Dr. Talin Suciyan was named the 21st Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno for the Spring 2025 semester.

“We are happy to welcome Dr. Suciyan for the spring semester,” said Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program. “Dr. Suciyan will bring a new and active element to the Program.”

“The Kazan Visiting Professorship offers scholars a unique opportunity to work on topics of their choice, covering the wide range of Armenian Studies,” said Dr. Suciyan. “Further, it provides a stimulating and supportive academic environment with a long tradition of Armenian studies, to meet young generations of Armenians, and to be part of one of the oldest communities in the United States.”

Dr. Suciyan was born and raised in Istanbul and attended Armenian schools. “Armenian institutions in Istanbul, such as the Armenian Patriarchate, the Armenian Hospital, cultural centers established by the alumni organizations, choirs, theatre groups, Armenian periodicals, all provided a vibrant community life for us all,” said Dr. Suciyan. Her later migration to Germany to pursue her academic career changed her life and yet, gave her the opportunity to think, write and reflect on the history of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey and beyond.

After graduating from the University of Istanbul, she continued her studies in Germany, where she obtained her Ph.D. Based in Munich, Dr. Suciyan has been teaching and researching at the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Munich for over 15 years. She is the author of Outcasting Armenians: Tanzimat of the Provinces (Syracuse University Press, 2023) and The Armenians in Modern Turkey: Post-Genocide Society, History and Politics (I. B. Tauris, 2016).

Her research focuses on Armenians in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Her areas of interests are colonialism, histories of the autochthonous populations, medicine, peasantry and temporality.

“After 16 years of living, researching and teaching at the University of Munich, I am happy to have a daily life that is both academically and socially embedded in the activities of the community,” stated Dr. Suciyan. “I look forward to new projects that will emerge from my Kazan Visiting Professorship.”

As the 21st Kazan Visiting Professor, Dr. Suciyan will teach an upper-division course titled “Armenians in the Ottoman Middle East,” and will give three public lectures at Fresno State on the family archives of Armenian Genocide survivors.

It will primarily utilize a largely untapped and overlooked source, correspondences kept by dispersed Armenian families.