Halil İnalcık has recently received his seventh honorary doctorate “Doctor Honoris Causa,” presented to him by Rector Bioltchev from the University of Sofia, St. Kliment Ochridski. His previous honorary doctorates are from the University of Athens, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Bucharest, Uludağ University, Boğaziçi University and Selçuk University, three of which were awarded to him when on duty at Bilkent.
   Halil İnalcık was the founder of the Department of History at Bilkent in 1993, after having retired from the University of Chicago.
   His area of specialization is economic and social Ottoman history. His publications consist of 17 books and around 300 articles that he has written since 1947, in different languages such as Turkish, English, French and German. He is the editor with P. Burke of the volume V of the History of the
Humanity of UNESCO. His book “The Ottoman Empire: Classical Age” was published in England in 1977 and was translated into seven languages. His major work, “An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire” (1993) comprises 1054 pages and is used as a textbook in Europe and the United States.
   He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, The British Academy, The Serbian Academy, honorary member to Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi and the Royal Asiatic Society, and a corresponding member to the Royal Historical Society.
He has numerous awards such as a plaque presented by former president Süleyman Demirel in recognition of his contribution to Turkish culture and a Superior Service Medal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is in the writers’ committee of 6 journals such as Archivum Ottomanicum (also founder), Harvard Ukrainian Studies, the East European Quarterly, and the Journal of Ottoman Studies (also founder). He served as the Head of the International Association of Southeast European studies between 1971-1974 and the International Association of Economic and Social History of Turkey from its foundation in 1977, up to today.
   His TV series of talks about Ottoman history on TRT, was worth another award as a documentary.
   He is one of the two editors of the publishing series, “Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage,” in Leiden, Netherlands. Thus far the series consists of 22 books and is considered the most important publishing activity that represents Turkish history. He had been a member of the Türk Tarih Kurumu since 1947; but from 1992 on, he was appointed, by the president, as one of the eight members of the Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Kurumu Yüksek Kurulu.
   While working at Bilkent University Prof. İnalcık has published the following books: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Toplum ve Ekonomi (Eren Yayınları, İstanbul 1993); “The Middle East and the Balkans under the Ottoman Empire, Essays on Economy and Society” (Indiana University Turksih Studies, Indian, 1993); “An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire” (1300-1914, Cambridge University Press, 1994); “Essays in Ottoman History”, (Eren Yayınları, İstanbul, 1998); Osmanlı’da Devlet, Hukuk ve Adalet, Eren Yayınları, (İstanbul, 2000); Osmanlı İmparatorluğunun Sosyal ve Ekonomik Tarihi, (Eren Yayınları, İstanbul 2000).
   During the 2001-2002 academic year, Prof. İnalcık is teaching the following courses “Ottoman Social and Economic History I” and “Seminar in Ottoman History I”. In addition to his current teaching responsibilities, he is continuing his research, for his upcoming books.

Feyza Barutçu (IR/IV)