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Dilemma of Development: The Agricultural Bank and Agricultural Reform in Ottoman Turkey, 1888–1908

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Donald Quataert
Donald Quataert
Affiliation:
University of Houston
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Extract

During the final century of its existence, the Ottoman state, seeking to adapt and survive in a European-dominated world, launched a series of far-ranging reform programs touching nearly every aspect of Ottoman life. The financial basis of these programs rested on a predominantly agricultural economy characterized by Ottoman and foreign observers alike as backward and impoverished, yet possessing vast potential.Generally, these observers also agreed that Turkey's function in the industrializing world was to supply agricultural produce and raw materials. The expansion of Turkish agricultural production would not only help satisfy increasing European demand but also, by raising Ottoman revenues, both ensure the continuation of the Ottoman Empire and provide the additional funds required by the modernization efforts.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 1975 , pp. 210 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

page 210 note 1 This article forms a revised version of part of my Ph.D. dissertation, ‘Ottoman Reform and Agriculture in Anatolia, 1876–1908’ (University of California, Los Angeles, 1973), hereafter referred to as Quataert, diss. I should like to express my gratitude to the Foreign Area Fellowship Program for the support that made the research possible.Google Scholar

page 210 note 2 In this study, the terms ‘Turkey’ and ‘Anatolia’ are interchangeable. They designate the area roughly approximate to the present Turkish republic, excluding the European region called Rumeli and the Turkish islands in the Aegean.Google Scholar

page 211 note 1 Derived from an analysis of export and tithe data presented in Quataert, diss., pp. 347–362.Google Scholar

page 212 note 1 There are two basic sources for the texts of bank regulations. The first, Düstur, first series, V–VIII(Ankara, 1937–1943), is the official modern Turkish rendering of Ottoman legislation during the period 1884–1908.Google ScholarThe second is Atasağun, Yusuf Saim, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankas:, 1888–1939 and idem, Mevzuat Ilavesi, 1888–1938 (Istanbul, 1939), separately paginated.Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, is a careful and thorough study of the bank; Atasağun, Mevzuat (an addendum) contains the texts of many important bank laws. For the text of the founding charter, dated 19 Zilhicce 1305/27 August 1888,Google Scholar see Düstur, vol. VI (Ankara, 1939), pp. 136–42,Google Scholar and Atasağun, Mevzuat, pp. 14–19.Google Scholar

page 212 note 2 Atasğgun, Mevzuat, pp. 1–7 (for the text of Memleket Sandiklan Nizamnamesi, 17 Rebi I 1284/19 July 1867).Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, pp. 2–7;Google ScholarDu Velay, A, Essai sur l'histoire financière de la Turquie depuis le règne du Sultan Mahmoud II jusqu'à à nos jours (Paris, 1903), pp. 205–6;Google ScholarTakvim-i Vekayi (Istanbul), 28 Muharrem 1287/30 April 1870.Google Scholar

page 213 note 1 Article 12 of 1888 charter; also, Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 48.Google Scholar

page 213 note 2 Derived from table inGoogle ScholarIbid, p. 126.

page 213 note 3 Du Velay, Essai, p. 208;Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, p. 115.Google Scholar

page 213 note 4 Articles 4–6 of 1888 charter; also, Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 154.Google Scholar

page 213 note 5 Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 7–9;Google ScholarDu Velay, Essai, p. 206;Google ScholarCuinet, Vital, La Turquie d'Asie: Géographie administrative, statistique descriptive et raisonnée de chaque province de l'Asie Mineure, vol. II (Paris, 1891), pp. 14–15;Google ScholarPaşa, Said, Said Paşamn hâtirati, vol. I (Istanbul, 1328), p. 175; article 5 of 1888 charter.Google Scholar

page 213 note 6 Procedures regulated by Ziraat Bankasi Nizamnamesine Zeyl Nizamname, 30 Muharrem 1308/55 September 1890. Text in Düstur, vol. VI, pp. 742–5Google Scholar and Atasağun, Mevzuat, pp. 19–22.Google Scholar

page 214 note 1 Düstur, V (Ankara, 1937), 775–6;Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, pp. 2–4, 10–11, 23, 288;Google ScholarDu Velay, Essai, p. 205; article 29 of 1888 charter;Google ScholarLe Journal de la chambre de commerce de Constantinople (Istanbul, hereafter referred to as Journal), no. 156, 24 December 1887;Google ScholarDutemple, Edmond, En Turquie d'Asie: Notes de voyage en Anatolie (Paris, 1883), p. 237.Google Scholar

page 214 note 2 Articles 24 and 28 of 1888 charter; Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 274–5.Google ScholarLoan ceilings were finally raised in 1911Google Scholar (Ibid pp. 278–9).

page 214 note 3 Articles 24, 26, 27, and 34 of 1888 charter. Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 205–9, 229–30, and 244.Google Scholar

page 214 note 4 Journal, no. 683, February 1898, and no. 859, 22 June 1901.Google ScholarIbid no. 1109, 7 April 1906, indicates that in 1901 only 1.7 million piasters of a total 55 millions lent was issued on other than real estate as security. See table in Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 345. Government resistance to collective guarantee loans is indicated in Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Accounts and Papers (hereafter referred to as A + P), 1907, vol. 93, Wylie at Konya, n.d., enclosed in Waugh at Istanbul, n.d.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 See p. 213, n. 6 above; Journal, no. 412, 19 November 1892; article 18 of 1888 charter;Google Scholar and Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 291.Google Scholar

page 215 note 2 Journal, no. 412, 19 November 1892; no. 369, 23 January 1892; no. 460, 21 October 1893; and no. 455, 16 September 1893.Google Scholar

page 215 note 3 Great Britain, Public Records Office, Foreign Office Archives (hereafter referred to as FO) 195/1843, Cumberbatch at Ankara, 5 June 1894; FO 195/2077, Crow at Dardanelles, 10 April 1900. Said Pasa, Said Paşanin, II, part I, 18–22, succinctly describes weaknesses of the bank and charges that interest rates above the maximum were being imposed.Google Scholar

page 215 note 4 See p. 213, n. 6 above; also, Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 211–12. Under these conditions, the state may have used the bank to acquire additional landholdings.Google Scholar

page 216 note 1 A + P 1887, vol. 86, Dennis at Izmir, n.d.Google Scholar and Idem, 1895, vol. 100, Cumberbatch at Ankara, 15 July 1895. Journal, no. 369, 23 January 1892; no. 537, 13 April 1895, and no. 683, 5 Febraury 1898.Google Scholar

page 216 note 2 Journal, no. 412, 19 November 1892; no. 416, 17 December 1892; and no. 458, 7 October 1893.Google Scholar

page 216 note 3 In Table 2, we note Anatolia's proportion of total loans in the empire for the years 1889–1895 and 1898–1903. If this proportion remained constant in the years 1896–1897 and 1904–1907, we can estimate that during the period 1889–1907 the bank lent at least 600 million piasters, in over 800,000 transactions, to cultivators in Anatolia.Google Scholar

page 216 note 4 Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, R2/1592, Löytold at Konya, 1 February 1905;Google ScholarHeidborn, A, Manuel de droit public et administratif de l'Empire ottoman, vol. II (Leipzig, Vienna, 1912), pp. 90–1.Google Scholar

page 219 note 1 Based on a study of annual reports cited in Table I. Quataert, diss., pp. 373–4, presents a more detailed analysis of provincial loan distribution patterns and the annual average value of loans in the various administrative regions.Google Scholar

page 220 note 2 Baş Vekâlet Arşivi (Prime Minister's Archives), Istanbul (hereafter referred to as BVA), Irade 1306/1888, Meclis-i Mahsus 4243 and Irade 1305/1887, Meclis-i Mahsus 4005.Google Scholar

page 220 note 2 BVA Trade 1308/1890, Dahiliye 93313Google Scholar and Idem Meclis-i Mahsus 4976 indicate local disposition of the one-third share. With one exception after 1892, my investigation of the BVA documents indicates the entire two-thirds share was at the disposal of the central administration. Turkey, Ministry of Finance, Ihsaiyat maliye varidat ve masrufat umumiyeyi muhtevidir, 1325 (Istanbul, 1327) notes that, by the end of the period, official policy designated the two-thirds share be forwarded to Istanbul.Google Scholar

page 221 note 1 Derived from table in Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 367;Google Scholar see Quataert, diss., p. 377.Google Scholar

page 221 note 2 This analysis based on documents cited in Quataert, diss., esp. chapters 3–5, 7–12. See also Journal, no.455, 16 September 1893; no. 484,7 April 1894; no. 520, 15 December 1894; no. 576, 11 January 1896; and no. 653, 10 July 1897, which indicate the amount and purpose of bank expenditures for agriculture.Google Scholar

page 221 note 3 BVA Bab-1 Âli Evrak Odasi (hereafter referred to as BEO) 68143 (1314/1897).Google Scholar

page 221 note 4 BVA BEO 65433 (1314/1896) and 101840 (1317/1899).Google Scholar

page 221 note 5 BVA BEO 65433 (1314/1896).Google Scholar

page 221 note 6 BVA BEO 140710 (1320/1902).Google Scholar

page 222 note 1 Based on tables in Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 267, 335. Somewhat variant amounts of the monies paid for agricultural development are found in BVA BEO: 65433 (1314/1896), 140710 (1320/1902), 68143 (1314/1897), (1323/1905), 71153 (1315/1898), 99104 (1317/1899), and Journal, no. 484, 7 April 1894; no. 520, 15 December 1894; and no. 653, 10 July 1897. See Quataert, diss., pp. 377–8.Google Scholar

page 222 note 2 Letter from the Bab-i Âli, i şubat 1308/14 February 1893, modern Turkish transliteration in Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 46. BVA BEO 101840 (1317/1899) records a later Agricultural Ministry effort to gain control over the bank.Google Scholar

page 222 note 3 Devlet Salnamesi 1315/1897 (Istanbul, n.d.), pp. 274, 280;Google ScholarIdem, 1316/1898 (Istanbul, n.d.), p. 306. Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 45–8.Google ScholarDüstur, first series in (Istanbul, 1330), pp. 73–5 for text of I Safer 1329/1 February 1911 decree transferring the bank to the Agricultural Ministry.Google Scholar

page 223 note 1 For example, see BVA BEO 193431 (1323/1905), 101840 (1317/1899), and 99104 (1317/1899). Also, BVA BEO 203203 (1323/1905), and 231847 (1325/1907).Google Scholar

page 224 note 1 Journal, no. 415, 10 December 1892;Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, pp. 7, 8, 329; Bab-i Âli letter cited on p. 222, n. 2.Google Scholar

page 224 note 2 BVA Orman 1323/1906, Zilhicce no. 1; Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Bonn (hereafter referred to as AA), Türkei 110, Bd. 29, Marschall to Hohenlohe, 27 March 1900,Google Scholar and Idem, Bd. 30, 21 April 1900. Heidborn, Manuel, II, 153;Google ScholarAtasağun, Ziraat, pp. 329–32;Google ScholarDüstur, VIII (Ankara, 1943), pp. 240–1, 345–9, 498–9.Google Scholar

page 224 note 3 BVA BEO 106766 (1317/1899).Google Scholar

page 224 note 4 Derived from tables in Atasağun, Ziraat, p. 340; also see BVA Irade 1309/1891, Meclis-i Mahsus 5302. Du Velay, Essai, p. 685, indicates that the Ottoman Bank was the major source of government loans; he also states that, c. 1903, the Finance Ministry owed the Agricultural Bank about 1'1 million liras. See Düstur, V (Ankara, 1937), p. 939, for an 1887 decree approving a government loan of 250,000 altzns from the Menafi Sandtklari.Google Scholar

page 225 note 1 AA Türkei 110, Bd. 52, Marschall to Bülow, 8 April 1908;Google ScholarIdem, Bd. 36, 10 October 1902; Idem, Bd. 52, Marschail to Deutsche Bank, 10 January 1908;Google ScholarIdem, Bd. 25, clipping from The Standard, 18 December 1897;Google Scholar and Idem, Bd. 26, Stemrich, 11 May 1898 Also, BVA BEO 528568;Google Scholar and Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 329–32. Journal, no. 376, 52 March 1892 and Levant Herald (Istanbul), 7 February 1893, indicate that tax collectors were not submitting the surtax to the bank as stipulated in the 1888 charter.Google Scholar

page 225 note 2 Cuinet, En Turquie, vol. II, 433–4.Google Scholar

page 225 note 3 Mutluçağ, Hayri, ‘Yakin tarihimizde ilk soysal, iktisadî ve teknik kalkinma plani’, Belgelerle Türk Tarih Dergisi, vol. 24 (09 1969), pp. 21–3, paraphrasing an Imperial Financial Commission report dated 25 June 1907/14 Cemazi I 1325.Google Scholar

page 225 note 4 BVA BEO 131129 (1319/1901).Google Scholar

page 225 note 5 Atasağun, Ziraat, pp. 344–5.Google Scholar