Karatasos strongly believed that only a Greek-Serbian agreement could accelerate the process of driving the Ottoman presence from the Balkans. In 1859 he made his claims public by writing articles in a Greek newspaper, whilst cajoled the representatives Serbian community in Greece in order to get support and advice for his goal. The Bavarian-born king Otto was affirmative and promoted Karatassos contacts. Therefore, in 1861 he ventured to Belgrade in order to sign the first official treaty between the two states. During his stay he died from unspecified reasons, presumably from an illness, while planning another uprising.