Outcasting Armenians

The history of Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire has largely been narrated as a period of equality, reform, and progress, often framing it as the backdrop to modern Turkey. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s exhortation to study the oppressed to understand the rule and the ruler, Talin Suciyan reexamines this era from the perspective of the Armenians.

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This book focuses on the most promising and progressive period of the Ottoman 19th century, namely the Tanzimat era, by putting the Archives of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople (APC) of the 19th century and the Ottoman provinces at its center. While the multiethnic and multicultural character of the Ottoman Empire is often underscored in the historical record, sources from many of these groups—Arabs, Armenians, Alewites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Circassians, Ezidis, Jews, Kurds, Nestorians, Rums, Turks and Zazas of the Empire—are rarely used, if not outright omitted. In this study, Suciyan uncovers and analyzes rich archival material to show that these groups were neither autonomous nor separate, but rather an integral part of all aspects of Ottoman life, and accounts of their lives are vital to an accurate historical representation of the Tanzimat era. The documents Suciyan utilizes include personal and collective petitions, interrogation records, medical reports, orders of the Patriarchate, and regional reports of the local administrations and clerics.

Through her extensive research into the APC, Suciyan sheds much-needed light on the lives of peasants and the destitute, endangered and empowered women, and disabled and imprisoned people. She gives voice to those who were vulnerable, disadvantaged, and otherwise repressed, enabling their stories to be added to a more rightful history. In reassessing the Tanzimat period in this way, "Either Save Us from This Misery or Order Our Death" makes a substantial contribution to the field of Ottoman diplomatics, making a persuasive case for a more inclusive Ottoman history.