Panel on the examination of the book, Ottoman Finance: Institutions and Budgets

Prof. Edhem Eldem, Assoc. Prof. Erol Özvar, Prof. Şevket Pamuk and Mehmet Genç will examine Mehmet Genç and Erol Özvar's book Ottoman Finance: Institutions and Budgets in a panel discussion to be held at the Ottoman Bank Museum on Tuesday, January 9, at 6:00 p.m.

Panel participants will address the making of the book, which exposes never before published Ottoman budgets and reveals the Ottoman's state's financial expertise, and discuss its contributions to financial history studies. 

The first tome of the book, made up of two volumes and a CD, comprises informative articles that provide an overview of the Ottoman financial institution in general, and detailed studies of the budgets published in the second tome. The second tome presents, to the scrutiny of readers and researchers, one of the most important sources of data on Ottoman finance, the budgets found in the Ottoman Archive. Concerning their objective in writing the book the authors said, “Ottoman finance symbolizes the tradition of rapid adaptation to changing circumstances that a state spread out over three continents demonstrated over the centuries. At the back of this financial structure lie the institution's strong bureaucratic memory, flexibility, common sense and foresight. Through the publication of these budgets, most of which were never available in print before, we aimed to arrive at fresh information and data on the Ottoman Empire's financial competence."