OTTOMAN BANK MUSEUM - THE EXPANSION PERIOD

“A chronological selection from the archives of the Ottoman Bank.”

"The
Ottoman Bank Archives, one of the collections at SALT Research, not only
shed light on the history of the Ottoman Bank, formerly the central bank and
the treasurer of the Ottoman Empire, but also offer a representation of life
during this period. The archives narrate the story of the little-known world of
the late Ottoman and Early Republican period in which the bank played a central
role.

 These
archival documents presented in five different exhibitions in the Google
Cultural Institute display the significant changes, developments and crises
experienced over an 80 year period, from the Ottoman Bank's founding until
1933, when it gained a private bank status.

Ottoman
Bank Museum - 1856-1880 - The Founding Years & The Difficult Times

Ottoman
Bank Museum - 1881-1894 - Redressing the Situation

Ottoman
Bank Museum - 1895-1894 - The Expansion Period

Ottoman
Bank Museum - 1914-1920 – War and Crisis

Ottoman
Bank Museum - 1921-1931 - A New Balance & Epilogue"

"THE EXPANSION PERIOD

The Ottoman Bank's growing commercial activity, its
widening branch network and Sir Edgar Vincent's dynamic management helped
establish an unchallengeable control over the market. In fact, the bank's
influence was such that the speculative bubble triggered by Vincent himself
caused havoc in the financial market, almost drawing the bank itself to
bankruptcy. Following this crisis, the bank continued to grow but with much
more caution and reserve. Being the most powerful bank in the market along with
being the sole and exclusive agent of the state, the bank incurred much
political pressure, sometimes of a violent nature. In 1896, a group of Armenian
nationalists occupied the headquarters, and in 1903, a committee of Bulgarian
revolutionaries bombed and burnt down the Thessaloniki branch.  

The power and centrality of the bank was manifest in the wide range of
customers it was able to attract. People from all walks of life were to be
found among its depositors and customers included the Sultan himself and
members of the ruling elite of the time. By 1914, the Ottoman Bank opened more
than ninety branches across the Ottoman lands."

Bank Accounts of Sultan Abdülhamid II

The letter received from Thessaloniki, on 18 May 1909, was rather extraordinary. It was addressed to the General Management of the Imperial Ottoman Bank and bore the signature of Sultan Abdülhamid II, who had been sent to the Allatini Villa in Thessaloniki following his dethronement some three weeks ago. The deposed sovereign was requesting that the Ottoman Bank pay him the amount of 52,971 liras in his savings account together with its accrued interests. Two other documents from the bank archives make it possible to follow the transaction until its finalization: a receipt signed by Abdülhamid attests to the payment of 13,733.55 liras by the Ottoman Bank, while a check bearing the same date instructs the Ottoman Bank to pay the amount of 40,375.79 liras to the Deutsche Bank.

Cartoon, From the collection of: Salt
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A cartoon published in the satirical magazine Kalem, portraying Abdülhamid trying to recover his money at the bank

Cheque, 1909-07-15, From the collection of: Salt
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Abdülhamid II's cheque of 40,375.79 liras to the Deutsche Bank. 15 July, 1909

Account statement, From the collection of: Salt
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A statement of Sultan Abdülhamid II's deposit account for the years 1886-1887

Letter, 1909-05-19, From the collection of: Salt
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The letter from Sultan Abdülhamid II, requesting the payment of his deposit of 52,971 liras. 19 May, 1909

The Allatini Villa, From the collection of: Salt
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The Allatini Villa, in Salonika, where Abdülahmid was assigned to residence after his dethronement in 1909

A receipt, 1909-07-15, From the collection of: Salt
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A receipt signed by Abdülhamid II to the effect that he had received 13,733,55 liras in cash from the Ottoman Bank. 15 July 1909

The Stock Exchange Crash 1895

An important element in the development of the Ottoman Bank was its capacity to respond to the growing demand from its customers in Istanbul for operations on stocks and bonds. In order to profit from this speculative wave among the public, the bank offered all sorts of related services such as the selling, buying and custody of stocks and bonds, and the collection of dividends. Most importantly, it developed a system of advances backed by stocks and bonds. Between 1892 and 1894, the amount of such advances had nearly tripled, attracting some cautious warnings from the bank's committees in London and Paris. Sir Edgar Vincent, far from heeding this advice, triggered even more speculation by promoting South African gold mine stocks. Following a drop in the London market, the Galata stock exchange suddenly crashed and by the end of October 1895, the Ottoman Bank was overwhelmed by massive withdrawal of savings and redemption of banknotes. A number of local speculators were totally ruined by the crash, while the bank survived in extremis thanks to the government's support and the shipping of over 1,000,000 liras in gold from London.

Certificate, From the collection of: Salt
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A temporary certificate issued by the Ottoman Bank and attesting to the purchase by a customer of fifty shares of the General Enterprise Co. Ltd

Stock, From the collection of: Salt
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A share of the South African Transvaal Consolidated Land and Exploration Company

Letter, From the collection of: Salt
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A letter from the Finance Ministry written in response to Sir Edgar Vincent's demand that the bank's notes be granted forced currency and its concession be extended, and accepting these conditions against the promise of a 300,000 advance to the Treasury. 11 November, 1895

Chart, From the collection of: Salt
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The evolution of the Ottoman Bank's total and gold reserves and the amount of gold shipped from London during the 1895 crash (October-December, 1895, in Ottoman liras)

The Occupation of the Ottoman Bank by Armenian Nationalists

On 26 August 1896, around mid-day, some twenty-five hamals (porters) with large sacks on their shoulders entered the Ottoman Bank's headquarters on Voyvoda Street and opened gunfire. They were in fact a group of Armenian nationalists led by Armen Garo (Karekin Pastermadjian), who occupied the bank in order to draw the attention of European states. The attackers carried bombs and dynamite in their sacks, and they threatened to blow up the entire building together with its 125 employees and fifteen clients. The general manager, Sir Edgar Vincent, was able to escape from the building, while his deputy, Gaston Auboyneau, managed to go to the Yıldız Palace in an attempt to obtain a ceasefire between the attackers and the troops outside the building. Thanks to the mediation of Maximov, an interpreter of the Russian embassy, Sultan Abdülhamid II promised amnesty and safe conduct to the attackers. By the end of the day, the armed group was transferred to the general manager's yacht Gülnar, and was able to board a French ship for Marseilles the following day. The casualties included three attackers, four gendarmes, one porter and one office boy. While the Palace looked the other way, the Armenian population of Istanbul was subjected to a major pogrom, the killing of over a thousand people, according to Ottoman sources, and thousands according to western observers.

Karekin Pastermadjian, From the collection of: Salt
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Karekin Pastermadjian, the leader of the group that occupied the Ottoman Bank in 1896, became a member of the Ottoman Parliament in 1908

Press cuttings, From the collection of: Salt
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News of the occupation of the Ottoman Bank as it appeared in the French weekly L'Illustration, one week after the event

Views of the Ottoman Bank head office, From the collection of: Salt
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Views of the Ottoman Bank head office as they appeared in the 5 September, 1896, issue of L'Illustration

Letter, 1896-08-28, From the collection of: Salt
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Sir Edgar Vincent's letter to the London committee of the Ottoman Bank, reporting on the events of 26 August. 28 August, 1896

Report, 1896-09-01, From the collection of: Salt
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Passages from the report drawn by the Ministry of the Interior on the events of 26 August, 1896. 1 September, 1896 (from Hüseyin Nazım Paşa, Ermeni Olayları Tarihi, Ankara, 1994, c. II, s. 349-357)

The Bombing of the Thessaloniki Branch

On 29 April 1903, a Bulgarian revolutionary committee attacked the Thessaloniki branch. As was the case in the previous attack of 1896, the Ottoman Bank was targeted because of its official status and the attention that it would draw. Plans for this attack on one of the most important branches of the bank were made months in advance. The attackers had rented the grocery shop right across from the bank in order to dig a five-meter tunnel leading to the building's foundation. On the night of the attack, they blew up the foundations with dynamite and detonated two bombs in the bank. The branch manager and his family managed to escape but a soldier guarding the entrance was killed.

Cartepost, From the collection of: Salt
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A contemporary postcard showing the ruins of the Salonika branch building after the event

Salonika branch staff, From the collection of: Salt
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A group photograph of the Salonika branch staff taken before the main entrance of the building, 1895 and a view of the branch building.

Cartepost, From the collection of: Salt
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A contemporary postcard showing the grocery shop across the street from the branch, and used by the Bulgarian revolutionaries in preparation of their attack

Nicolas Eleftheris' check fraud

In 1906, a Greek citizen by the name of Nicolas Eleftheris managed to get two out of three forged Ottoman Bank checks discounted at a branch in Bulgaria. The checks were in the amounts of 10,000, 12,000 and 14,000 francs to his name. However, a few details soon revealed that the checks had been forged. The Ottoman Bank immediately took action, informing the Bulgarian Bank of Trade of the fraud. A letter from the High Commissariat for Bulgaria revealed Eleftheris' nationality and the way he had obtained a visa. Following a long investigation, Nicolas Eleftheris was caught in 1907 and sentenced to five years of hard labor for forging official stamps.

Nikola Eleftheris, From the collection of: Salt
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Nicolas Eleftheris' photograph from his file at the Ottoman Bank archives

Cheque, From the collection of: Salt
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The 14,000-franc cheque forged by Nicolas Elefhteris and a void original cheque used for comparison

Fake cheques, From the collection of: Salt
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Details from the forged and original cheques, showing the different endings of the repetitive background motif (‘BANQ' on the forged cheque, and ‘OTTOM' on the original)

Copy of letter, 1906-03-17, From the collection of: Salt
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A copy of the letter sent by the Ottoman Bank to the Bulgarian Bank of Trade at Varna. 17 March, 1906

Letter, 1906-03-31, From the collection of: Salt
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A letter to the Ottoman Bank from the High Commissariat for Bulgaria, informing them of the identity of Nicolas Eleftheris. 31 March, 1906

Telegram, 1906-03-02, From the collection of: Salt
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A telegram sent by the National Bank of Bulgaria to the Ottoman Bank. 2 March, 1906

The Ottoman Bank and the Problem of Eunuchs 1909-1910

Although slavery was an integral part of Ottoman society, it had become a problem due to modernization and westernization processes. The Ottoman Bank archives provide us with interesting details of this problem. When chief eunuch Cevher Agha was executed in 1909, his estate at the Ottoman Bank caused of legal conundrum. Westernization, and particularly the Constitution of 1908, had initiated a movement in favor of the abolition of slavery, promoting the idea that slaves should be given equal rights as freemen. According to Islamic law, the inheritance of a slave belonged to his master, however, if slavery was considered illegal, their relatives could claim the estates, or in their absence–a frequent case with eunuchs–by the Public Trustee. Therefore, the estates of palace eunuchs could be the object of more than one claim: on the one hand, the Privy Purse, representing their master the sultan, and on the other, the Public Trustee. The bank's lawyer was thus forced to tackle this legal issue.

Cartoon, From the collection of: Salt
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Is this really equality? Since we can't be like everyone else, everybody should be made like us, for us to believe in equality. A cartoon published in the satirical magazine Kalem and addressing the concept of equality through the ambiguous status of eunuchs

Document, From the collection of: Salt
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A listing of Cevher Agha's estate at the bank, including 1,100 shares of the Commercial Company of Salonika. 28 June, 1909

Corespondance, 1909-08-31, From the collection of: Salt
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A legal opinion emanating from Jacques Barozzi, the bank's lawyer, on the issue of Cevher Agha's estate. 13 August, 1909

Letter, 1910-12-28, From the collection of: Salt
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A letter from the Privy Purse claiming the estate of Said Fahreddin Agha, one of the palace eunuchs, from the Ottoman Bank. 28 December, 1910

Credits: Story

Kurgu ve anlatım / Concept and narrative—Edhem Eldem, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions (listed below) who have supplied the content.
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