On Wednesday, February 19, a ceremony took place at the Rectorate House in connection with the publication of a special Festschrift issue of the Journal of Social Sciences of Abant ?zzet Baysal University honoring Prof. Semih Tezcan of Bilkent’s Department of Turkish Literature. Nearly **************** 100 scholars, academics and students attended the ceremony to celebrate Prof. Tezcan’s distinguished career.
Prof. Ali Do?ramac?, University president and chairman of the Board of Trustees, opened the program with a welcome speech in which he paid tribute to Prof. Tezcan’s stature as a world-renowned Turkologist. Prof. Mehmet Kutalm??, chairman of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Abant ?zzet Baysal University, gave an overview of the field of Turkology in Turkey and abroad, highlighting Prof. Tezcan’s significant contributions. Dr. Abdullah Ba?demir, currently on the faculty of Pamukkale University, reminisced about Prof. Tezcan’s stellar teaching career at Ankara University and subsequently. The high point of the evening was a personal remembrance offered by Assoc. Prof. Nuran Tezcan of the Department of Turkish Literature; she also gave a summation of her husband’s scholarly publications.
The evening concluded with the presentation by Assoc. Prof. Erol Öztürk of Abant ?zzet Baysal University of the newly released Semih Tezcan Festschrift issue of the Journal of Social Sciences and a special gift plaque. During the ceremony, those in attendance gave Prof. Tezcan standing ovations several times.
The 500-page special issue contains articles in Turkish, English and German by 30 scholars from seven countries (China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States), including four pieces by Bilkent faculty and graduates (Prof. Talat Halman, Assoc. Prof. Nuran Tezcan, Dr. Yeliz Özay and Dr. Nilay Özer). The issue also features a selection of Semih Tezcan photographs.