
The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA) was initially founded in 1971 as the Turkish Studies Association to promote a more scholarly study of the Ottoman and Turkish studies and to initiate dialogue among scholars in the field. The Association’s activities include the publication of a journal with short research articles, reports of meetings and conferences, book reviews, and granting of research scholarships and book prizes. Over the years, it has received endowments from the Turkish-Americans and Americans who hoped to contribute to a better understanding of Turkey and its past devoid of stereotypes prevalent in the West and especially in the United States.
Last year, in an announcement to its members made via email, the present administration of the OTSA attempted to remove and change the names of Fuat Köprülü and Halide Edip Adıvar from its book prize and the scholarship award.
Sadly, the main motivation behind the name-change hysteria on the part of the OTSA administration was not so much the achievements or failures of Halide Edip Adıvar or Fuat Köprülü, but the fact that Adıvar and Köprülü were not their ideological prototypes. Consequently, in an online debate that was broadcasted on YouTube and removed from the platform immediately afterwards, some members of the OTSA expressed dissatisfaction at the conduct of the OTSA administration, likening it to “a Stalinist show trial for ideological purity.” And as a result, the issue was left unresolved for the time being.
It is regrettable to see that at beginning of this year that the current OTSA administration has renewed its unabashed efforts to change the names of the Fuat Köprülü and Halide Edip Adıvar awards in the hopes of remolding the OTSA in line with their ideologies. This is not what the OTSA was founded for, and certainly not what the original donors who agreed to sponsor the Köprülü and Adıvar awards agreed upon. In short, the OTSA administration’s current conduct amounts to an attempt to hijack the institution for personal and ideological agendas, which is in gross violation of the principles upon which the OTSA was founded.
© 2009-2025 Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM) All Rights Reserved
No comments yet.
-
WHY IS THE TRADITIONAL PROCESS REGARDING THE PATRIARCH ELECTION BEING OPPOSED?
AVİM 15.11.2017 -
HATE SPEECH PUT INTO ACTION AGAINST TURKEY AND TURKS: FOUL-SMELLING PROVOCATION
AVİM 31.01.2019 -
AVİM HELD A CONFERENCE ON “MONGOLIA’S POTENTIAL IN THE REGION, THE CURRENT SITUATION IN MONGOLIA PRIOR TO THE 11TH ASIA-EUROPE MEETING (ASEM) AND TURKISH-MONGOLIAN RELATIONS”
AVİM 19.01.2016 -
ARMENIAN NATIONALIST PROPAGANDA, THE FALL OF KARS, AND THE KARS TREATY OF 1920
AVİM 13.01.2022 -
NO PAUSE IN PATHOLOGICAL OBSESSION WITH TURKEY EVEN IN TIME OF THE CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC
AVİM 13.04.2020
-
THE TRANS-ADRIATIC NATURAL GAS PIPELINE (TAP)
Alev KILIÇ 05.10.2012 -
NEWLY APPOINTED SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION AND RUSSIAN DOMINANCE OVER ARMENIA
Hazel ÇAĞAN ELBİR 03.05.2017 -
D.L. PHILLIPS’S DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE TURKEY-ARMENIA PROTOCOLS
Ömer Engin LÜTEM 26.03.2012 -
POPE FRANCIS IN AZERBAIJAN
Teoman Ertuğrul TULUN 14.10.2016 -
THE ACCEPTANCE OF IRAN'S MEMBERSHIP TO THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION
Gülperi GÜNGÖR 28.09.2021
-
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION - BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND DOCUMENTATION -
THE TRUTH WILL OUT -
RADİKAL ERMENİ UNSURLARCA GERÇEKLEŞTİRİLEN MEZALİMLER VE VANDALİZM -
PATRIOTISM PERVERTED -
MEN ARE LIKE THAT -
BAKÜ-TİFLİS-CEYHAN BORU HATTININ YAŞANAN TARİHİ -
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS ON THE EVENTS OF 1915 -
FAKE PHOTOS AND THE ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA -
ERMENİ PROPAGANDASI VE SAHTE RESİMLER -
A Letter From Japan - Strategically Mum: The Silence of the Armenians -
Japonya'dan Bir Mektup - Stratejik Suskunluk: Ermenilerin Sessizliği -
Anastas Mikoyan: Confessions of an Armenian Bolshevik -
Sovyet Sonrası Ukrayna’da Devlet, Toplum ve Siyaset - Değişen Dinamikler, Dönüşen Kimlikler -
Ermeni Sorunuyla İlgili İngiliz Belgeleri (1912-1923) - British Documents on Armenian Question (1912-1923) -
Turkish-Russian Academics: A Historical Study on the Caucasus -
Gürcistan'daki Müslüman Topluluklar: Azınlık Hakları, Kimlik, Siyaset -
Armenian Diaspora: Diaspora, State and the Imagination of the Republic of Armenia -
ERMENİ SORUNU - TEMEL BİLGİ VE BELGELER (2. BASKI)
-
CONFERENCE TITLED “HUNGARY’S PERSPECTIVES ON THE TURKIC WORLD"