
Dr Umit Kurt
ARC DECRA
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
Understanding the Middle East's continuum of conflict
Historian and award-winning researcher Dr Ümit Kurt is digging into hidden stories to better understand the transformations of imperial structures in the Modern Middle East and late Ottoman Empire – and their role in constituting the republican regime.
Ümit's research and teaching are grounded on theories of state and class, social identity, ethnicity and race, and social, economic and environmental histories of violence.
The transformative dimensions of mass violence committed against the minorities of the Ottoman Empire – Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Greeks – and the historical impact and consequences of the Empire's violent history on the Balkans and the Levant (Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon) are key elements of his research.
"My research highlights the crucial role played by international, inter-state, central, and regional actors, who undertook critical roles in the national and community-building process of the Empire, resulting in the foundation of the new Turkish Republic (1923),” he says.
"It rethinks the classical historical narrative about the emergence of the post-Ottoman Middle East and seeks to understand the wider, global dimensions of mass violence.”
The Armenians of Aintab
His recent book, The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide, which was selected as the PROSE Award Finalist in the category of World History by the Association of American Publishers in January 2022 and the 2022 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association Book Award Honourable Mention, offers a fresh take on analysing the murder and plunder of Armenians living in Aintab (modern-day Gaziantep).
It provides a new perspective on the local dynamics of genocide and its political, social, and economic legacies," says Ümit.
"It also delivers new insights on the cause and origins of genocidal policies and their impact in the making and re-making of provincial elites and, by extension, of the modern Turkish republic and reveals how genocide was carried out at a grassroots level."
It's a story of an exemplary late Ottoman social history of a prosperous but also deeply traumatised provincial town and a small step in understanding not only what happened but also how and why events transpired.
Where research and personal history meet
The history of Aintab is especially pertinent to Ümit, as it's the very same city where he was born and raised.
In fact, he admits he now fully realises that through having attended the same schools with grandsons and granddaughters of those elites, he has himself witnessed the consequences of Aintab Armenians' physical and material destruction.
"I was raised in Gaziantep by a Kurdish mother and an Arab father but learned none of their mother tongues. My father never let my mother speak Kurdish with my siblings and I. He grew up a Turkish Muslim person par excellence. Presumably, it was the only way for him and his Arab family from Aleppo to survive in Turkey."
His research was inspired by a journey back home after graduating from Middle East Technical University in Ankara in 2007. After finding himself in an unknown suburb to meet a friend, he arrived at a café based in a beautiful stone historic house.
After trying to engage the owner in a conversation about the history of the building – Ümit has presumed it to be Ottoman – he discovered that it had actually belonged to Armenians.
On his way home, he wondered why the Armenians would have handed over such an exquisite property. It turns out it was not by choice but by deportation during the genocide. This story made a huge impact on him, prompting his research focus.
History is about understanding
A great historian, Marc Bloch, once said, "When all is said and done, a single word, 'understanding" is the beacon light of our studies". This is a standpoint Ümit embraces.
"To me, the historian's job is to keep lies from ruling the day, from having the final say. Without historians' patient rigour, we would be at the mercy of what our politicians and pundits tell us about our national histories. The best history writing saves us from that delusion and resignation. It's not simply informative. It's emancipatory, even redemptive."
But understanding doesn't always come easy, especially when formal archive materials are restricted and kept hidden from researchers.
Ümit has bypassed this roadblock in the past by taking a more grassroots approach. In one example relating to his latest book, he went direct to the decedent of a genocide survivor via a family member, who had many old papers and documents written in Ottoman Turkish.
What he found was ground-breaking. It demonstrated the type of policies the Ottoman state and its bureaucrats applied to properties of deported Armenians during the genocide. It blatantly showed and proved the plunder and destruction under the veil of legality.
It's this constant and rigorous effort to approach and reach the historical truth and, most importantly, to make the voices of oppressed and de-humanised groups heard that motivates and excites him the most.
Re-authoring the past
As well as authoring The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide, Ümit has several other books to his name.
These include authoring Antep 1915: Genocide and Perpetrators (İletişim, 2018) and co-authoring The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide (Berghahn, 2017).
He was also co-editor of the volumes of Armenians and Kurds in the Late Ottoman Empire (The Press at Cal. State University Fresno, 2020) and The Committee of Union and Progress: Founders, Ideology, and Structure (The Press at Cal. State University, Fresno 2021).
On top of this, he has published numerous articles in prestigious peer review journals such as the Journal of Genocide Research, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Patterns of Prejudice, Genocide Studies International, Middle Eastern Studies, Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Nations and Nationalism, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Turkish Studies, Journal of Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Culture and Religion, Armenian Review, and Journal of Armenian Studies.
Ümit also serves as the Vice Executive Secretary of the International Network of Genocide Scholars. His research project, Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context, 1890-1920, was awarded the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
From history to conflict insight
Ümit’s research has provided great benefits for our current understanding of conflicts.
"My research is important for understanding the history of current conflicts in Syria and the Middle East, as well as the recent Balkan conflicts during the dissolution of Yugoslavia and possibly even the ongoing tensions in Cyprus,” he says.
"The legacy of the Ottoman past has played a pivotal role in Turkey's harsh and violent policies towards Yazidis and Kurds in the Middle East. This research illuminates and provides historical context to this continuum of violence. "
A better understanding of these conflicts is obviously of interest not only to academics and the wider public but also to policymakers concerned with these regions of conflict.
Understanding the Middle East's continuum of conflict
Historian and award-winning researcher Dr Ümit Kurt is digging into hidden stories to better understand the transformations of imperial structures in the Modern Middle East and late Ottoman Empire – and their role in constituting the republican regime.
Career Summary
Biography
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philisophy in History, Clark University - Worcester MA
- Master of Arts, Sabanci University - Turkey
Keywords
- Armenian Genocide
- Armenian History
- Collective and Political Violence
- Comparative Genocides
- Early Turkish Republic
- Intercommunal and Interethnic Strife
- Islamic History
- Modern Middle East
- Nationalism
- Ottoman Empire
- Race and Ethnicity
- Social and Economic History of Late Ottoman Empire
Languages
- Turkish (Mother)
- English (Fluent)
- Armenian (Fluent)
- German (Working)
- French (Working)
- Hebrew (Working)
- Arabic (Working)
- Kurdish (Fluent)
Fields of Research
Code | Description | Percentage |
---|---|---|
430318 | Middle Eastern and North African history | 100 |
Professional Experience
Professional appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|---|
1/2/2020 - 11/2/2023 | Vice Executive Secretary | International Network of Genocide Scholars https://inogs.com United States |
18/10/2017 - 22/6/2022 |
Research Fellow I was a Polonsky Fellow in the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. |
Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Polonsky Academy Israel |
18/10/2017 - 30/6/2022 | Visiting Fellow | Hebrew University of Jerusalem Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Israel |
9/9/2016 - 30/6/2018 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies United States |
28/8/2015 - 6/6/2016 | Research Associate | California State University Fresno Armenian Studies Program United States |
Teaching appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|---|
9/3/2020 - 16/7/2020 | Lecturer | Tel Aviv University Middle Eastern and African Studies Israel |
12/2/2019 - 7/7/2022 |
Lecturer I was a lecturer in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. |
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Israel |
30/8/2018 - 19/12/2019 |
Visiting Assistant Professor I was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Armenian Studies Program at the California State University, Fresno. |
California State University Fresno Armenian Studies Program United States |
10/1/2017 - 26/5/2017 | Lecturer | Clark University History United States |
30/6/2014 - 30/8/2020 | Lecturer | Sabanci University Faculty of Art and Social Sciences Turkey |
Awards
Recognition
Year | Award |
---|---|
2022 |
PROSE Award Finalist Association of American Publishers |
Research Award
Year | Award |
---|---|
2021 |
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research National Association for Armenian Studies and Research |
Scholarship
Year | Award |
---|---|
2021 |
Armenian Studies Scholarship Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
2014 |
Dissertation Writing Scholarship Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Teaching
Code | Course | Role | Duration |
---|---|---|---|
106 |
History of Nationalism: Europe and Beyond Clark University |
Visiting Assistant Professor | 9/1/2017 - 29/5/2017 |
487 |
Proto-Fascism in Europe and Ottoman Empire Sabanci University |
Lecturer | 10/6/2013 - 4/8/2014 |
38806 |
Collapse of the Empire: Nationalism and Mass Violence Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
Lecturer | 7/1/2019 - 24/6/2019 |
38163 |
Late Ottoman History & Modern Turkish Politics Through Reading Ottoman Turkish Texts Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
Lecturer | 8/10/2021 - 7/2/2022 |
076541 |
Armenian Genocide in the Comparative Perspective: Cases of the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust, and Rwandan Genocide California State University Fresno |
Visiting Assistant Professor | 27/8/2018 - 10/12/2018 |
033089079 |
Extremism and Violence in the Middle East: A Global Outlook Tel Aviv University |
Lecturer | 9/3/2020 - 30/6/2020 |
38805 |
The Ottoman Empire and the World Around Them Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
Lecturer | 8/3/2021 - 30/7/2021 |
576 |
Late Ottoman History and Modern Turkish Politics & Literature: Young Turk Memoirs Sabanci University |
Lecturer | 1/6/2020 - 26/8/2020 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (14 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Kurt Ü, Cegin G, Kiyam ve Kital Osmanlidan Cumhuriyete Devletin Insasi ve Kolektif Siddet, 0 (2022) | ||
2021 | Kurt U, The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 401 (2021) [A1] | ||
2021 | Mugrdechian BD, Kurt Ü, Sarafian A, The Committee of Union and Progress Founders, Ideology, and Structure (2021) | ||
2018 | Kurt Ü, Antep 1915 Soykirim ve Failler, 215 (2018) | ||
Show 11 more books |
Chapter (10 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 |
Kurt Ü, 'On the Verge of Death and Survival: Krikor Bogharian's Diary', Documenting the Armenian Genocide. Essays in Honor of Taner Akçam, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland 123-143 (2024) [B1]
|
Nova | |||
2023 | Kurt Ü, 'The Hnchakian Revolutionary Party in Aintab: Founders, Ideology and Structure', The Armenian Social Democrat Hnchakian Party: Politics, Ideology and Transnational History, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, UK 132-147 (2023) [B1] | Nova | |||
2021 | Kurt U, 'The Committee of Union and Progress on the Ottoman Periphery: The Case of Aintab', The Committee of Union and Progress Founders, Ideology, and Structure, The Press California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA 85-113 (2021) | ||||
Show 7 more chapters |
Journal article (21 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2025 |
Kurt Ü, 'Life and Death from Yemen to the Euphrates: An Evaluation on Syrian Governor Cemal Pasha', Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 1-21
|
|||||||
2024 |
Kurt Ü, '1923 and the legacies of genocide', History Compass, 22 (2024) [C1]
|
Nova | ||||||
2024 |
Kurt Ü, 'The Fate of Armenian and Greek Properties in the Post-First World War Period', Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 26 164-182 (2024) [C1]
|
Nova | ||||||
2024 |
Kurt U, 'Genocide as Patriotic Work Ethic: A Critical Reading of Mustafa Resat's Memoirs', Welt des Islams, (2024) [C1] This article centers on the life of the late Ottoman and early Turkish Republican bureaucrat Mustafa Resat to investigate how he turned into a genocide technocrat. It examines his... [more] This article centers on the life of the late Ottoman and early Turkish Republican bureaucrat Mustafa Resat to investigate how he turned into a genocide technocrat. It examines his career and decisions at critical junctions and depicts him as an outstanding representative of a category of perpetrators who prepare the propitious infrastructure, ground, and climate for such large-scale violence as the Armenian Genocide. By shifting the perspective to the type, scale, and level of perpetrating violence, this paper sheds light on how Mustafa Resat used his administrative and political knowledge and experience to serve Talat Pasha, who was already organizing the deportation and extermination of Armenians. Drawing upon hitherto unmined sources such as his memoirs, it demonstrates how an ultranationalist and dedicated Ottoman bureaucrat played a pivotal role in determining the main contours of the Turkish state's mindset on the "Armenian and Kurdish Questions".
|
|||||||
2020 | Kurt U, 'The Hunchakian Revolutionary Party in Cilicia: Aintab as a Case Study', Armenian Review, 57 (2020) [C1] | Nova | ||||||
2019 |
Kurt U, Bayar MF, 'Investigation of Middle School Students' Self Efficacy and Entrepreneurship Level Towards Learning Science in Terms of Demographic Factors', CUKUROVA UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION JOURNAL, 48 1141-1162 (2019)
|
|||||||
2019 |
Kurt U, Tas Y, 'Prediction of students' strategies for doing science homework by parental support and students' goal orientation', PEGEM EGITIM VE OGRETIM DERGISI, 9 585-604 (2019)
|
|||||||
2018 |
Kurt Ü, 'The curious case of Ali Cenani Bey: the story of a
|
|||||||
2018 |
Kurt Ü, 'Theatres of Violence on the Ottoman Periphery: Exploring the Local Roots of Genocidal Policies in Antep', Journal of Genocide Research, 20 351-371 (2018) [C1]
|
|||||||
2018 |
Kurt Ü, 'The Political Micro-Economy of the Armenian Genocide, 1915 1922', Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 20 618-638 (2018)
|
|||||||
2018 |
Kurt Ü, 'Reform and Violence in the Hamidian Era: The Political Context of the 1895 Armenian Massacres in Aintab', Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 32 404-423 (2018)
|
|||||||
2017 |
Kurt Ü, 'Revisiting the legal infrastructure for the confiscation of Armenian and Greek wealth: an analysis of the CUP years and the early modern Republic', Middle Eastern Studies, 53 700-723 (2017)
|
|||||||
2016 |
Kurt Ü, 'The curious case of Ahmed Necmeddin Bey: a look into the sociopolitical climate in Aintab on the eve of 1915', Middle Eastern Studies, 52 804-824 (2016)
|
|||||||
2016 |
Kurt U, Gurpinar D, 'The Young Turk Historical Imagination in the Pursuit of Mythical Turkishness and its Lost Grandeur (1911 1914)', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 43 560-574 (2016)
|
|||||||
2016 |
Kurt Ü, 'Cultural Erasure: The Absorption and Forced Conversion of Armenian Women and Children, 1915-1916', Études arméniennes contemporaines, (2016) [C1]
|
|||||||
2016 |
Kurt Ü, 'The Plunder of Wealth through Abandoned Properties Laws in the Armenian Genocide', Genocide Studies International, 10 37-51 (2016) [C1]
|
|||||||
Show 18 more journal articles |
Conference (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 |
Martín R, Hans-Nikolas M, Eckhard K, Kurt U, Sybill H, 'A randomized phase III trial of Taxol-based chemotherapy in previously untreated small cell lung cancer (SCLC):: Long term survival over six years', LUNG CANCER, SPAIN, Barcelona (2005)
|
Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 2 |
---|---|
Total funding | $391,520 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20231 grants / $2,500
CHSF Conference Travel Grant $2,500
Funding body: College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle
Funding body | College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle |
---|---|
Scheme | CHSF - Conference Travel Scheme |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2023 |
Funding Finish | 2023 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20211 grants / $389,020
Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context, 1890-1920$389,020
Funding body: ARC (Australian Research Council)
Funding body | ARC (Australian Research Council) |
---|---|
Project Team | Dr Umit Kurt, Doctor Umit Kurt |
Scheme | Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2021 |
Funding Finish | 2023 |
GNo | G1901456 |
Type Of Funding | C1200 - Aust Competitive - ARC |
Category | 1200 |
UON | Y |
Dr Umit Kurt
Position
ARC DECRA
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Contact Details
umit.kurt@newcastle.edu.au | |
Links |
Research Networks |