TAJKAHAYK: The Armenian Question

by Raffi (Hagob Melik Hagobian), translated by Ara Stepan Helkonian

Tajkahayk is probably one of the most foretelling Armenian political tracts of the 19th century, written on the eve of what came to be known as the "Armenian Question." Raffi, a gifted political and literary commentator, could see the clash between an emerging Armenian civil rights' movement and traditional elites in the Ottoman Empire. Despite the rhetoric of the Tanzimat era of reforms, Raffi identified powerful forces which opposed social and political change, especially in the so-called Armenian provinces of the empire.

An astute and critical thinker, Raffi gives us invaluable insights into the political milieu of this critical period in modern Armenian and late Ottoman history. This book is one of the most important literary commentaries on the Armenian Question in the late Ottoman Empire. It is also a key to understanding Raffi's novels set in the Ottoman Empire.

Taderon Press (2008)