The history of Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire has largely been narrated as a unique 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. In exploring the temporal and territorial differences between the Ottoman capital and the provinces, Suciyan brings the unheard voices of Armenians into the present. Drawing upon the rich archival materials in both the Archives of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Ottoman Archives, Suciyan uses these to show the integral role Armenians played in all aspects of Ottoman life and argues that accounts of their lives are vital to documents representation of the Tanzimat era. In shedding much needed light on the lives of those who were vulnerable, disadvantaged, and otherwise oppressed, Suciyan takes a significant step toward a more inclusive Ottoman history.

After the Armenian genocide of 1915, in which over a million Armenians died, thousands of Armenians lived and worked in the Turkish state alongside those who had persecuted their communities. Living in the context of pervasive denial, how did Armenians remaining in Turkey record their own history? Here, Talin Suciyan explores the life experienced by these Armenian communities as Turkey's modernisation project of the twentieth century gathered pace. Suciyan achieves this through analysis of remarkable new primary material: Turkish state archives, minutes of the Armenian National Assembly, a kaleidoscopic series of personal diaries, memoirs and oral histories, various Armenian periodicals such as newspapers, yearbooks and magazines, as well as statutes and laws which led to the continuing persecution of Armenians. The first history of its kind, The Armenians in Modern Turkey is a fresh contribution to the history of modern Turkey and the Armenian experience there.

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.

After the Armenian genocide of 1915, in which over a million Armenians died, thousands of Armenian-Turks lived and worked in the Turkish state alongside those who had persecuted their communities. Living under heavy censorship, and in an atmosphere of official denial that the deaths were a genocide, how did Turkish Armenians record their own history? Here, Talin Suciyan explores the life experienced by Turkey's Armenian communities as Turkey's great modernisation project of the 20th century gathered pace.Suciyan achieves this through analysis of remarkable new primary material: Turkish state archives, minutes of the Armenian National Assembly, a kaleidoscopic series of personal diaries, memoirs and oral histories, various Armenian periodicals such as newspapers, yearbooks and magazines, as well as statutes and laws which led to the continuing persecution of Armenians. The first history of its kind, The Armenians in Modern Turkey is a fresh contribution to the history of modern Turkey and the Armenian experience there.