Crime of Numbers: The Role of Statistics in the Armenian Question (1878-1918)

"Tackling one of the most controversial and politically-distorted topics in modern history, Fuat Dundar has brought his sophisticated demographic tools to wrestle facts from fiction. Grounded in the knowledge that statistics can be instruments of power, not merely recording but shaping reality, he provides the most convincing account of how late Ottoman population politics led to the ethnic homogenization of Anatolia through deportations and massacres amounting to genocide. Governments may continue to debate the fate of the Armenians and the responsibility of the Young Turks; but here in this illuminating book the cold reasoning behind mass murder is laid out for any and all honest readers. This work is the indispensable starting point for future discussions."---Ronald Grigor Suny, Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History, Director, Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, The University of Michigan

"In Crime of Numbers, Dundar uses an unusually rich base of material from the Ottoman archives to document the extent of Young Turk ethnic `engineering' that was behind the deportation and mass murder of the Armenians in 1915-16. His inspired scholarship markedly advances our knowledge of the Ottoman government's motivations for and methods of eliminating the Armenian population from their Anatolian homeland. This book is essential for understanding the Armenian genocide."---Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University

"Fuat Dundar's research is consistently provocative and empirically rich Crime of Numbers is no exception. It will be essential reading for those interested in the transformation of empires into nation-states in general and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in particular."---Michael Reynolds, Assistant Professor in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

This book sets the record straight in terms of understanding Armeno-Turkish relations during this short but pivotal period. Kaligian's study, the first of its kind, shows that the party's internal deliberations support the conclusion that it did remain loyal and contradicts the view that the party's only aim was to incite a rebellion against Ottoman rule. The author has done an excellent job of leading the reader through this rich history, using primary source information to bridge the gaps from theory, to analysis, to evidence.

Statistics have played an important role in the recognition of the Armenian question on the international landscape as well as its "definitive solution" resulting in the Armenian genocide. The importance of statistics first surfaced at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, where differences in the approach toward numbers between the Armenians and the Ottoman Empire, and the role of statistics within the Ottoman state apparatus, became an issue. At that international gathering, the Armenian question was considered part of the "Eastern Question" paradigm of Western diplomacy. It would soon become a code word for the question of "civilization" itself.

Those administering the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire perceived the Armenian issue not only through ethnic and religious perspectives, but also through statistics. As Fuat Dundar shows, statistics became the vehicle through which the Ottoman state apparatus was forced to include non-Muslim populations of the Empire in the state apparatuses and local councils. This occurred long before the Armenian question surfaced. The aim of Ottoman reforms was to ensure that all communities participated in the affairs of the state and that such participation was proportionate to their numbers. Through its role in these reforms, statistics emerged as a constant matter of debate in the Armenian question.

As a result of the Armenian genocide, the statistical record has become quite sensitive. Today, accounting for the numbers of Armenians murdered in 1915 usually means calculating the number of Armenians who were massacred or died of other causes such as disease, hunger, exhaustion, and the like during deportations or immediately after. This is a work of brilliant archival history and imaginatively uses social statistics.

Fuat Dundar was born in a Kurdish county. He is the author of three books in Turkish: Modern Turkey's Cipher---Ethnicity. Engineering of the Committee Union and Progress (1913-1918), The Settlement Policy of Muslims (1913-1918), and Minorities in Turkish Censuses. He is visiting professor of history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.