Istanbul Chamber of Commerce
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| Founded | 1882 |
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| Location | |
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Members
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300.000 |
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Key people
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Ibrahim Caglar, President |
| Website | http://www.ito.org.tr |
The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) is an institution that organizes and records the commercial transactions of individuals and commercial institutions located in Istanbul; in addition the ICOC also keeps records for these companies. The activities of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce are for the most part carried out in the central building, located in Eminönü.
In elections held in March, 2005, Dr. Murat Yalçıntaş was elected to the post of president of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.
As part of their concern for the commercial and industrial problems of the 19th century, the Ottoman State desired to bring together the representatives of the industrial sector into one institution. To this end, the Trade and Agricultural Council, which had been established in 1876, was very productive. Subsequently, Mehmed Said Pasha (1838–1914), who had been appointed as grand vizier (prime minister) in 1879, put a start to the processes that were necessary for the establishment of trade, industry and agricultural guilds. Acting upon Said Pasha’s directive, a draft charter consisting of 11 articles was prepared for the establishment of a chamber of commerce that would be similar to those in Europe, particularly the French examples. This draft was accepted by the Council of Ministers (Meclis-i Mahsus) on 18 January 1880. The Council of Ministers ruled that the chamber was to be referred to as the Ticaret Odası and quoted the decision in the text of the charter as follows: “The establishment of a Ticaret Odası in Istanbul by the Meclis-i Mahsus has been ratified by Abdul Hamid II II on 19 January 1880. Thus, for the first time in the Ottoman territory the process concerned with the establishment of a local chamber of commerce has been completed. The stage to proceed to next will be the completion of the organizational processes and the start of the activities of the Dersaadet (Istanbul) Ticaret Odası.”
The administrative structure of the Dersaadet Ticaret Odası was very different from that of a modern chamber of commerce. While modern chambers have separate committees to carry out executive and supervisory functions, all the functions of the Dersaadet Ticaret Odası were carried out by one institution. According to the first regulations of the Dersaadet Ticaret Odası, 24 members formed the chamber council. In order to be a member of the council, one had to be at least 30 years of age, have dealt with trade for at least 5 years, not have been implicated in any felony or murder, nor have committed any shameful crime that damaged one’s reputation or honor or to have been bankrupted; if the candidate had gone bankrupt, then they should have been able to regain their honor and name before becoming a member. The members of the council were selected by a majority secret ballot; if the votes were tied, the elder candidate would be selected. It was forbidden for two members to be selected from the same company. The members were selected by a twenty-person election committee, headed up by the minister of trade and agriculture; half of the commission was appointed by the minister, the other half by merchants. A majority vote among the members of the chamber would select a president and a vice-president, who would be ratified by the Ministry of Trade. The members of the Dersaadet Ticaret Odası were elected for three years; that is, every year one-third of the members were newly appointed. If a member did not participate in the meetings for a period of six months without stating a good reason, they were considered to have resigned. The Dersaadet Ticaret Odası would act on its own initiative or would be instructed in how to act by the Ministry of Trade when applied to, thus providing opportunities for the advancement of trade; this included functions like taking the necessary measures to develop trade and industry, carrying out changes required in trade functions, customs duties, the construction of ports, the functioning of steam boats in the rivers, post offices and telegraphs, railway construction, repairs of roads and bridges, the establishment of stock markets, and the publication of trade newspapers.
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Wikipedia