ABSTRACT
The Ottoman legacy to the Turkish Republic in 1923 was an Anatolian economy battered by war, depopulated of most of its business and artisan class, and laden with the debts of the fallen Empire. 1 A small number of public and privately run textile manufacturing facilities remained in operation. Textiles were a major import item 2 due to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which did not allow duties or tariffs on imports until 1929. Exports were minimal and included only raw fibres, madder root used to make the famous Turkish red dye and a small volume of wool hand-knotted carpets. Raw cotton output was small, 51,240 tonnes in 1930 3 and yields were low but adequate for both home-based and factory yarn production. Roughly half of domestic wool production was absorbed into carpet yarn.
