Armenians in Turkey after the Second World War - (Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World) by Talin Suciyan (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A reader of newly unearthed archival documents made by the Soviet consulate in 1940's Turkey. These primary sources include consular correspondence, demographic information, a review of Turkish and Armenian press, and most importantly oral testimony of Armenian survivors of the 1915 genocide living in both Istanbul and the provinces sharing their stories while seeking to emigrate to Soviet Armenia. Includes a critical introduction and the original Russian language sources in an appendix"--

Book Synopsis

This reader brings to light newly discovered archival material compiled by the Soviet Consulate in Istanbul. The book reveals the lives and experience of Armenians in Turkey in the 1940s, with a particular focus on the process of emigration to Soviet Armenia. The accounts, translated for the first time into English, are comprised of Soviet officials' reports and first-hand testimony by survivors of their lives during the post-genocide period, making this an invaluable new contribution to the existing collections of Armenian survival testimonies. Placing the archival records on emigration in the context of both life in post-genocide Turkey and the 'repatriation' (nergakht) project in the Armenian Diaspora, this book, which also includes the original Russian documents, will be a useful resource for researchers and students of Armenian and Turkish history.

Review Quotes

Talin Suciyan reveals the multiple challenges linked to the Great Repatriation Campaign of 1945-46 to Soviet Armenia from the consular files of the Soviet embassy in Istanbul. She provides a fascinating account of the finally unsuccessful campaign that triggered an enormous wave of hope for escape from the unbearable living conditions among forcibly Islamized and non-Islamized Armenian survivors from the provinces and the capital of post-genocidal Turkey.
Annika Toerne, PhD, Geneva University, Switzerland.

About the Author

Talin Suciyan is Associate Professor (Privat Dozentin) of Turkish Studies at the Institute of Near and Middle Eastern Studies Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. She is the author of The Armenians in Modern Turkey: Post-genocide Society, Politics and History (I. B. Tauris, 2016), and Outcasting Armenians: Tanzimat of the Provinces (2023).