Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks—Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide. Marc David Baer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2020). Pp. 360. $95.00 cloth, $45.00 paper. ISBN: 9780253045416

Citation

Kasbarian S (2022) Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks—Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide. Marc David Baer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2020). Pp. 360. $95.00 cloth, $45.00 paper. ISBN: 9780253045416. Review of: Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks—Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide. Marc David Baer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2020). Pp. 360. ISBN: 9780253045416. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 54 (1), pp. 182-184. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743821001252

Abstract
First paragraph: In a ground-breaking historiographical analysis of the Jewish community from the Ottoman Empire to the present day Turkish republic, Marc David Baer debunks the grand narratives of 500 years of Turkish–Jewish friendship and Ottoman and Turkish tolerance and protection for Jews, examining how these narratives have served to deny the Armenian genocide. Baer's central thesis is that, as bystanders and eyewitnesses to the Armenian genocide, Turkish Jews sided with the perpetrators to safeguard their own future and have since been trapped in a public performance of loyalty originating in their gratitude for refuge after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. The author puts forward the idea that everyday experiences of anti-Semitism and the historical memory of what befell their Armenian and Greek neighbors have contributed to an emotional mindset that motivated Jews in Turkey to be silent about their own experiences and promote the utopian image of 500 years of Jewish–Turkish harmony. In this masterly work, Baer sympathetically demonstrates why and how Jews in Turkey, and their historians—both within and outside Turkey—took on this position, making the compelling case that the denial of the Armenian genocide is an essential prong in Jewish–Turkish identity.

Keywords
Sociology and Political Science; History; Sociology and Political Science; History;

Notes
Output Type: Book Review

Journal
International Journal of Middle East Studies: Volume 54, Issue 1

People

Dr Sossie Kasbarian

Senior Lecturer, Politics