Nationalizing the fig commerce: Aram Hamparzum’s warehouse from the Empire to the Republic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Eastern Mediterranean port cities constituted an important scene in the nationalization policies that went hand in hand with ethnic violence and chronic corruption at the dawn of the twentieth century. This article traces the formation of an asymmetrical partnership between the Unionist governor-general (vâlî) Rahmî Bey and the Ottoman Armenian merchant Aram Hamparzum known as the Fig King of Smyrna (Izmir) and the subsequent seizure of Hamparzum’s warehouse in the framework of the Turkification policies during the two decades of extremes—1910s and 1920s—in the Ottoman Empire. Going beyond the concept of comprador bourgeoisie, the article argues that even though both parties protected their own interests to some extent, the Ottoman Armenian merchant eventually turned into the governor-general’s commercial subordinate. This is twofold. First, Hamparzum’s case shows that non-Muslim merchants continued to dominate the local market in the temporary shelter of Smyrna despite the efforts by the Unionists to liquidate the properties of the Ottoman Christian bourgeoisie while Armenians were being sent to death marches in 1915. Secondly, after the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922, similar to other Ottoman Christians who were compelled to leave the port city, Hamparzum’s properties were transferred to Muslim merchants in the mid-1920s.