İlber Ortaylı (; born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the MEF University, Galatasaray University 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 ...

and at

Bilkent University Bilkent University () is a private non-profit research university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by İhsan Doğramacı, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with th ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. In 2005, he was appointed as the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.''İlber Ortaylı''

Biography

Family and personal life

He was born on 21 May 1947 in a refugee camp in Bregenz, Austria where his parents, Crimean Tatars, had fled to avoid

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's persecution. His family immigrated to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

when he was 2 years old. Ortaylı is maternally a descendant of Crimean Tatar Mirza nobility. He grew up trilingual, learning German from his father and Russian from his mother. As a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

historian he is proficient in Turkish, Italian, English, French, Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, Russian and Latin.Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism - ''İlber Ortaylı''
/ref> His published articles are mainly in Turkish, German and French and a variety of them are translated into English. During his studies in Turkey, he worked as a travel guide, which, according to him, influenced his approach to history. It cultivated his apprehension in practice and gave him an opportunity "to teach history" to different groups of people with various backgrounds. He credits his experiences as a travel guide in his writing of "popular history" books and essays. He made acquaintance with intellectuals from both Turkey and other countries. Notable are

Halil İnalcık Halil İnalcık (7 September 1916 – 25 July 2016) was a Turkish historian. His highly influential research centered on social and economic approaches to the Ottoman Empire. His academic career started at Ankara University, where he completed h ...

, Irene Melikoff,

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British-American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near ...

, Andreas Tietze. His biography Time Does not Disappear: Book of İlber Ortaylı ( Turkish: ''Zaman Kaybolmaz: İlber Ortaylı Kitabı'') was published in 2006. The book includes a long journalistic conversation with Nilgün Uysal, passages from his childhood, student years in Ankara, Vienna and Chicago, his recent reflections on near history events and anecdotes from the years when he worked as a travel guide all over Turkey.

Academic career

Ortaylı started elementary school at St. George's Austrian High School in İstanbul and later transferred to Ankara Atatürk High School. He studied public policy 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 ...

Mekteb-i Mülkiye and later left for Vienna to attend

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, where he studied both

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

and

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

while he worked with Andreas Tietze. He received his master's degree under the supervision of professor

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at Ankara University in the School of Political Sciences. His doctoral thesis was ''Local Administration in the Tanzimat Period'' (1978). After his doctorate, he joined the faculty at the School of

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

s of

. In 1979, he was appointed as

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

. In 1982, he resigned from his position to protest the academic policy of the government established after the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum. During ...

. After teaching at several universities in Turkey, Europe and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, he in 1989 returned to Ankara University and became a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and the head of the department of administrative history, after having worked at

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

in 1988.

Public figure

A key figure in Turkish public discourse, Ortaylı has appeared frequently on television programs, radio shows, and in the press, where he discusses historical issues, current events, and Turkey's place in the modern world. His ability to make history relevant to contemporary discussions has made him a central figure in the intellectual life of Turkey. However, his career has not been without controversy, several of Ortaylı's political positions have been criticized, notably his denial of the

Armenian Genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

Work

Ortaylı published numerous articles focused on diplomacy, cultural history and intellectual history. Some examples are: * ''Ottoman History'' * ''Russian history'' (e.g. ''"Romanovs and Constantinople''" and ''"19th century Russian Empire"'') * ''Ottoman-Habsburg Relations'' * ''German Influence in the 19th century Ottoman Empire'' (as his masters degree thesis) * ''Travel writing In the Ottoman Empire'' * ''History of Turkish Drama'' He also published articles on urban history including Latins of the Pera district of the Constantinople for Istanbul and various historical cities which were once under the Ottoman influence; history of provincial administration focusing on the transformation of institutions in the Ottoman Empire from the beginning to the 19th century.

Awards

In 2001, he received the Aydın Doğan Foundation Award in the field of history, considering his works, articles, and books published since the early 1970s, his efforts to popularize the science of history, his activities to make history beloved by Turkish people of all ages, his scientific activities abroad, and his significant international role in Turkish historiography, in addition to his work Osmanlı Tarihinde Aile (Family in Ottoman History). In 2007, he received the Medal of Pushkin for his ''"great contribution to the spread and study of the Russian language, the preservation of cultural heritage and the rapprochement and mutual enrichment of different nations’ and people's cultures"'' under a decree signed by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

and announced officially by the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

, the ceremony took place at the Russian Consulate in Istanbul. In 2011, he was chosen as honorary member to the

Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts () is an academic institution in North Macedonia. History The Academy of Sciences and Arts was established by the Socialist Republic of Macedonia's assembly on 23 February 1967 as the highest scientifi ...

Affiliations

He is a member of the Foundation for International Studies, the Societas Iranologica Europeae, the Austrian and Turkish Academy of Sciences and Tarih Vakfı.Austrian-Turkish Forum of Sciences (OTW)
''Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı''
/ref>

Books

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortayli, Ilber 1947 births Living people People from Bregenz Writers from Istanbul 20th-century Turkish historians 21st-century Turkish historians Turkish people of Crimean Tatar descent Austrian people of Turkish descent Historians of Turkey Academic staff of Galatasaray University Academic staff of Bilkent University Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of Ankara University St. George's Austrian High School alumni Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences Deniers of the Armenian genocide Academic staff of Middle East Technical University