Mehmed Pasha was a formal signatory; the delegation reportedly arrived 200 strong.

Fortresses, an indemnity, and independent Tatars

Article III declared the Crimean, Budjak, Kuban and associated Tatar peoples politically independent of both empires while preserving the Ottoman sultan's religious role as caliph. It did not cede Crimea to Russia.

Russia obtained Azov, Kerch, Yenikale, Kinburn and claims involving Kabardia, and returned Wallachia, Moldavia and other occupied Ottoman territories under specified guarantees. The indemnity was 4.5 million rubles — 15,000 purses, payable in three instalments.

The treaty also opened Ottoman waters and ports to Russian merchant shipping and authorized Russian consulates in Ottoman territory.

The clause everyone quotes

Articles VII and XIV required the Porte to protect Christianity and permitted a Russian-associated church in Constantinople, with Russian representations tied specifically to that church. They did not unambiguously grant Russia a general protectorate over every Ottoman Orthodox Christian.

The meaning is genuinely disputed because the Russian, Ottoman Turkish and Italian versions differ. Influential textual studies find that the treaty protected only the proposed Constantinople church through Russian representations, assigning general protection of Christianity to the Porte.

That church apparently was never built, and its description varies among the treaty-language versions.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.

What the sources leave uncertain

The treaty is conventionally dated 10 July 1774 Old Style, equivalent to 21 July Gregorian. A modern Turkish encyclopedia entry prints 26 July, but the treaty scan and Davison's scholarly study support the conventional 10/21 July dating.
The meaning of Articles VII and XIV is genuinely disputed because Russian, Ottoman Turkish and Italian versions differ. Later Russia claimed a broad protectorate over Ottoman Orthodox Christians, but influential textual studies find that the treaty itself protected only a proposed Constantinople church through Russian representations while assigning general protection of Christianity to the Porte.