Tanzimat Devri ve Sonras nda Osmanl Piyasalar nda htikar Sorunu/// htikar Problem in the Ottoman Markets During and After the Tanzimat Period

This article examines the ihtikar problem in the Ottoman Empire during and after the tanzimat period. In the documents examined for this article, the concept of “ihtikar” covers practices such as black marketing, hoarding, profiteering, and monopoly. Any illicit gains from a good in the market were considered as “ihtikar”. During the period examined, any good used in commercial transaction can be subjected to “ihtikar”. However “ihtikar” usually was considered as an illicit gain from highly demanded necessary common goods, such as wood, coal, meat, salt, wheat, and grain. While traders are the main group that used “ihtikar”, some directors, officers, and manufacturers committed “ihtikar” as well. The main purpose of “muhtekir” or the committer of “ihtikar” is to obtaining more money easily. The main methods used by muhtekirs were hoarding, jobbing, and carrying the goods to a market with high prices. With these methods muhtekirs can gain high profits from goods the prices of which were increased spuriously. Drought, scarcity, war, and social and political problems usually offered unique opportunities to muhtekirs.