Prof. Halman Awarded Honorary Doctorate
The Mehmet Akif Ersoy University of Burdur awarded Talat Halman, dean of the Faculty of Humanities Letters and chair of the Department of Turkish Literature, a Ph.D. honoris causa. In 2009, The Mehmet Akif Ersoy University also presented an honorary doctorate to the founder of Bilkent's history department, Prof. Halil İnalcık. This year's honorary degree was conferred on Prof. Halman at a ceremony held on October 7, 2010.
Halman also delivered the opening lecture of the 2010-2011 academic year entitled "Love, Wisdom and Ethics: Akif's University." In his inaugural lecture, Prof. Halman paid tribute to Mehmet Akif Ersoy's work and stature as a poet who upheld Islamic values and national aspirations. He also drew attention to the poet's strong criticism of "the Islamic world's floundering in backwardness." Talat Halman proposed that Muslim countries should establish a system of taxation based on the Koranic rule of "zekat" (almsgiving) to wage war against poverty. He concluded his lecture with a discussion of the paramount importance of the Turkish universities in bringing enlightenment and economic development to the rural areas.
Prof. Halman, who prior to joining the Bilkent faculty served as Turkey's first minister of culture and first ambassador of cultural affairs, also holds honorary doctorates from Boğaziçi University (1988) and Ankara University (2006).