The National Bank of Turkey from Ottoman to Republic: A society conversion instrument

The National Bank of Turkey which was under the construction of Ottoman Incorporated Company was established in Istanbul by leading investors of England in 1909 and continued its works until 1931. The bank established with the interest of English investors, the desire of Turkish Government and the support of English Government began its works with high concern and expectation of public opinion. This venture had the aim of delegate of English capital in the Ottoman. Besides, the bank couldn't meet the satisfaction during its operation years. The activities of the bank were closely interested in the progress of Turkish-English relations in every period. Especially in the 2nd Constitutional period, the National Bank of Turkey were involved in the activities similar to the woks of other foreign banks such as joining in the state credits and the municipality credits, supporting the infrastructure investments of the country, mediating for the financing of the investments of English entrepreneurs in the country. It stopped its activities considerably during the First World War. The National Bank of Turkey which had a capital change and a short-term revival following the increasing interest of England to Near East in the truce period became almost out of order at the end of the 1920s after the developments in the process of Republic, the changing economic policies and the reflection of breakdown in Turkish-English political relations to the economic relations. The name of the bank was mostly mentioned with the cases that it had with Turkish Government in the Republic period. In 1931 the National Bank of Turkey was liquidated completely after the breakout of world economic crisis and in the process of the establishment of Central Bank. In this study, the role of the Bank in Turkish-English relations will be determined and to what extent it was impressed from the relations between two countries and the political conversion in Turkey will be revealed as well as the determination of the National Bank of Turkey form Ottoman to Republic. An extensive literature review and analysis was made as well as the utilization from Turkish and English archival resources, periodicals and official publications concerning to the subject.