With care taken not only over

Question

"As could be expected from the foreign affairs services, key to the argument here was the concern not to ruffle any Greek feathers, with care taken not only over “the interests of trade” .... but also over “agreements concluded." (Ebru Boyar and Kate Fleet (eds), Making a Living in Ottoman Anatolia)

I couldn't figure this sentence out, can you rephrase it?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

alibey1917I couldn't figure this sentence out, can you rephrase it?

The foreign affairs services took care, that is, they were careful and made sure to get it right. They took care over (about) two things, that is, they were careful to preserve two things. Those two things were "the interests of trade" (freedom of commerce) and "agreements concluded" (treaties, contracts, conventions, etc.). If either of those were disrupted, the Greeks would be made unhappy.

The writer sets the interests of trade above agreements concluded by placing them first. "Not only X … but also Y" is a standard formula verging on cliche. X is "what you might well expect in the circumstances". Y is "some other related thing that could be mentioned". The writer might have put it that way because his thrust is trade and not diplomacy.

With care taken not only over

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