Turkish archives may shed light on history of 30 countries

I am not up to date on the Ottoman historical archives, but it appears that Turkey is going to make the archive available for research.

Is this significant? Will this help the historical record?

I hope so but what do I know about this subject?

Is there a level below novice?

link

...This classification showed that Ottoman archives contained records and documents that contain important information about the history of 30 countries, established after the disintegration of the Ottoman State. Upon request, these documents and records will be provided to the respective countries. Translation of the archives into English, German and French has already started. The classification work has been under progress for many years and it is about to be finalized to a great extent. During this work, important documents and records have been unearthed which will shed light on the history of not only Turkey, but also of 30 countries in the Balkans, Europe, Africa and the Middle East....

This indeed is great news! Perhaps this will shed light on topics such as the Silk Route, Cappadocia(hot bed for all sorts of history from prehistoric man, early Christianity, UFOs, caravansaries, etc.), Medieval fortifications, Armenian injustices?...

Let's hope that history is indeed portrayed as it actually was.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I am not up to date on the Ottoman historical archives, but it appears that Turkey is going to make the archive available for research.

Is this significant? Will this help the historical record?

Yes -- but it's political history that it will impact... and could potentially spark a number of border disputes.

The Ottoman Empire existed for about 600 years, ending in 1920 ( en.wikipedia.org... ). Because it was a stable government, it had a long chain of records of maps and diplomatic reports and letters between the Beys (rulers) and other countries. It also has legal and civic records of those countries which got swallowed up by the Ottoman Empire itself.

So we may see some border disputes come out of this. Everyone's known the records are there, but they haven't really been available to be read and discussed.

I wander why they are giving the go a head for this release?
Surely the Armenian "genocide" and the Kurds issue will be there. So why would they make this available to scrutiny by scholar or other?
I cant stop thinking that the Modern Israel border will be there also in the release.
Never mind the silk route, I believe they want to stare some more dispute about border countries.

I should call a friend in Turkey and enquire about it.

kacou

Before the Ottomans took it, the "Holy Land" was not a nation called Israel, but it was either a nation unto itself called Palestine or Palestina, or it was a part of Jordan, Syria, or Egypt, or a combination of those.

My Opinion

Well it will be an interesting read thats for sure.

But I dont think everything is going to be solved by these documents by any

means.

Because remember history is written by the victor and the victors version is not

always true.

reply to post by runetang


Yes ...you right and I know about this.
When I was writing about "modern Israel" I was referring to what many people here on ATS think that the Palestinian people which including all confession( Jews, Muslims, Christian...) where not scatted all around what we called now Israel. I cant remember exactly but someone here was saying that most of the land in Israel where not populated by Palestinian and the people from eastern Europe ( Jews confession) just took over this land as no one was there.
Some time you read some fantasy that insult your intelligence.

Kacou

reply to post by JacKatMtn


This is Incredible news. If this is actually the case, this might help to clear up alot of questions about cities in the bible and other sources that to date havent been unearthed or located. As long as it's CORRECTLY AND ACURATELY translated. That's the only thing that worries me. But, I will look forward to someday being able to read this for myself. Great post!

reply to post by runetang


Actually the ottomans conquered that area during the rule of Yavuz Sultan Selim from the mamlukes.

that can be read here: en.wikipedia.org...

It is quite often forgotten that the Ottoman empire had allot of great generals and leaders which did things which have no comparison in history. A good example is the extremely good recovery from the battle of leopanto.