Adnan Sadık Erzi (2 February 1923 – 5 June 1990) was a Turkish Professor of History. He specialized in the research of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
manuscripts and historical texts, and was considered an expert in this field.
He was born in the village of Hasan Halik near
Fatih
Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...
in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
to Sadık Bey and Ulviye Hanım.
Erzi attended Kabataş Erkek Lisesi High School, and following it, got enrolled in the Department of History of the Faculty of Literature at
Istanbul University
Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...
.
After graduating in 1947, he started to work for the Society of Turkish History as a librarian and publications specialist. In April of the same year, Erzi became library manager of the Faculty of Language and History/Geography at
Ankara University
Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...
. In 1950 he was a research assistant for the Chair of Ottoman History at the same institution, where he worked with Bekir Sıtkı Baykal. In March 1950, Erzi defended his Ph.D. thesis, titled "
Selçuklu Tarihinin Kaynakları" (The Sources of Saljuq History) at the Faculty of Literature of Istanbul University. From 1952 to 1957, Erzi was visiting researcher to Italy, Austria, England, The Netherlands and Germany. In 1957 he was appointed an associate professor at the Faculty of Theology of Ankara University.
He visited the United States on a research trip from 1957 to 1958. After his return to Turkey, he taught from 1959 to 1960 at
Atatürk University in Erzurum as the chair of Medieval History. In late 1960 he returned to Ankara University as the chair of Modern History at the Faculty of Language and History/Geography. That same year he became deputy director of the Turkish Religions Society (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlıǧı). After 1962 he traveled extensively for research, attending conferences and giving lectures in countries such as Iran, Iraq and
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
from September to December 1962, as well as Dakar and Lahore in July 1963 to do research on Islamic manuscripts. From 15 September to 15 November 1964 he did research at the National Library of Vienna. In 1965 he went to England and France, in 1968–69 to Tabriz in Iran, in 1970 to Baghdad and Moscow, in 1971 to India, in 1972 to Cyprus, in 1973 to Islamabad, in 1974–75 to Iran and Germany. In 1975–76 he was sent to teach at
Fırat University in Elazıǧ. In 1977 and 1979 he worked and did research at Bonyād-e Farhang-e Irān in Tehran. He returned to Tehran in 1981 and also traveled to Madrid, Tunis and Vienna in the next couple of years. On 4 March 1986 he was made professor emeritus. He died on 5 June 1990 in Istanbul.
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Erzi, Adnan Sadik
1923 births
1990 deaths
Iranologists
People from Fatih
Academic staff of Atatürk University
Academic staff of Ankara University
Istanbul University alumni
20th-century Turkish historians