Ottoman Public Debt Administration: Difference between revisions

The '''Ottoman Public Debt Administration''' (OPDA) ({{langx|ota|دیون عمومیهٔ عثمانیه واردات مخصصه اداره‌سی|script=Arab|Düyun-u Umumiye-i Osmaniye Varidat-ı Muhassasa İdaresi}}, or simply {{lang|ota|دیون عمومیه|script=Arab|Düyun-u Umumiye}} as it was popularly known, {{langx|fr|'''Administration de la Dette publique ottomane'''}}<!--French is an important language of the late Ottoman Empire... See [[Languages of the Ottoman Empire]]. Source of name: https://legal.un.org:443/riaa/cases/vol_I/529-614.pdf which states "Affaire de la Dette publique ottomane" on PDF p. 50/87 , also https://archives.saltresearch.org/handle/123456789/128494-->), was a European-controlled organization that was established in 1881 to collect the payments which the [[Ottoman Empire]] 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: Its governing council included one representative each from British, French, German, Austrian, Italian, Dutch, and Ottoman creditors, and one representative from the Ottoman state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-debt/postmodern-public-debt-administration|title=The Postmodern 'Public Debt Administration'|last=|first=|date=|website=|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607204447/https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-debt/postmodern-public-debt-administration|archive-date=2021-06-07|access-date=}}</ref> It employed 5,000 officials who collected taxes that were then turned over to the European creditors.<ref>Donald Quataert, ''"The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922"'' (published in 2000.)</ref> At its peak it had 9,000 employees, more than the empire's finance ministry.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Unbundling the nation state |url=https://www.economist.com/international/2014/02/07/unbundling-the-nation-state |access-date=2024-07-10 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>