The Ottoman Empire was suffering from combat fatigue and poverty after Balkan Wars and found itself involved in World War One as a result of politique de faite accomplie (accomplished fact) and consequently, fell back upon various methods to finance the said war. Accordingly the Empire began to issue banknotes as of April 1915 and was forced to borrow an immense amount of loan from Germany in exchange for the circulated banknotes. In 1918, while the war was still on, banknotes in circulation reached the saturation point and Germany was reluctant to loan money to Ottoman Government anymore. As a result, the Ottoman Empire was forced to turned towards the savings of the large mass of people. The Ottoman Government enacted a law on April 3rd, 1918 and called upon 20-year term long term loan at 5% interest. The Ottoman Empire tried to convince the people to purchase bonds by all available propaganda methods never used until that day in order to prompt the people to loan. This study will address the reflections of internal borrowing policy implemented at the time, on Tercümân-ı Hakikat, Sabah and Vakit which are the outstanding newspapers of the period.
The Ottoman Empire, World War One, Newspaper, Loan, The Internal Loan.