Hilmi Yavuz Receives Honorary Doctorate

Hilmi Yavuz, Senior Lecturer in Bilkent's Department of Turkish Literature, was awarded a PhD honoris causa by Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University at a ceremony held on November 25. The university's rector, Prof. Dr. Sedat Laçiner, announced to a large audience of academics and students that the honorary title was conferred by a unanimous vote of the Çanakkale University Senate "in recognition of Hilmi Yavuz's significant contributions to Turkish poetry and intellectual life." Prof. Dr. Mustafa İsen, a leading scholar of classical Ottoman literature, a former undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and currently the secretary-general of President Abdullah Gül, presented the university's award certificate to Mr. Yavuz and paid tribute to him as a distinguished poet and leading intellectual.

Dr. Hüseyin Çelik, a former minister of culture and of national education, praised Mr. Yavuz for his impressive success as "a leading master of poetry who has built a bridge between traditional values and aesthetic innovations."

At the ceremony, Mayor Güngör Azim Tuna of Çanakkale, Rector Serdar Bedii Omay of Mardin Artuklu University, Rector Fahrettin Keleştemur of Kayseri Erciyes University and Prof. Talat Halman, dean of Bilkent's Faculty of Humanities and Letters, offered their tributes.

Hilmi Yavuz, a celebrated poet, essayist, critic, translator, lecturer, television commentator and academic, has published dozens of highly acclaimed books and won numerous awards including an honorary doctorate from İstanbul's Mimar Sinan University, such literary prizes as the Yeditepe and Sedat Simavi awards, and also the Chilean President's Medal (for his translations of Pablo Neruda's poems).

The ceremony for Bilkent's prominent poet and literature teacher ended with a panel discussion on his work by Prof. Dr. Ramazan Gülendam, dean of Çanakkale University's Faculty of Education (moderator), and scholars Cüneyt Issı (Muğla University), Şaban Sağlık, Burhanettin Tatar and Dursun Ali Tokel (all from 19 Mayıs University). The climax of the program came with Mr. Yavuz's reading of selections from his own poems.