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ABSTRACT
The participation of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War caused economic disruptions, huge budget deficits, surmounted inflation rates and excessive depreciation of Lira, the Ottoman currency. Based on the value of Lira against the currencies of Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden that were not in the war, we focus on the effects of news about the war on the foreign exchange rates at the İstanbul bourse from 1918 to 1919. Our results signify some dates, which match the announcements of the armistices and peace meetings, heralding continuous depreciation of Lira. Thus, the findings support the presence of an expectation on the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire with the peace, marked by the escalation of the loss in trust for the Lira and the power of the state in foreign exchange interventions.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Arzu Terzi, Hakan Mehmeçik, and Paul Richard Sharp for advice on earlier versions of this paper. We would like to thank participants at the International Political Economy Seminar of the Marmara University in 2017, the Social Sciences Conference of the İstanbul University in 2018, and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. We also wish to thank Avni Önder Hanedar for his useful discussion on the Ottoman economy during the end of the First World War at the Turkish Culture and History Conference of the Yeditepe University.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
2 The UK, France, Greece, and Russia.
3 TNM was formed by Turkish revolutionaries in June 1919 to struggle against the occupation.
4 Tasvir-i Efkar (30 November 1918). Piyasamızda altın ticareti, 2.
5 The UK, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy.
6 See also Toprak (Citation1982, pp. 255, 313–351), Criss (Citation1994, p. 59), Pamuk (Citation2000, pp. 223–224; Citation2005, pp. 112–136).
7 Tasvir-i Efkar (18 June 1918). Un fiyatları, 2; (23 June 1918). Ekmek ve francala, 2.
8 Tasvir-i Efkar (17 July 1918). Et fiyatı, 2; (20 July 1918). Haftalık piyasa ahvali, 2.
9 Vakit (27 August 1918). İaşe işleri, 1.
10 Ahmed Emin. (31 August 1918). İhracat ve ithalat muameleleri. Vakit, 1.
11 Vakit (31 May 1918). Ticari ve iktisadi halimiz, 2; (6 August 1918). Ticari ve iktisadi halimiz, 2.
12 İkdam (30 May 1918). üçüncü taarruz (Marne) nehrine doğru şiddet ve muvaffakiyetle ilerliyor, 1.
13 Tercüman-ı Hakikat (15 June 1918). Sulha doğru, 1.
14 Vakit (10 September 1918). Kont çezernin’in bir makalesi, 1.
15 Vakit (13 September 1918). Papa ve sulh, 1.
16 Tanin (17 September 1918). Avusturya-Macaristan sulh daveti, 2; Vakit (17 September 1918). Avusturya notasının metni, 1.
17 Tanin (28 September 1918). Malinof’un mütareke teklifi, 2.
18 Vakit (8 October 1918). Piyasa ahvali, 2.
19 Vakit (17 October 1918). Piyasamız ne halde, 2.
20 Tasvir-i Efkar (24 October 1918). Kömür meselesi, 2.
21 Vakit (2 November 1918). Piyasa ahvali, 2.
22 Tasvir-i Efkar (14 November 1918). İtilaf donanması limanımızda, 1.
23 Tasvir-i Efkar (23 November 1918). Kambiyo meselesi, 2.
24 Tasvir-i Efkar (1 December 1918). İktisadi haberler, 2; (5 December 1918). Dakik ve hububat fiyatları, 2; (5 December 1918). Şirket-i Hayriye tatil-i sefer ediyor, 1; (6 December 1919). İhracatımızın kıymeti, 2; (7 December 1918). Kömürsüzlüğün vahim neticeleri, 2.
25 Tasvir-i Efkar (30 November 1918). Piyasamızda altın ticareti, 2; (16 December 1918). Altın piyasası, 2; (22 December 1918). Et fiyatları fırlıyor, 2.
26 Vakit (7 December 1918). Dünkü piyasa, 2.
27 Tasvir-i Efkar (3 January 1919). Dünkü piyasa, 2; Vakit (13 January 1919). Piyasa ve borsa, 3.
28 Tasvir-i Efkar (27 February 1919). Unlar boşalıyorken piyasada ne oluyor ve piyasada tesirat-ı mühime, 1.
29 Tasvir-i Efkar (19 March 1919). Dün gelen eşya, 1.
30 Tasvir-i Efkar (4 April 1919). Piyasa ahvali, 2; (22 April 1919). İktisadiyatımızın ıslahı için, 2.
31 Tasvir-i Efkar (1 June 1919). Piyasa, 2.
32 Vakit (6 June 1919). Piyasa ahvali, 2; (12 June 1919). Piyasa, 2.
33 Tasviri-i Efkar (21 June 1919). Piyasa İcmali, 2; Vakit (24 June 1919). Piyasa ahvali, 2.
34 Tasvir-i Efkar (6 December 1919). İhracatımızın kıymeti, 2.
35 Vakit (1 October 1918). İtilafın sulh şartları-Mütarekenin kabulü, 1.
36 Vakit (8 October 1918). Sulh notamızın metni, 1.
37 Vakit (8 October 1918). Piyasa ahvali, 2.
38 Vakit (13 November 1918). Cihan harbi hitam buluyor, 1.
39 Tasvir-i Efkar (14 November 1918). İtilaf donanması limanımızda, 1.
40 Vakit (14 November 1918). Piyasa, 2.
41 Vakit (5 December 1918). Almanya mütarekeyi nasıl imza etti, 1.
42 Vakit (7 December 1918). Dünkü piyasa, 2; Tasvir-i Efkar (11 December 1918). Erzak ve eşya pahalılığı, 1.
43 Vakit (11 December 1918). Sulh hazırlıkları meselesi, 1.
44 Vakit (20 January 1919). İtilaf devletlerinin sulh konferansı, 1.
45 Tasvir-i Efkar (18 February 1919). Alman mütarekesi temdid olunurken, 1.
46 Tasvir-i Efkar (4 March 1919). Hicaz Emirinin talepleri, 1.
47 Tasvir-i Efkar (10 March 1919). İstanbul’un mukadderatı ve Hindistan Müslümanları, 1.
48 By the beginning of the WWI, one Lira equals to 23 Swiss Franc, 16 Swedish Krona, and 11 Dutch Guilder, respectively. It was argued that during the war the loss in the value of the Lira against the neutral countries’ currencies was lower than the depreciation in the value of the Allies’ currencies against these economies (Hasan Ferid, Citation1918/Citation2008, p. 154). The value of the Allies’ currencies against the Swiss Franc began to increase, as the end of the war was approaching in the summer of 1918 (Hall, Citation2004).