Ottoman Passports - (Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East) by Ilkay Yilmaz

About the Book

Examines the relationship between passport regulations, mobility restrictions, and security practices within the context of a tumultuous late Ottoman political climate.

Book Synopsis

In Ottoman Passports, Ilkay Yilmaz reconsiders the history of two political issues, the Armenian and Macedonian questions, approaching both through the lens of mobility restrictions during the late Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1908. Yilmaz investigates how Ottoman security perceptions and travel regulations were directly linked to transnational security regimes battling against anarchism. The Hamidian government targeted "internal threats" to the regime with security policies that created new categories of suspects benefiting from the concepts of vagrant, conspirator, and anarchist. Yilmaz explores how mobility restrictions and the use of passports became critical to targeting groups including Armenians, Bulgarians, seasonal and foreign workers, and revolutionaries. Taking up these new policies on surveillance, mobility, and control, Ottoman Passports offers a timely look at the origins of contemporary immigration debates and the historical development of discrimination, terrorism, and counterterrorism.

Review Quotes

Ottoman Passports is ideal for scholars and graduate students of Ottoman, migration, mobility, and security studies, particularly those exploring the global history of documentation and identification regimes.-- "Mashriq & Mahjar"

Ottoman Passports is not just an impressive contribution to the growing body of scholarship on mobility studies. The book also stands as a landmark achievement in the studies of Ottoman security policies during the Hamidian Era by placing passports at the center of her scrutiny to contribute to our understanding of what kind of modernization enterprise the Ottoman statesmen desired to establish.-- "Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity"

A very important book that fills a significant lacuna in our field. It is the product of meticulous labor in the archives and contains a great deal of previously unknown information.-- "Taner Akçam, Director of Armenian Genocide Research Program, UCLA"

In her timely and meticulously researched book, Yilmaz demonstrates how the evolving modern state used the passport to extend control over its citizens. Using the Ottoman Empire as a case study firmly situated within wider international developments and collaborations, she historicizes governmental anxieties about migrants and political activists which seem very familiar in present times.-- "Ulrike Freitag, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient"

Security concerns caused by transnational terrorism and uncontrolled migration are not just features of our time. In this original and innovative study, Yilmaz shows that over a century ago the policies of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid were grounded in similar fears, and a desire to control the movement of people. That makes it highly relevant for a contemporary readership.-- "Erik-jan Zurcher, Leiden University"

The book makes an important contribution to understanding how the Hamidian regime worked to control the movement of 'seditious' and potentially subversive subjects.-- "International Migration"

About the Author

Ilkay Yilmaz is a DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) funded research associate at Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut at Freie Universität Berlin. Her articles have appeared in several publications, including the Journal of Historical Sociology, Middle Eastern Studies, and the Journal of Ottoman and Turkish Studies.