As a result of the Crimean War, the Ottoman Empire became more reliant on Britain and France because they formed an alliance against the Russian Empire in a war involving the rights of Christian minorities. This conflict resulted in the decline of the Ottoman Empire and an opposition from Britain and France in allowing Russia to gain territory at the Ottoman's expense.
I think it may have had something to do with Brit and France helping them win the war. Thus it made them as a fall back or cushion for the ottoman empire because they felt that they where able to rely on them now.
