“Armenians in Turkey after the Second World War: An Archival Reader of USSR Consular Documents” by Talin Suciyan

LONDON/NEW YORK—I. B. Tauris, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, has announced the publication of Dr. Talin Suciyan’s Armenians in Turkey after the Second World War An Archival Reader of USSR Consular Documents. The book is part of the series Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World edited by Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).

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.

Suciyan commented on the book saying: “Armenians after the Second World War sheds light on the lives of tens of thousands of Armenians who remained in the provinces of Turkey after the genocide, through their appearance in the Soviet consular archives of Istanbul. This rare resource, presented in both Russian and the English translation, contains the stories of Armenians seeking to emigrate to Soviet Armenia, whose existence and experience have been completely erased from mainstream Turkish and Armenian historiographies.”

“This is a fascinating work that sheds light on the hardships faced by Armenians in Turkey following the genocide,” said Der Matossian, editor of the series. “Suciyan has made a significant contribution to the history of Armenians in Turkey in the post-genocide era, particularly in relation to the history of repatriation after World War II.”

“Dr. Suciyan’s latest work is a welcome addition to the history of Armenians in republican Turkey, the ‘Great Repatriation’ to Soviet Armenia of about 89,000 Diasporan Armenians from twelve different countries across three continents, and the history of Armenians in the Cold War era in general.” ―Ara Sanjian, Associate Professor, University of Michigan, USA

“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.

Copies of Armenians in Turkey after the Second World War: An Archival Reader of USSR Consular Documents are available for purchase from the Bloomsbury Press website. Enter code GLR AT8 at the checkout on bloomsbury.com for 35% off.