Zabel Yessayan on the Threshold: Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects

By Zabel Yessayan; Translated, edited and introduced by Nanor Kebranian

From interracial love and sectarian violence to the prospects of Islamo-Christian women's solidarity, the stories and essays in this volume unveil many forgotten features of Ottoman history and Armenian memory. Penned by writer and social advocate, Zabel Yessayan (1878 - 1943?) - now the most recognized author of her generation -, they span the period just prior to the First World War, through the Armenian Genocide, and ultimately the exclusionary 1923 founding of today's Turkey. These hitherto unread, unrecognized, or unknown pieces present the pressing need for unity across imposed identities in the struggle against the horrors of social inequality. As she wrote in support of Muslim women's rights and Armenians' claims for justice, Yessayan also produced this rare and rich archive of the love, hate, and intimacy that defined much of Ottoman subjecthood.

Gomidas Institute (2023)