Emigrations from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire : an analysis in the light of the new archival materials

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate a recently founded special registry book in the Ottoman Archives catalogued as BEO 291/1. The book gives various statistical data about the emigrants who were forced by the Russian Empire to emigrate to the Ottoman lands during the second half of the 19th century. Including the information about the immigrants, the registry book encompasses the six different places within the borders of Ottoman Empire. Besides the description of the book of 291/1, the thesis attempts to explain the settlement policy of the Ottoman Empire by analyzing the Adyge/Circassian settlements on the province of Ottoman Syria based on the data in the book with the help of other existing archival documents and monographs. Evidently, Ottoman Empire put deliberate policies into practice for the settlements of the immigrants who would become the loyal subjects to the Sultan in the next decades.