The French government treated the incident as a public insult and demanded an immediate apology. Failure to respond began with punitive measures, and the French navy launched a naval siege on the port of Algiers, which lasted 3 years. This action harmed the French economy, which conducted extensive trade relations with Algeria, no less than it harmed Algeria itself, so the French tried to resort to international mediation. They approached, among others, the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt, with the aim of mediating between it and Algeria, but this did not bear fruit. In 1830, France invaded Algeria and successfully conquered it – an occupation that lasted until the 1960s. The French invasion of Algeria stemmed from many considerations, most notably internal considerations of the French statesmen, but the Bakri-Busnach affair was one of the most important immediate factors and even served as an unofficial case for the invasion.