Ottoman Archives (Osmanlı Arşivi)

Overview

The Ottoman Archives (Osmanlı Arşivi) constitute the primary repository of state archival documents from the Ottoman Empire, held today by Turkey's Directorate of State Archives (Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı) under the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, in the Kağıthane district of Istanbul. The collection is a major source for research on the Ottoman Empire and the roughly 39 present-day nations whose territories were once part of it, spanning the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Cyprus.

History

The organization of Ottoman state records as a modern archive began in 1847 with the establishment of the Hazine-i Evrak (Treasury of Documents), originally housed on the grounds of the grand vizier's offices at Bâb-ı Âli in Gülhane. Its historical holdings include records of the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun), the grand vizier's office, financial departments (Maliye), and cadastral surveys (tapu tahrir defteri), with a small number of documents dating from the Ottoman Empire's earliest period through the reign of Sultan Süleyman in the 16th century. Under the modern Turkish Republic, the archive's administrative structure evolved through several agencies beginning with the Mahzen-i Evrak Mümeyyizliği in 1922, renamed the Hazine-i Evrak Mümeyyizliği in 1923; the Directorate of State Archives was formally established in 1984 under Prime Ministry Organization Law No. 3056 to oversee both the Ottoman Archives and the Republic Archives. In 2013, after more than a century at its historic Istanbul location, the Ottoman Archives relocated to a purpose-built complex in the Kağıthane district. Following a 2018 government reorganization, the institution was renamed the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Directorate of State Archives, having previously been known as the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Minister's Office.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The archive holds both bound registers (defter) and loose documents (evrak) documenting the functioning of the Ottoman state from its early centuries through its dissolution in the 20th century, including digitized holdings of the Topkapı Palace Museum Archive and court records (sicillat) from Ottoman cities within modern Turkey's borders. Access to the archive, and in particular to specific categories of politically sensitive material such as records relating to the Armenian genocide, has been the subject of ongoing international scholarly and diplomatic discussion; researchers and outside observers have offered differing accounts of the archive's openness and completeness on this topic, and the European Parliament has called on Turkey to use archival access as an opportunity to engage with this history.

Access and Usage

Foreign researchers may register in advance online to browse the catalogue, but registration must be completed in person with a passport, valid visa, and passport photo, and researchers are generally restricted to accessing digitized materials via computer terminals in the archive's reading room rather than handling original documents directly. Materials with an e-Devlet account (generally limited to Turkish citizens) can access a broader range of digitized documents online through the archive's document scanning system.