Armenians and Land Disputes in the Ottoman Empire, 1850-1914 - (Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire) by Mehmet Polatel (Paperback)

About the Book

Examines the Armenian land question in its transnational context

Book Synopsis

Armenians and Land Disputes in the Ottoman Empire traces the transformation of land disputes involving Armenians into the Armenian land question from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War. Situating this event into its historical context marked by the rise of the central administrative state, encroachment of capitalism and the new territorial turn that changed the political significance of land ownership, this book argues that the Armenian land question was shaped by two conflicting trends: liberalisation and nationalisation of land.

The book also shows how mass violence transformed competitive struggles and socioeconomic life and structures on the one hand, and how these struggles strained intercommunal relations and blocked possibilities of normalisation on the other. Examining the actions and discourses of Armenian and Kurdish intellectuals, Muslim powerholders in the provinces, and Ottoman officials and the Istanbul elite - along with the institutions, local and national, that sustained these groups, it populates a large blank space in our existing picture of the late Ottoman Empire.

Review Quotes

The work challenges readers to reconsider familiar narratives of 1915, placing material and territorial stakes at the center of its analytical frame and connecting them to the broader questions of territoriality and nationalism.--Naira Sahakyan "Diyâr, Journal for Ottoman Studies, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies"

This groundbreaking work analyses the genealogy of the Armenian land question from the second half of the 19th century to the eve of World War. Mehmet Polatel has made a monumental contribution from both empirical and theoretical perspectives to the study of the agrarian question in the Ottoman Empire and beyond.--Bedross Der Matossian, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

With meticulous research, deep archival dives and acute theoretical insights, Mehmet Polatel restores the lost history of the dispossession of the lands of Ottoman Armenians through misuse of the law and deployment of violence. Polatel brilliantly tells the tragic tale of nation formation as a process by an imperial government aided by local officials and ordinary people. With graphic examples, precision in his analysis and a deep humanistic sensibility, he reveals how ideology, greed and the search for security lead to horrific crimes against humanity.--Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan