Ashraf AboArafe
When you listen to him, you believe that he is an Egyptian citizen as he talks skillfully in an Egyptian dialect as if he was born in Egypt.. and actually, he is.
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu has been a lecturer at various universities in Turkey and around the world. He has produced many works on Turkish culture, Ottoman history, history of science, interaction between civilizations and Islamophobia, and published these works in different languages. As a result of his work, İhsanoğlu was awarded 21 different honorary doctorates from leading universities in Turkey and the world.
* State medals🏅
İhsanoğlu also served as president and manager in various international organizations. İhsanoğlu served as the 9th Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the President of the International Association of History and Philosophy of Science. This Union created the “İhsanoğlu Gold Medal”, the only medal awarded to a Turkish scientist.
Presidents of many countries gave İhsanoğlu state medals and various medals, especially the “State Distinguished Service Medal” given by the 9th President of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel.
* Not involved!
İhsanoğlu, who has not been involved in active politics throughout his life, entered the presidential election in 2014, upon the proposal of MHP and CHP, as the common candidate of these two parties. Later, he received the support of 14 different political parties and came second in the ballot box with 38.44 percent of the votes. İhsanoğlu currently serves in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as an MHP Istanbul deputy.
* Multi-linguistics publishings
He has many books, articles and communications written and edited in various languages about science, history of science, Ottoman history, Turkish culture, Islam and the Western world, Islamophobia and Turkish-Arab relations. In addition to his works published in Turkish, English and Arabic, he also has publications translated into French, Russian, Albanian, Japanese, Bosnian, Malay and Korean languages.
İhsanoğlu, who grew up by experiencing Turkish culture together with Arabic culture, also had the opportunity to learn western languages and cultures and started translating from Turkish to Arabic at an early age. Among them, he translates Nazım Hikmet’s play Ferhat ile Şirin: A Love Tale under the name Öykütu Hub ev Ferhad ve Şirin (Kairo, 1969; 2nd ed. 1974). At the beginning of the translation, a comparative analysis of the story of Ferhat and Şirin, which has an important place in Iranian and Ottoman poetry, is included. The work, which had two editions, was later staged in Egypt.
İhsanoğlu translated the stories he selected from Turkish literature into Arabic under the name Min al-Adab al-Türki alHadith, Mukhtarat min al-Qıssat al-Qasira (Cairo, 1970).
* Founded and co-founded!
Among the important institutions founded and co-founded by İhsanoğlu are IRCICA, Istanbul University Department of History of Science, Turkish Society for the History of Science, İSAR, BİMDOK and Organic Chemistry Research Institute.
* Corporative!
İhsanoğlu has made contributions to the diplomatic and academic meetings he attended.
İhsanoğlu’s; There are institutions that carry out studies around the world where he is President, Correspondent Member, Advisory Board Member, Honorary Member, Scientific Committee Member.
* Achievements!
Among the projects initiated by İhsanoğlu are History of Muslim Nations, UNESCO Different Aspects of Islamic Culture, Mostar 2004, OMATAR and ARAPTAR Projects, History Idioms and Terms Dictionary Project.
* Speaches!
The speeches made by İhsanoğlu while he was serving as Secretary General and working in the Parliament still contain important messages for today.
* Gallery!
Initiating the bail program on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for orphans who survived the 2004 tsunami disaster.
Addressing the UN Security Council and pointing out the importance of including the Islamic world among the members of the Security Council
The intimate visit of British Crown Prince Charles to İhsanoğlu’s office
Palestinian President Abbas presented İhsanoğlu with the Order of the Jerusalem Star in recognition of his work on the Palestinian cause and the Jerusalem issue.
Meeting with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
* Education& academic career!
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu was born in Cairo on December 26, 1943, from Turkish parents. İhsanoğlu, who was introduced to different language and cultural environments at a young age, learned Turkish and certain subtleties of Turkish culture in his home and family environment, and also became familiar with the Ottoman language and Ottoman culture with the interest of his father. During his education, he learned Arabic, English and French. He started reading masterpieces of Turkish and Arabic literature at an early age. Since his father was not an Egyptian citizen and the family received no salary upon his death, he had to support the family. While he was a first-year student at the Faculty of Science, he was given a part-time job in the Cataloging Department of Oriental Works at the National Library, with the help of his father’s friends. He worked for four years with his father’s old friend and assistant, Nasrullah Mübeşşir el-Tırazi from Turkestan, in cataloging and classifying the Library’s very rich collections of Ottoman manuscripts and printed works. During this period, he had the opportunity to get to know Arabic and Turkish manuscripts as well as experts in these fields. He also took Persian lessons from Tırazi.
In these four years, which he considered as a second education in Oriental and Islamic Culture in addition to his science education, he met many famous scientists from the east and west. In these young years, İhsanoğlu wrote his first Arabic works on Turkish literature. He published his first articles about Akif and Iqbal in 1964, and his first book, a play by Nazım Hikmet, in Arabic in 1969, in Cairo. During this period, he conducted his first research on the history of science in a competition among university students and won second place with his thesis on the Andalusian surgeon Abu’l-Qasim al-Zahravi.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Ain Shams University in 1966; He received his Master’s degree in Physics-Chemistry from Al Azhar University in 1970. After completing his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Science of Ankara University in Turkey in 1974, he continued his post-doctoral studies as a junior faculty member at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Exeter in England as a research fellow between 1975 and 1977. He was the founder and first professor of the first Department of History of Science and later of the Department at Istanbul University. He is also the founding president of the Turkish Science History Association (TBTK, 1989) and the İSAR Foundation (1999). He served as Vice President between 1998-2001 and President between 2001-2005 at the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS). He is also a member of many international academies, scientific institutions, advisory boards of various centers and institutes, and the editorial boards of scientific journals in many Islamic and Western countries.
He has many books, articles and communications written and edited in various languages about science, history of science, Turkish culture, Ottoman history, Islam and the Western world, Islamophobia and Turkish-Arab relations. Among his important copyrighted works are the two-volume books “Darulfünun” and “Turks in Egypt and Their Cultural Heritage”. His works include the two-volume “History of the Ottoman State and Civilization”, the eighteen-volume “Ottoman Science Literature History Series”, which he edited and co-authored, and the “The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture Volume Five: Culture and Learning in Islam” published by Unesco. In addition, his English book titled “Islamophobia: From Confrontation to Cooperation, the Task Ahead” is one of the basic reference books on the subject. His book “The Islamic World in the New Century: The Organization of the Islamic Conference, 1969-2009” has been accepted as the most reliable source about the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. A significant part of his works were published in Turkish, English and Arabic; It has also been translated into Russian, Bosnian, Albanian, French, Japanese, Malaysian and Korean. İhsanoğlu, who is married and has three sons, is fluent in Turkish, English and Arabic, and has sufficient knowledge of French and Persian.
