Ottoman Paperscapes: Subjects, Enemy Aliens, and Nationality Disputes in the Ottoman Empire from World War I to the Treaty of Lausanne (1914–1923)

This article examines disputes regarding Ottoman nationality in the years between 1914 and 1923, a period mostly overlooked in the current literature. Based on research carried out in the Ottoman Archives of Istanbul, it surveys the state’s attempts to iden-tify its nationalities and the conflicts that arose as a result of these efforts, situating these events in the context of armed conflict, occupation, the dual government in Istanbul and Ankara, and the passing of two international peace treaties. The nationality and enemy alien regimes that were applied by the Young Turk government during World War I form the backdrop to this analysis. This study coins a new term, “Ottoman paperscapes,” to describe the ambiguous and contested space of Ottoman nationality and draws attention to the importance of the war and armistice periods as the final moments when these paperscapes reached their most expansive form before their final compartmentalization in the post-Ottoman period.