Between national sovereignty and foreign capital: the fate of the French companies’ concessions in Turkey after the War of Liberation

Abstract

This article examines how the economic concessions given to foreign companies during the Ottoman Empire were assumed by the new Turkish Republic and readjusted under the new circumstances that arose after the First World War. Using mainly the documents of the French diplomatic archives and of the Turkish state, the article focuses on the negotiations between the Turkish government in Ankara and the representatives of the French companies, in the summer of 1923. Taking into account the nationalist ideas of the new Turkish government, the European governments and companies were concerned about the economic path that young Turkey would follow and they were worried about their economic interests in this country. The article puts forward that the rigorous attitude of the Turkish government regarding national sovereignty and political independence was a determining factor in these first years of the new regime but did not constitute an obstacle to the privileges of the foreign capital in Turkey.