OTTOMAN PERIOD
The origin of stock exchange activities can be traced back to 1854 Crimean War. Bonds issued due to Ottoman debt which was incurred because of the war were started to be traded in Istanbul.
In 1866, Dersaadet (another name for Istanbul) Bonds Exchange was established with the support of the creditor states. The Exchange was moved to Komisyon Han in 1866. The first exchange regulation was introduced in 1871. In 1875 it was decided that half of the interests and principals of the government debts that were due would be paid in cash and the other half would be paid in exchange for bonds.REPUBLICAN PERIOD
The Exchange was moved to 4.Vakıfhan in Bahçekapı on April 1, 1926. In 1938, the Exchange was moved to Ankara as a result of which the intermediary activities were almost ceased. In April 1941, the exchange was moved back to Istanbul. In 1958, the authority of the Exchange to carry out foreign exchange activities was cancelled and assigned to the Central Bank.
Following the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, certain arrangements were introduced in 1929, including the enactment of the law on securities and foreign exchange markets. The Exchange began to operate under the name Istanbul Securities Exchange. Atatürk had İş Bankası, one of the first companies of the young republic, founded as a publicly-traded company. Subsequently, the Central Bank was also founded as a publicly-traded company.
PRE-FOUNDATION PERIOD
After Turgut Özal, the Prime Minister of the time, introduced the Decree having the Force of Law regarding Istanbul Stock Exchanges in 1984, the team that would found the Exchange had to be set up. Muharrem Karslı was invited to Ankara and returned to Istanbul with a letter appointing him as the first President of the Exchange. The Exchange started its operations with a budget of 365 million Liras on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Ziraat Bankası in Cağaloğlu. The Exchange was subsequently moved to Erenhan in Karaköy.
FOUNDATION OF ISE
The bankers' crisis was one of the most important reasons triggering the inception of the modern era of exchange operations. Several savers' incurring great losses led to a quest for a new system. CMB was set up to inspect all the capital market institutions. On December 26, 1985, ISE was founded. Therefore a 120-year era was ended and new era started.
FIRST TRADES
The first bell was rung with the sale of the income sharing certificate for the Bosporus Bridge which was put to sale by Ekrem Pakdemirli, a minister of the time, as a symbolic step. After a while, quests for a new system began. The ticker symbol system was adopted using the ticker symbol system of Jordan as a model, which was at the time very flexible.
A NEW PERIODDecree Number 32
In 1989, two key decisons about the exchange were taken. First decision was the establishment of the Turkey Fund amounting 104 million USD and the other one was the Decree No 32 that enabled foreigners to invest in all types of securities in Turkey and transfer their returns.
THE RECENT PERIOD
In 2007 Hüseyin Erkan was appointed as the president. Activities like the development of new products, restoration of the trading system, and most notably, promotion of public offerings, gained speed. The recent developments include the introduction of new national and international indices, establishment of the Emerging Companies Market and the Corporate Products Market.THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF ISE
Quests for a new system for the settlement and custody of securities commenced. A new building was needed when the building which was thought would be sufficient for a long term could no longer bear the capacity. In the meantime, the management changed, and Yaman Törüner was assigned as the president. The congress building owned by Turban was reorganized and converted to ISE building.
After Yaman Törüner, the presidency duty was respectively assumed by Tuncay Artun (1994-1997) and (Osman Birsen (1997-2007).