E161 | The World War I period irrevocably changed the life of Ottoman Armenians and ultimately heralded the end of Christian communities throughout most of Anatolia. However, following the Ottoman defeat in the war, the brief Armistice period witnessed efforts by Armenians in Istanbul to reconstitute their community in the capital. In this episode, Lerna Ekmekçioğlu explores these efforts and in particular activities to locate and gather Armenian orphans and widows dislocated by war and genocide.

Lerna Ekmekçioğlu is Assistant Professor of History at MIT. Her research focuses on the intersections of minority identity and gender in the modern Middle East.
Chris Gratien is a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University researching the social and environmental history of the Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East.

More at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/06/armenian-widows-orphans-istanbul.html