The Ottoman public debt was a term which dated back to 24 August 1855,Derin Strateji: "Osmanlı Borçları ve Düyun-u Umumiye İdaresi"
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when the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

first entered into loan contracts with its European creditors shortly after the beginning of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. The Empire entered into subsequent loans, partly to finance railway construction and partly to finance deficits between revenues and the lavish expenditure of the Imperial court. Some financial commentators have noted that the terms of these loans were exceptionally favourable to the French and British banks which facilitated them, whereas others have noted that the terms reflected the imperial administration's willingness to constantly refinance its debts."Gold for the Sultan: Western Bankers and Ottoman Finance, 1856–1881", by Christopher Clay, London, 2001. The Ottoman government declared a

sovereign default A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full when due. Cessation of due payments (or receivables) may either be accompanied by that government's formal declaration that it wi ...

on its loan repayments with the ''Ramazan Kararnamesi'' (Decree of Ramadan) on 30 October 1875. Six years later, as part of the ''Muharrem Kararnamesi'' (Decree of Muharrem) on 15 October 1881, which reduced the overall public debt, the

Ottoman Public Debt Administration The Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) ( ota, دیون عمومیهٔ عثمانیه واردات مخصصه اداره‌سی, script=Arab, Düyun-u Umumiye-i Osmaniye Varidat-ı Muhassasa İdaresi, or simply as it was popularly known), ...

(OPDA) was established. This made the European creditors bondholders, and assigned special rights to the OPDA for collecting various tax and customs revenues within the Ottoman Empire.

Size

Ottoman Empire *In 1875, the nominal public debt was £200,000,000, with annual interest and amortization payments of £12,000,000, more than half the national revenue. *In December 1881, the debt was reduced from £191,000,000 to £106,000,000 with the government's concessions to the OPDA. *In 1909 it was reported that 90% of the debt was paid. Republic of Turkey *During the Paris Conference of 1925, the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

agreed to pay 62% of the Ottoman Empire's pre-1912 debt, and 77% of the Ottoman Empire's post-1912 debt. With the Paris Treaty of 1933, Turkey decreased this amount to its favour and agreed to pay 84.6 million liras out of the remaining total of 161.3 million liras of Ottoman debt. The last payment of the Ottoman debt was made by Turkey on 25 May 1954.

References and notes

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Public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

History of government debt Government debt by country Historiography of the Ottoman Empire

Size

See also

References and notes