Ottoman debt

The Ottoman debt is the external debt of the Ottoman (Ottoman) empire , which for many decades has been an instrument of diplomatic pressure by European powers on Turkey.

The process of financial enslavement of the Ottoman Empire by Great Britain, France and other countries began during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. The first external loan from the Port was received from Great Britain in 1854 . A series of other loans followed, and by 1875 the total debt with accrued interest reached a nominal value of 5.3 billion francs. Having no funds to pay off the debt, Turkey announced that from now on, only half of the annual payments due from it will be paid within 5 years. In fact, Turkey completely stopped payments.

Already at the 1878 Berlin Congress , the first attempt was made to establish financial control over Turkey. In 1879, Turkey officially declared bankruptcy. At the request of creditors, in December 1881, the Ottoman Government Debt Office was established, which was charged with the collection of a number of important taxes and fees to pay debts. Thus, financial control was established over Turkey, which meant turning it into a semi-colony.

The 1920 Peace Treaty of Sevres , signed by 14 powers (including Sultan Turkey) following the First World War , the pre-war Ottoman debt was fixed at 3,263 million francs, and the distribution of debt payments between Turkey and territories deviated from it after the Balkan was provided Wars under the terms of the London Peace Treaty . Turkey was exempted from paying military loans received from Germany.

The non-recognition of the Treaty of Sevres by the Kemalist government of Turkey and the Anglo-Greek intervention in Turkey to a certain extent deprived the Ottoman debt of its former importance. However, the financial and partly political problem of the Ottoman debt continued to be the subject of intense diplomatic negotiations between Turkey and the creditor powers, primarily France.

The Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923 , replacing the Treaty of Sevres, reaffirmed the principle that Ottoman debt should be distributed among all the states that were part of the former Ottoman Empire. The question of how to pay it off, however, remained open, which actually meant a suspension of payments.

Only in 1928, yielding to the pressure of France and the circles of the Turkish bourgeoisie connected with Western capital, did the Turkish government agree with creditors. Subsequently, as a result of a series of negotiations, Turkey managed to achieve significant concessions both in terms of the size and means of payment of the debt. The repayment of the Ottoman debt was fully completed in June 1954.