The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the

history of Turkey :''See History of the Republic of Turkey for the history of the modern state.'' The history of Turkey, understood as the history of the region now forming the territory of the Republic of Turkey, includes the history of both Anatolia (the Asia ...

and the

Turkish people The Turkish people, or simply the Turks ( tr, Türkler), are the world's largest Turkic ethnic group; they speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic ...

, founded in 1931 by the initiative of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

, with headquarters in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It has been described as "the Kemalist official producer of nationalist historical narratives". Turkish sociologist

Fatma Müge Göçek Fatma Müge Göçek is a Turkish sociologist and professor at the University of Michigan. She wrote the book Denial of Violence in 2015 concerning the prosectution of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, for which she received the Mary Do ...

states that the TTK "failed to carry out independent research of Turkish history, remaining instead the voice of the official ideology".

History

In 1930 the Committee for the study of Turkish History (''Türk Tarihi Tetkik Heyeti'') was established with the support of the

Turkish Hearths Turkish Hearths ( tr, Türk Ocakları) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Turkey. It was founded in 1912, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, in a period when almost all non-Turkish elements had their own national committees, an ...

. In 1931 the Association for the Study of Turkish History (''Türk Tarihi Tetkik Cemiyeti'') was founded, which in 1935 was renamed in Turkish Historical Society. in 1940, the Turkish Historical Society arose to an association working for the public interest. On 11 August 1983, it was elevated to a by the constitution protected institution under the Atatürk High Institution of Culture, Language and History (''Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu,'' AKDTYK'')''. According to Turkish historian

Doğan Gürpınar Doğan Gürpınar is a Turkish historian whose work focuses on the late Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He is employed by Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referr ...

, by the 2000s the THA's "main function became the production and reproduction of the official line to counter Armenian allegations, in addition to publishing numerous monographs on Turkish history following a

Rankean Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

-cum-statist methodology and perspective."

Publications

In 1930 the book ''Türk Tarihinin Ana Hatları'' (The Mainlines of Turkish History) which emphasized the ability of Turks was published under the auspices of the Committee for the study of Turkish History This book, printed only 100 times, formed the basis for the

Turkish History Thesis The Turkish History Thesis (''Türk Tarih Tezi'') is a Turkish ultranationalist, pseudohistoric thesis which posited the belief that the Turks moved from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia and migrated to China, India, the Balkans, the ...

, which posited that Turks emigrated in several waves to China, India, Northern Africa and Europa to populate the areas and bringing the native people there civilization. In 1932 it released a four-volume history text for all secondary schools in Turkey upon request of the Ministry of Education. The text claimed that the ancient Turks have already had the ideas of nationality and the Turkish race. The institute releases a regular bulletin called ''Belleten''.

Presidents

The institution's first president was

Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu (1891 – 24 November 1961) was a Turkish politician, who was a founding member of the Turkish Historical Association The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the hist ...

. In July 2008 its president

Yusuf Halaçoğlu Yusuf Halaçoğlu (born 10 May 1949, in Kozan, Adana) is a Turkish historian and politician. He is a former president of the Turkish Historical Society and was a member of the Turkish Parliament from 2011 to 2017 representing the electoral distri ...

was dismissed. It was speculated that the decision reflected the government's desire for rapprochement with

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. Shortly before the decision, foreign minister

Ali Babacan Ali Babacan (; born 4 April 1967) is a Turkish politician, economist, and engineer. He is the founder and current leader of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). He served 13 years as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Economy, Chief ...

greeted Armen Martirosyan, Armenia's ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, in a reception related to Turkey's temporary accession the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

. Before that, president

Serzh Sargsyan Serzh Azati Sargsyan ( hy, Սերժ Ազատի Սարգսյան, ; born 30 June 1954)Of ...

had invited his Turkish counterpart,

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...

, to a World Cup qualifying game between the two countries' national soccer teams. In 2009, the president of the organization falsely claimed: Göçek notes that Halaçoğlu does not speak all the languages in the archives that he purportedly consulted and many of the claims he made are not just false but actually impossible.

Presidents by the following years

(1931-1932) * Prof. Dr.

Yusuf Akçura Yusuf Akçura ( tt-Cyrl, Йосыф Акчура; 2 December 1876 – 11 March 1935) was a prominent Turkish politician, writer and ideologist of ethnic Tatar origin. He developed into a prominent ideologue and advocate of Pan-Turkism during the ...

(1932-1935) *

Hasan Cemil Çambel Hasan Cemil Çambel (1879–1967) was a Turkish politician and historian, who was a founding member of the Turkish Historical Association, which he also served as its president. He was a close friend of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the father of H ...

(1935-1941) * Ord. Prof. Dr.

Şemsettin Günaltay Mehmet Şemsettin Günaltay (; 17 July 1883 – 19 October 1961) was a Turkish historian, politician, and Prime Minister of Turkey from 1949 to 1950. Biography Günaltay was born 1883 in the Kemaliye town of the Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Azi ...

(1941-1961) * Ord. Prof. Dr.

Şevket Aziz Kansu Şevket Aziz Kansu (1903, Edirne–1983, Ankara) was a Turkish physician and academic. He specialised in anthropology and archaeology and was the first rector of Ankara University. Education and academic career Kansu was born in Edirne. He studi ...

(1962-1973) * Ord. Prof. Dr.

Enver Ziya Karal Enver Ziya Karal (1906–1982) was a former academic in Turkey. Early life He was born in Kosovo , then a part of the Ottoman Empire. During the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) in which his father and other relatives were killed, he came to Istanbul t ...

(1973-1982) * Ord. Prof. Dr.

Sedat Alp Prof. Ord. Sedat Alp (January 1, 1913 in Veroia – October 9, 2006 in Ankara) was the first Turkish archaeologist, historian and academic with a specialization in Hittitology, and was among the foremost names in the field. He was the president ...

(1982-1983) * Prof. Dr.

Yaşar Yücel Yaşar is a Turkish name and surname. It may refer to: * Yaşar (name), a Turkish given name and surname, including a list of people with the name * Yaşar University, a Turkish university in Izmir, Turkey * Yaşar, Şavşat, a village in the Distr ...

(1983-1992) * Prof. Dr. Neşet Çağatay (deputy) (1992-1993) * Prof. Dr. İbrahim Agah Çubukçu (deputy) (1993) * Prof. Dr.

(1993-2008) * Prof. Dr. Ali Birinci (2008-2011) * Prof. Dr. Bahaeddin Yediyıldız (deputy) (2011-2012) * Prof. Dr.

Mehmet Metin Hülagü Mehmed (modern Turkish: Mehmet) is the most common Bosnian and Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad ( ar, محمد) (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muh ...

(2012-2014) * Prof. Dr.

Mehmet Ali Beyhan Mehmed (modern Turkish: Mehmet) is the most common Bosnian and Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad ( ar, محمد) (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muh ...

(deputy) (2014-2015) * Prof. Dr. Refik Turan (2015-2020) * Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yaramış (2020-present)

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Historical societies History of the Republic of Turkey Organizations established in 1931 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Organizations based in Ankara Learned societies of Turkey Armenian genocide denial