Türkiye’de Kibrit İnhisarı ve Karşılaşılan Bazı Sorunlar (1924-1946)
The Monopoly of Matches in Turkey and Some Problems Encountered (1924-1946)

Summary/Abstract: Monopoly practices inherited from the Ottoman Empire maintained their importance in the first years of the republic for reasons such as contributing to economic development, increasing employment and revitalizing local economies. Monopoly revenues constituted a significant part of the general budget. The founders of the Turkish Republic were determined to establish the match industry in Turkey and took important steps in the field of match production with Turkey's match monopoly. With its match monopoly, Turkey has accomplished significant developments in match production. The focus of this study is limited to match monopoly in Turkey and the challenges encountered (1924-1946) and studied under this term. The American Turkish Investment Corporation, a foreign capital company formsthe basis of the study and has an important role in establishing the match monopoly in Turkey. A $10 million loan agreement was signed between the Turkish government and The American Investment Corporation and it was decided that the exclusive match business would be transferred to the company. During this period, the government was preparing to establish a central bank that used the loan to fund a sizable portion of the bank's capital in exchange for this monopoly. The process of match monopoly, which wasfirst introduced in the Ottoman Empire during the first quarter century of the Republic of Turkey, was studied especially for the American Turkish Investment Corporation, and the shortcomings of the literature on the research subject were considered. The main sources are official gazettes, Congressional proceedings, newspapers, Turkish-American archival documents, and magazines from this period.

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