Turkish Trade Moves to Digital Archive

Turkish Trade History Moves to Digital Archive Istanbul Chamber of Commerce has made available free of charge online for the first time, under the name Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Newspaper Digital Archive, all newspapers and magazines it has published since 1885 in Ottoman, French, German and English. Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) has uploaded all periodic publications it has issued since 1885 in Ottoman, French, German and English to the internet, making them available to researchers. The presentation meeting of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Newspaper Digital Archive (İTGA), which documents the last 137 years of commercial life, was held at the İTO's Central Building in Eminönü at arsiv.ito.org.tr. Speaking at the meeting, İTO President Şekib Avdagiç stated, "With our Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Newspaper Archive project, we are transferring not only our 137-year-old newspaper, but also Turkish economic history to electronic form. Now, our newspaper with 318 volumes—that is 185,000 images, or in other figures 6,500 periodic publications—is just one touch away from all our researchers." Avdagiç explained, "We are transferring not only our 137-year-old newspaper, but also Turkish economic history to electronic form. Our commercial history is coming to researchers' fingertips, becoming just one click away from researchers." Noting that İTO began publishing an economics newspaper three years after its establishment in 1885, Avdagiç stated, "For this reason, we can say that economic journalism in Turkey began with İTO. Likewise, our newspaper has been the only economics newspaper in Turkey to maintain publication for 137 years. It was also the first publication outlet of the period to view economic developments from a private sector perspective."

Economic journalism in Turkey began with İTO

Avdagiç stated, "With the İTGA Project, Turkish economic history, in all its dimensions, is being made available to researchers in the internet environment. So to speak, our economic and commercial history is coming to researchers' feet, becoming just one click away from researchers." Şekib Avdagiç said that the digitization of 137 years of İTO newspaper editions could be viewed as a natural result of digital librarianship, which became widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic. Avdagiç noted that the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Newspaper Archive being opened has two differences from its counterparts, saying, "For the first time, all editions of a 137-year-old economics newspaper, even though published under different names in various periods, have been fully digitized and presented to readers in one place. This means that our readers researching any topic in our newspaper will be able to trace how that topic began in the 19th century, continued in the 20th century, and reached its current stage in the 21st century."  

Researchers will be able to search for Ottoman-language words in all our publications

Avdagiç explained the project's second distinguishing feature as follows: "For the first time in Turkey, our İTGA Project as İTO relieves researchers of a burden. Researchers will be able to search for Ottoman-language words in all our publications. In other words, whenever a researcher or reader wishes to visit the arsiv.ito.org.tr website and enters an Ottoman-language word, that word will be scanned within 100 million words, and the relevant pages of the magazines containing that word will appear on screen. Thus, researchers will be able to find the information and news they are looking for on a subject without having to go through the trouble of translating 185,000 pages individually and searching line by line." Avdagiç also mentioned that while the archive website was in trial phase, one of the Chamber's advisors used the Ottoman-language search capability provided by İTGA to compile a book on the history of Numunehane-i Osmani (Ottoman Trade Museum), the export promotion center established by İTO in 1891. Avdagiç said he believed that researchers and academics would take advantage of the opportunity being provided to them by shedding light on aspects of our commercial life that have not yet come to light. Avdagiç concluded his remarks saying, "İTGA will provide researchers and academics, particularly regarding the 1885-1928 period, with a new source. It will especially provide an opportunity to view the commercial and economic developments of the period from the perspective of the private sector, outside the state's official viewpoint. I believe in this wholeheartedly."