UPDATE - Turkey bids farewell to renowned historian Kemal Karpat

ADDS DETAILS OF HIS BIOGRAPHY

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet and Nilay Kar Onum

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (AA) - The last rites of internationally acclaimed historian Kemal Karpat were preformed on Monday in a state ceremony.

Karpat died of multi-organ failure last Wednesday in Wisconsin, U.S. at the age of 96.

In a funeral ceremony held at Istanbul University, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish people should follow his footsteps and pursue "even greater" academic achievements.

"He was able to approach the old debates of Turkey in a much more realistic and moderate way," Erdogan said.

The birthplace of the historian, Dobruja region of Romania, could seem far from Turkey today, but Karpat was born to Turkish parents, the president said.

Karpat was buried inside Fatih Mosque Complex, where many prominent figures of modern Turkey and Ottoman Empire were buried.

- Who was Kemal Karpat?

Karpat was born into a family of the Turkish minority in Romania's Dobruja region. He was the only son of a family with seven children.

“My character took a shape at 5-6 ages. I learned reading at that age and then I read everything that I had,” he said in his last interview to the Turkish news channel, TRT Haber.

“I wanted to analyze the society [where he came from], to understand it, narrate it and follow the course of social events,” he added. “My goal was to learn and do something not to have a comfortable life.”

He studied law at Istanbul University and graduated from the university in 1947. Karpat earned his master’s degree in political science at the University of Washington in Seattle and he held a doctorate degree in political and social sciences (1957) from New York University.

Karpat described himself as a person who was always “eager to learn and teach”.

He worked for the UN Economic and Social Council and served as a lecturer and director at educational institutions such as the University of Montana and New York University.

The multi-cultural and multi-faith atmosphere, where he lived helped him to understand social problems better, according to the Turkish historian.

Karpat, an expert on the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkish history, was an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He was director of the Turkish Studies Association and Turkish Research Institute, founding chair of the Central Asian Studies Association, and coordinator of the Central Asian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin.

His final post was at Istanbul Sehir University as a member of the Board of Trustees.

During his career, Karpat received numerous awards including the Turkish Grand Assembly’s highest Parliament Honorary Award of 2009 for his achievements and contributions to Turkish and Ottoman studies and the Hilldale Award of the University of Wisconsin.

Karpat -- also the honorary member of the Turkish Historical Society -- wrote more than 100 articles, published in 20 countries, as well as over 15 books.

His books focused on the Ottoman history, modern Turkey and migration.

Turkey’s Politics: The Transition to a Multi-Party System (1959), Social Change and Politics in Turkey (1973), The Ottoman Past and Today's Turkey (2000), The Politicization of Islam (Oxford, 2001) and The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization (2009) are among his publications.

In 2011, he donated his collection of more than 4,000 books, journals, and notes to the library of Istanbul Sehir University. His collection was brought to Istanbul by a ship from the U.S.

“We should not forget that we have a community based on a solid basis. We should understand that community,” Karpat said in his last interview, referring to the Turkish community.

“What I did throughout my life was that: To understand it and narrate it,” he added.

He had celebrated his 96th birthday on Feb. 15, only five days before his demise.