"There have been manifested and confirmed, with the aid of the Most High, the beneficent intentions of our glorious ancestor Sultan Mahmud II, who has already begun the building of a new order for the improvement of the administration of the Ottoman state. The Empire has been shaken to its very foundation on all sides; many causes of ruin have made themselves felt... full of confidence in the help of the Most High, and certain of the support of our Prophet, we deem it right to seek by new institutions to procure for the provinces composing the Ottoman Empire the benefit of a good administration. The guarantees promised on our part to all the subjects of our Empire, without distinction of classes or of religion, of security of life, honour, and fortune."

Sultan Abdulmecid I, Hatt-i Sharif of Gulhane (Imperial Edict of the Rose Chamber), proclaimed by Foreign Minister Mustafa Reshid Pasha, Istanbul, 3 November 1839. The edict opened the Tanzimat period of Ottoman reform.