Ziraat Bankası () is a Turkish state-owned

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

founded in 1863. The bank provides commercial loan support to companies and tradesmen, as well as

personal loan In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the te ...

s such as consumer loans, vehicle loans and housing loans.

History

During the first half of the 19th century, with the adoption of western models of trade and finance, foreign banks began their activities in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. At that period, there was not enough capital to found a national banking system and no one could mention the existence of national banks as a source of capital. This situation was more harmful to farmers because they made up the majority of the population, and since they did not have any institutional financial structure to which to apply, they had to borrow money from the usurers at high-interest rates. Under these conditions, the governor of

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

province of the

Midhat Pasha Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha (; 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman politician, reformist, and statesman. He was the author of the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire. Midhat was born in Istanbul and educated from a private . In July 1872, he ...

(1822–1884) began to take the first steps to overcome these difficulties in 1863 and achieved the reorganization of Memleket Sandığı (''Homeland Funds''), which became a law with Homeland Funds Regulations in 1867. Homeland Funds was the first agricultural financial institution founded by the state and operated with a state guarantee. In 1888, Homeland Funds was renamed Ziraat Bankası (), and Ziraat Bank's head office in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

began to function. The Greco-Turkish War between 1919 and 1922 affected the bank's policy. The Greek liberation forces opened a Ziraat Bank Management Center in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

and occupied branches and funds were taken to the new Center's management. On the other hand, the

Turkish Grand National Assembly The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

charged the

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

branch of Ziraat Bank with the management of branches and funds. With the Liberation of İzmir by Turkish forces on September 9, 1922, the İzmir organization was re-unified with the Ankara branch; and on October 23, the Istanbul organization too was re-unified with the Ankara branch. After the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

ended in late 1923, Ziraat Bank became a united entity once again. Since the 1930s, Ziraat played an important role in financing agricultural mechanisation in Turkey, which in the postwar period benefitted from support from the US Marshall Plan. In 1993, Ziraat Bank Moscow, Kazakhstan Ziraat International Bank (KZI Bank), Turkmen Turkish Commercial Bank (TTC Bank), and Uzbekistan Turkish Bank (UT Bank) and in 2008 Ziraat Bank Greece were founded and started to operate. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, ZiraatBank BH d.d.

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, or simply Ziraat Banka, was founded in 1996 as the first bank in Bosnia after the

Bosnian war The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

with foreign capital. In 2001, Emlak Bankası wholly merged into Ziraat Bank.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziraat Bankasi Banks established in 1863 Companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange Companies based in Ankara Turkish brands Government-owned banks of Turkey

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links