Trade relations of Ottoman-Iran in the 19th century (According to Ottoman archive documents)

The relations between Ottoman and Iranian states, founded by the ancient and powerful nations of history, stood out with their political and military competitions depending on various elements. This competition, which intensifying competition at last three hundred years, generated important results in/for the fate of both states. Although serious problems/incidents occurred in the political and military fields, commercial and social relations between the two countries continued. Particularly/Especially the commercial and economic relations of the two states developed depending on the periodical conditions and these relations maintained their importance in every period. This research have investigated the commercial and economic relations between Ottoman and Iran in the 19 th century. In this context, determination of commercial routes in Ottoman-Iran trade, explanation of the importance of these routes for the two states, change of transit trade Ottoman-Iranian, identification customs transactions and tariffs, finding out of commercial goods, identification of problems that hinder commercial relations, the discovery of effect of these problems on trade relations have been purposed. In consequence of the research, various informations about Ottoman-Iranian commercial relations have been acquired. Among the informations, there are conduct of the majority of Ottoman-Iranian commercial relations via Trabzon-Erzurum-Tabriz route and configuration of the customs relations in the context of the reciprocity principle. In addition to these informations, Goods, which brought by Iranian merchants to Erzurum customhouse and composed of weaving, dyeing, leather and metal products, have been determined. Lastly, some of the problems such as debt issue, unethical behaviors of traders, arbitrary attitudes of customs officers, extortion and banditry activities that disrupt trade have been identified.