The confiscation of Armenian properties by the Ottoman and Turkish governments involved seizure of the assets, properties and land of the country's Armenian community. Starting with the Hamidian massacres and peaking during the Armenian genocide, the confiscation of the Armenian property lasted continuously until 1974. Much of the confiscations during the Armenian genocide were made after the Armenians were deported into the Syrian Desert with the government declaring their goods and assets left behind as "abandoned". Virtually all properties owned by Armenians living in their ancestral homeland in Western Armenia were confiscated and later distributed among the local Muslim population.
A 1918 photo of an Armenian church in Trabzon, which was used as an auction site and distribution center of confiscated Armenian goods and belongings after the Armenian genocide
The directive relative to the seizure of Armenian schools was sent by the Interior Ministry to all the provinces in the Ottoman Empire. Dated 2 September 1915, the example shown above was sent from the Department of Settlement of Tribes and Refugees of the Interior Ministry to the director of the Kayseri branch of the abandoned property commission.
An example of an eviction notice dated 1 January 1950 of an Armenian woman issued by the Internal Revenue Board and sent to the local Cadastral Directorate. Such evictions were assigned to special investigative committees that dealt solely with the properties of Armenians.
In 1936, the Turkish government requested from minority foundations to provide a list of their owned assets and properties. Above is an example of such a declaration from the Surp Tateos Partoghimeos Armenian Church and of the Hayganushyan School Foundation. Although twenty-one of the properties belonging to the foundation were formally listed in the declaration, fourteen of them were eventually confiscated.
George E. White (missionary)
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George Edward White was an American Congregationalist missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for forty-three years. Stationed in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide as President of the Anatolia College in Merzifon, White attempted to save the lives of many Armenians, including "refused to tell" where Armenians were hiding so to save them from getting deported or killed. Thus he became an important witness to the Armenian Genocide.
Armenian orphans of the Marsovan Anatolian College in 1918
George E. White as President of the Anatolian College
George White with his students