In March 1783, Grigory Potemkin made a persuasive appeal to Catherine the Great to annex the Crimean Khanate.

He had just returned from a trip to Crimea and reported to the Empress that the Crimean people would "happily" accept Russian rule.

[14] In November 1772, representatives of Russia and Khan Sahib concluded the Treaty of Karasu Bazaar, which proclaimed the establishment of an independent state, including the former Kaffa Eyalet, and Russo-Crimean friendship.

[16] Within two months of the signing of the treaty, however, the Khanate government sent envoys to the Ottomans, requesting that they "destroy the conditions of independence".

The envoys said that as Russian troops remained stationed in Crimea at Yeni-Kale and Kerch, the Khanate could not be considered independent.

[17][18] In the disorder that followed the Turkish defeat, Tatar leader Devlet Giray refused to accept the treaty at the time of its signing.

Famed diplomat Ahmed Resmî Efendi, who had helped draft the treaty, refused to provide any assistance to the Khanate, not wanting to start another disastrous war with Russia.

He attempted to institute state taxation, a conscripted and centralised army, and to replace the traditional religion-based Ottoman legal system with civil law.

[21] Support for his reform programme remained low, and it was seriously undermined by the decision of Empress Catherine to resettle the Crimean Pontic Greeks on the northern shores of the Azov Sea, outside the Khanate.

That community, which was Christian, was an essential part of the Crimean merchant class, and had most readily supported Şahin's reforms.

Religious (ulama) and legal (kadı) officials, important parts of the old Ottoman order, openly declared their antipathy for Şahin.

Rebel leaders elected Şahin's brother Bahadır Giray as Khan, and sent a message to the Ottoman government seeking recognition.

In a letter to a Russian advisor to Şahin, Catherine wrote "He must stop this shocking and cruel treatment and not give them [Crimeans] just cause for a new revolt".

[22] As Russian troops entered the peninsula, work on the establishment of a Black Sea port for use by the Empire began.

The city of Akitar (modern day Sevastopol) was chosen as the site of the port, which would go on to house the newly created Black Sea Fleet.

[24] Uncertainty about the sustainability of the restoration of Şahin Giray, however, led to an increase of support for annexing Crimea, spearheaded by Prince Potemkin.

[1] In March 1783, Prince Potemkin made a rhetorical push to encourage Empress Catherine to annex Crimea.

[26] Tens of thousands of these emigrants took up residence in Constantinople, where they formed an influential exile community, lobbying the Ottoman government to reclaim their Crimean homeland.

[27] Count Alexander Bezborodko, then a close advisor to the Empress, wrote in his diary that Russia was forced to annex Crimea by Ottoman machinations in the region: The Porte has not kept good faith from the very beginning.

[22] The Ottomans went on to recognise the loss of Crimea and other territories that had been held by the Khanate in an agreement negotiated by Russian diplomat Yakov Bulgakov.

[30][33] The annexation brought an end to the Crimean slave trade,[34][35] and marked the beginning of Russian-imposed de-Tatarisation of Crimea.

[33] In 1787, Potemkin even urged of the need to curb the Tatar flight due to the negative economic impact it was having on the region, but this proved unfruitful.

[33] The Ottomans would attempt to reclaim Crimea in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792, but were defeated and forced to again acknowledge Russian rule in the Treaty of Jassy.