İlber Ortaylı

İlber Ortaylı was a prominent Turkish historian and professor of history, born on May 21, 1947, in Bregenz, Austria, to Crimean Tatar parents who had fled Stalin's deportations. His family immigrated to Turkey when he was two years old. Ortaylı received his education from institutions such as Ankara University and the University of Chicago, where he completed his master's degree under Halil İnalcık. He earned his doctorate from Ankara University with a thesis on local administration during the Tanzimat period. His academic career included positions at Ankara University, where he rose to the rank of professor and headed the department of administrative history. He also taught at Middle East Technical University and lectured internationally. Ortaylı was appointed director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul in 2005, a position he held until his retirement in 2012. Considered a leading historian in Turkey, Ortaylı's research focused on Ottoman history, Russian history, Ottoman-Habsburg relations, and urban history. He was known for his prolific writing, including numerous articles and books, many of which were translated into English. He was also a public intellectual, engaging with audiences through television programs and popular history books that aimed to make history accessible. Ortaylı was a polyglot, fluent in Turkish, German, Russian, Italian, English, French, Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Latin. He was married to Ayşe Özdolay, with whom he had a daughter, Tuna Ortaylı Kazıcı. İlber Ortaylı passed away on March 13, 2026, in Istanbul at the age of 78. He received numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, the Medal of Pushkin, and the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.