Search Your Middle Eastern and European Genealogy

Have any of your ancestors ever lived under the former Ottoman Empire? The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1300 until 1922. In 1924 Kemal Ataturk abolished the Muslim caliphate and founded the Republic of Turkey. So regardless of the language spoken by your ancestors—Slavic, Arabic, Greek, Judezmo, Uralic, Yiddish, Romanian, or Turkish, the Ottoman Empire controlled and kept careful census records in Turkish using Arabic script in the following countries of Europe and the Middle East known today, but not necessarily before 1924 as the following names: Hungary, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, southern Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Kuwait, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, eastern Yemen, Egypt, northern Libya, Tunisia, and northern Algeria.

You’ll also find hidden records in the various countries. In addition, more recent records in Arabic or in the language of the country emphasized are kept in the national archives and in the courts dealing with property-related issues, assets left behind, divorce decrees, and other legal documents. Learn the steps needed to research genealogy and Judaica, Hellenica, and Armenica online or in records, censuses, and population registers as well as in little-known sources such as notary records, in many other countries.