Ottoman Salonika
who financed their projects themselves and with the backing of western
European capital, played a considerable role in the local economy and
international trade and finance. Only the uppermost strata in society had
both savings and liquid assets to put to work in their businesses and in
banking.^26
According to the official Ottoman Selânik Vilâyeti Salnamesi (Yearbook
of the Province of Salonika), most Dönme businessmen were based in
the European commercial, diplomatic, and residential district of the city.
Dönme connections with foreign finance and Dönme in western Europe
allowed them to engage in international trade. The progenitor of one of
the most important Kapancı Dönme families was Kavaf [Cobbler] Yusuf
Agha, born at the end of the eighteenth century. The title “Agha” indi-
cates he was head of a group of merchants, or guild.^27 With its established
economic niche, and control of one specialized market, this family was
well placed for the shift to accelerated capitalism.
One of the most influential descendants of Kavaf Yusuf Agha was the
prominent banker and merchant Mehmet Kapancı, who headed Salonika’s
Chamber of Commerce, its symbol of economic development, received
state honors from the sultan, and served in the Assembly for the Adminis-
tration of the Province, an elected position, from 1902 to 1905.^28 Mehmet
Kapancı was primarily engaged in the textile trade.^29 By the turn of the
twentieth century, this advocate of railway connections between Salonika
and the rest of Europe, whose office was located across the street from the
French consulate, was one of the ten richest men in Salonika.^30 According
to the archives of the Banque d’Orient, he possessed extensive and valu-
able property worth 60 , 000 Turkish pounds, owning the Bezciler [Cloth-
Seller] Han in the Istanbul Market on Sabri Pasha Boulevard, which he
purchased from the Jewish Modiano family in 1900.^31 He also owned a
large department store in the main market district near the harbor.^32 Me-
hmet Kapancı had two noteworthy younger brothers engaged in the same
pursuits. Yusuf Kapancı, who became wealthy through the textile trade in
Ottoman Europe, was a well-known merchant, and the Selânik Vilâyeti
Salnamesi identifies him as one of the city’s eight renowned bankers doing
business in the European quarter.^33 The same source calls Ahmet Kapancı
one of the city’s best-known big merchants; like Yusuf Kapancı, he made
his money in the textile trade in Ottoman Europe.^34 He became a mem-
ber of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture, serving as
its head in 1907.^35