I am looking for records from Turkey an the Ottoman Empire, Birth, Marriage and Death. Does anyone know where I can find resources for this, or which years are available?

Thank you in advance.

Israel Guttman

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It depends which community you are researching. Some records have been lost and many cemeteries destroyed. In Turkey itself it can be challenging to research if you are not a citizen, including obtaining documents from the Chief Rabbinate.

Ottoman records often don't state surnames, and are in the old Ottoman script. The index of the Ottoman State Archives is in Roman script, so you may be able to find a source but not read it! :) There are a lot of useful secondary sources such as the new cemetery database, newspapers, directories, foreign consulates, sharia courts and documents in countries where families eventually settled. There is a somewhat chaotic mind-dump on my site at: https://sephardicgenealogy.com/jews-of-turkey/ Of course, also check Alain Farhi's site and sephardicgen.org

Armenian and Greek researchers are ahead of Jewish ones, so perhaps check in their world. The Cercle de Généalogie Juive in France has some resources. Turkish academics tend to be state employees and are wary of speaking to Jewish audiences. We have been trying to find a speaker for Sephardic World for months.

Best wishes,

David Mendoza

Please contact me privately
There are records from Istanbul in private hands from the 19th century
The Ottoman Empire was huge , - where are you interested in?
Sarina Roffe
JewishGen Sephardic Research Chair
sarinaroffe@...

While we are on the subject, can someone tell me what sort of records exist for the Jews of Rhodes (in the 18th and 19th centuries) and where they can be found? I am still occupied with inquiries into my Ashkenazi ancestry but I expect to start looking into the Sephardi side of the family eventually.
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Miles Rind
Seattle, Washington, USA