Activities
The Publications of the 2000 Prize Competition

Bir Galata Bankerinin Portresi: George Zarifi, 1806-1884 (The Portrait of a Galata Banker: George Zarifi, 1806-1884) Murat Hulkiender Istanbul, 2003 ISBN 975-93692-4-9

Winner of the first prize in the master's thesis category granted by the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre's Competition unveiling the history of Turkish banking and finance organized in 2000 with the collaboration of the European Association of Banking and Financial History e.V. and the History Foundation of Turkey.

This work of Murat Hulkiender, based on a vast archival material, reconstructs the different phases of the career of George Zarifi acting as a Galata banker in the 1850's after the liquidation of the Bank of Constantinople until his decay in 1880. Zarifi played a key role from the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz in the financing of the state as the founder and the partner of many societies such as the Société Générale. The political instability, which reigns after the deposition of Abdulaziz, marks a turning point in the career of Zarifi. His close relationship with Sultan Abdulhamid even before his arrival to the throne enabled him to become the most important banker of Galata. Murat Hulkiender clarifies also one of the most critical periodes of the Ottoman financial history throughout his career of 30 years.

Osmanli Dis Borclari ve Gözetim Komisyonlari, 1854-1856 (Ottoman Foreign Debts and the Commissions of the Guarantor Powers) Sevket K. Akar, Hüseyin Al Istanbul, 2003 975-93692-3-0

Winner of the first prize in the scientific article category granted by the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre's Competition unveiling the history of Turkish banking and finance organized in 2000 with the collaboration of the European Association of Banking and Financial History e.V. and the History Foundation of Turkey.

This joint work of Sevket Kamil Akar and Hüseyin Al studies the first attempts of the Ottoman Empire to foreign borrowing just before the establishment of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. The emphasis is especially put on the commissions of the guarantor powers established with the task of looking into the Ottoman finances and the use of the loan in war expenses, their function and the manner in which the Ottoman bureaucracy opposed to the existence of these institutions. The process of domination of the Ottoman finance by the international markets is reconstructed through the function of the commissions founded insistently by the guarantor powers between 1854-55 and the political context of the period.

The Imperial Ottoman Bank in Salonica: the First 25 Years, 1864-1890 John Karatzoglou Istanbul, 2003 975-93692-5-7

Winner of the Jury Special Prize granted by the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre's Competition unveiling the history of Turkish banking and finance organized in 2000 with the collaboration of the European Association of Banking and Financial History e.V. and the History Foundation of Turkey.

This work of John Karatzoglou reconstructs the atmosphere in this branch of the bank in the late nineteenth century. The second largest Ottoman city in the European part of the empire, Salonica was a vibrant city where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived and worked together. Like the city, the local branch of the Ottoman Bank reflected the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the empire. Based on data from the Ottoman Bank's personnel archives from the Salonica branch, Karatzoglou has pieced together profiles of the employees, their positions and their experiences in the bank. He produces the flavor of a local society on the eve of momentous change.

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