Konya Chamber of Commerce from yesterday to today

Konya; It is a city with high cultural richness and tourism potential, located on other important trade routes of the period, especially the historical Silk Road, being a bridge between east and west.

Konya, which hosts Çatalhöyük, the oldest settlement center throughout history, has pioneered in many areas with its ten thousand years of history; It has always maintained its feature of being a central city by maintaining its leadership in science, culture and civilization in economy as well.

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’ın da söylediği gibi; bir başkent daima başkenttir. Tarihi süreçte hep önemli bir misyon üstlenen Konya, Selçukluların Anadolu’yu fethederek kurdukları devletin başkentliğini yapmasıyla dönemin ticari faaliyetlerinin çok yoğun olduğu bir merkez konumuna gelmiştir. Anadolu Selçuklular dönemi, başkent Konya için bir ihtişam devri olmuştur. İki buçuk asra yakın bir süre devam eden bu devirde Konya’nın her tarafı camiiler, medreseler, mektepler kervansaraylar, imaretler, darüşşifalar, suyolları, köprüler, saraylar ve daha birçok binalarla dolmuştur.

In the 13th century, Konya was one of the most modern and organized cities not only in Anatolia but also in the world. Especially in the notes taken by those who participated in the crusades in this period, it is stated that Konya is a big and rich city. In this period, Konya continued to be a commercial, industrial and cultural center after the Seljuks, as it was a lively trade center established on the great road that crossed Anatolia.

The emergence of the Ahi organization in Konya, which gave direction to social and economic life in the 13th century, when Anatolia was under Turkish rule, is a distinctive feature of our city. The Akhism system, which is unique in the world, has a great contribution to the social order in social, cultural and economic terms from the Seljuk period to the Ottoman period and up to the present day. With these features, the Ahi organization is an organization that sets an example for the non-governmental organizations of the 21st century.

During the Ottoman period, production in Konya was carried out by tradesmen and in small workplaces. According to the yearbook of 1889, the number of shops in Konya at that time was 2078. There were 18 inns, 88 bakeries, 4 pharmacies, 7 restaurants, 2 oil and 29 water-operated mills, 1 shack, 3 tanneries, 1 butcher, 3 ice shops and 7 caravanserais in the city.

Almost all kinds of tradesmen operated in bazaars and bazaars in Konya. The fact that each artisan group has a separate section, street, square or market place is an indication that trade clustering in Konya started at that time. The most important of these bazaars and bazaars, which form the basis of Konya’s commercial life, are Bedesten, Long Bazaar, Muhacir Market, Wood Market, Horse Market, Wheat Market, Women’s Market, Hay Market, Aziziye Market, Coal Market and Wood Market. The oldest industrial products in our city; weaving products, carpets, rugs, silk, linen, coffee grinders, guns, scissors, all kinds of leather and leather products, shoemaking, linseed-sesame-poppy oils and gunpowder.

After the Tanzimat and constitutional monarchy in the Ottoman Empire, governments that aimed to continue commercial activities in the western sense made attempts to encourage them.

Upon all these developments, the Dersaadet Chamber of Commerce was established on January 20, 1880, with an 11-item regulation. The first chamber of commerce opened in our country is the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce under the name of Dersaadet Chamber of Commerce. The opening of the chambers of commerce outside of Istanbul is after the decision of the Dersaadet Chamber of Commerce dated 4 November 1881. According to the decision taken to establish chambers of commerce in Anatolia, the decision to establish Konya Chamber of Commerce was taken by the sultan’s edict in the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce assembly.

After this decision, Konya Chamber of Commerce was established in 1882. The history of the room is like a summary of the social and commercial history of Konya and our country. Half of the twelve-person delegation of the first chamber board of directors is non-Muslim. After the first four years, non-Muslims become the majority. In the tenth year of its establishment, that is, in 1892, the chairman of the board of directors is a non-Muslim. Commercial life in Konya was predominantly in the hands of minorities in parallel with the developments in the Tanzimat and constitutional period.

The European superiority, which started with the Balta Limani Trade Agreement and the Tanzimat Edict, showed its effect in Anatolia as well. Foreign contacts with indigenous minorities also affected commercial relations. The influence of the minorities, perceived as natural allies by the Western traders, in the field of trade and industry increased after the Tanzimat. It is possible to notice this when scanning the management lists of the Chamber of Commerce.

Despite its population and commercial capacity, Konya is a city where foreign government agencies are interested and where consulates are officially opened. In 1896, there are also consulates of Russia and England in Konya. In 1899, the French Consulate was opened, increasing the number of consuls to three. Later, the German Consulate is added to these three foreign missions.

As of 1908, 130 of the companies established in the last period of the Ottoman Empire belong to non-minority local people. At that time, the number of companies established in Konya was 19. Simultaneously with the establishment of these 19 companies in Konya, the bank with the highest capital of the period, “Economic National Bank” was established in Konya. In 1909, a national bank was established in the structure of a limited company under the name of Company-i İktisadiye-i Milliye, the notables of Konya, and the name of the bank became Konya National Economy Bank during the First World War. These established companies worked in great solidarity and mobilized investment and capital in the region, namely in Konya and its vicinity.

Konya, commercially east-west, north-south Anatolian transportation; therefore, it is on a route where roads beyond Anatolia intersect. It was an important development that the Berlin-Istanbul-Baghdad line reached Konya since 1896.

Konya Chamber of Commerce opens a Commodity Exchange in 1909 in the center of Konya as per the regulations of that period. The full name of the exchange; “Trade and Industry and Grain Exchange”. The aim is to “regulate commercial transactions and serve the progress of the country”. With the addition of the chamber of agriculture as a government policy to the chamber of commerce, which initially included the chamber of industry, the minority weight in the administration is reduced.

By the 1920s, Konya is now; via Eskişehir to Ankara and Istanbul (north); It is on the railway line extending from Afyon to İzmir (west) and from Mersin and Adana to İskenderun in the south-east direction. These roads cover Konya; commerce constitutes the fastest line connecting the centers of science. Merchants send what they bought from Istanbul to Konya through the “Şimendüfer Campaign”.

In 1920, there were 76 joint stock companies in Anatolia. Konya is the province with the highest number of joint stock companies in Anatolia with 19 joint stock companies. In the same year, 11 in İzmir; 3 each in Aydın, Bursa and Kütahya; 2 each in Kayseri, Ankara and Eskişehir; There is 1 joint stock company in Erzurum, Izmit, Afyon, Kastamonu, Nigde, Manisa and Trabzon. Konya Chamber of Commerce opened the trade secondary school in 1925 and made an effort to bring vitality to commercial life with its first exhibition organized with the understanding of today’s fair besides the stock exchanges.

Until 1926, the Chamber of Commerce continued its activities according to the old laws and regulations. In December 1927, six district chambers were connected to the central Chamber of Commerce, and the understanding of central administration was reinforced.

After 1950, the chamber is restructured in accordance with the new period understanding in terms of laws and regulations.

On April 25, 1974, Konya Chamber of Industry was established in a flat on the 4th floor of Konaltaş Office Building, with 165 industrialist members gathered in 8 occupational groups and a budget of 200,000 liras.

The oldest known building of the Konya Chamber of Commerce is the two-storey building located in Cikrikcilar opposite the Eski Tellal Pazarı. It is known that it served in this building from 1925 to 1953. Konya Chamber of Commerce, whose number of members and service area expanded, was moved to the Turkish Aeronautical Association building behind the Central PTT building in Kayalıpark in 1954, when the building here was insufficient. The Chamber has built its own service building on the land it bought in front of the Metropolitan Municipality in 1983 and has been serving in this building since then.

Today, Konya Chamber of Commerce has the title of Turkey’s 6th largest chamber with its 70 Professional Committees and over 20 thousand members.