The Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) ( ota, دیون عمومیهٔ عثمانیه واردات مخصصه ادارهسی, script=Arab, Düyun-u Umumiye-i Osmaniye Varidat-ı Muhassasa İdaresi, or simply as it was popularly known), was a European-controlled organization that was established in 1881 to collect the payments which the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
owed to European companies in the
Ottoman public debt. The OPDA became a vast, essentially independent bureaucracy within the Ottoman bureaucracy, run by the creditors and its governing council was packed with European government officials
[https://www.economist.com/news/international/21595928-countries-have-started-outsource-public-services-each-other-unbundling-nation Government-to-government trade: Unbundling the nation state]- including one representative each from British, French, German, Austrian, Italian, Dutch, and Ottoman creditors, and one representative from the Ottoman state. It employed 5,000 officials who collected taxes that were then turned over to the European creditors.
[Donald Quataert, ''"The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922"'' (published in 2000.)] At its peak it had 9,000 employees, more than the empire’s finance ministry.
The OPDA played an important role in Ottoman financial affairs. Also, it was an intermediary with European companies seeking investment opportunities in the Ottoman Empire. In 1900, the OPDA was financing many railways and other industrial projects. The financial and commercial privileges of the non-Muslim foreigners were protected with the
capitulations of the Ottoman Empire
Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire were contracts between the Ottoman Empire and other powers in Europe, particularly France. Turkish capitulations, or Ahidnâmes were generally bilateral acts whereby definite arrangements were entered int ...
.
After the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, between 1918 and 1924 Ottoman revenue stamps overprinted O.P.D.A. or A.D.P.O., or stamps printed with those inscriptions, were issued for use in
Palestine,
Transjordan,
Syria and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
See also
*
Chinese Maritime Customs Service
*
Caisse de la Dette in Egypt
*
International Financial Control of the
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label= Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, wh ...
*
Moroccan Debt Administration
References
Further reading
* Birdal, Murat. ''"The Political Economy of Ottoman Public Debt: Insolvency and European Financial Control in the late Nineteenth Century."'' 2010.
* Blaisdell D., "''European Financial Control in the Ottoman Empire''", 1929
* Conte G., Sabatini G., "''The Ottoman External Debt and Its Features Under European Financial Control (1881-1914)''", «The Journal of European Economic History», 3 (2014).
External links
*
{{Authority control
Public debt
A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...
1881 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Organizations based in Istanbul
Defunct organizations based in Turkey
Organizations established in 1881
History of government debt