Structures similar to the Chamber of Commerce organizations in the West have found a response in our country with structures such as Ahilik, guilds and tradesmen’s organizations.

During the Ottoman period, structures similar to the Chamber of Commerce began to emerge in 1876. In our region, it was formed in 1882, in accordance with the provisions of the Rumelia Province Law, during the time of Edirne Governor Kadri Pasha, and a Chamber of Commerce was established in Kırklareli. According to old records, the Chamber of Agriculture was merged with the Chamber of Commerce and was governed by a president and seven members under the name of the Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture and Industry. In the complex and war-filled years between the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy and the declaration of the Republic, there was no active Chamber of Commerce.
On September 27, 1883, the establishment of Chambers of Commerce was initiated with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry Regulation, which required merchants to become official and compulsory members.

Kırklareli Chamber of Commerce was established in 1883, in accordance with the law, with the initiatives of Retired Inspector Ali Rıza (Dursunkaya) Bey, owner and editor-in-chief of Kırklareli Newspaper, and twenty of his friends. The committee, which was formed in 1926 by secret ballot and two-stage election, made the chamber active with great interest and care. They opened the stock exchange and, in close cooperation with the stock exchange, laid the foundations of today’s Chamber and Stock Exchange. The Chamber of Commerce, which holds its congress every year with delegates from the districts, had the opportunity to announce its economic needs to the government with the delegates it sent to the regional congress. As the chamber operated, its income increased. The first speech made by Ali Rıza Bey, the founding delegation and the first chamber president, in the presence of the founders is as follows;

Dear merchant friends.

Unfortunately, we have a very obvious and obvious addiction, our merchants generally operate under natural instinct. We do not yet have a group gathered around an entity that does not give up on natural needs such as advertising, propaganda, etc.

Although there are many legal and authorized regulations, our Chamber of Commerce is just a name. The nation ended its great war by saving the country. When this ended, a second war began, the most important of which is the economic and trade war. It would be futile if we still wait for the progress of trade and wealth through ancient times. In some places, defeat in economic wars will drag us into poverty (severe poverty).

Why are we not involved with the Stock Exchange?

We live right next to Istanbul, who will provide us with trade activities? Why did the move to allocate a business bank stall? Why do our capitalists and merchants not guide us in our commercial affairs? Why don’t the small group of tradesmen and merchants, who are thrown into trouble every day like a blind game, receive any protection?

We kindly request you to take action for the sake of the happiness and wealth of the country and strive to achieve these things. We expect great services and benefits from a Chamber of Commerce.

It should not allow any of the merchants and tradesmen, numbering up to five hundred, to conduct trade without being subject to a ceremony and without being informed about the existence and existence of the Chamber of Commerce, and it should both provide income to the Chamber and make the Chamber beneficial to the country.

This trend is not a good one. We invite our relevant merchants to take up their duties, and we consider this as a debt.

ALI RIZA DURSUNKAYA